ABSTRACT
Zora Neale Hurston’s most popular and most highly acclaimed novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, has inspired tremendous interest. In Hudson-Weems’ “Tripartite Plight of AfricanAmerican Women as Reflected in the Novels of Hurston and Walker,” she asserts that: Hurston’s novel abounds in female subjugation, although her strong indictment of racism cannot be overlooked. Also characteristic of the Africana womanist in Hurston’s novel are the protagonist’s family-centeredness and her uncompromising concern with the welfare of her immediate family, Tea Cake and herself. Sisterhood is another element in the character of the Africana womanist that can be seen in Hurston’s novel. The Africana woman’s desire for positive male companionship is also described in Hurston’s novel through Janie’s unyielding quest to find it. Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God is prophetic in its anticipation of both a new kind of novel and a new kind of woman—the Africana womanist.
