Christian Worldview Assessment

Character/Author Worldview & 
The Christian Worldview Assessment:

In “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston we find a people who are beginning to put their community together after many years of oppression. The main characters in the story are Janie and her multiple husbands, Logan, Joe and Tea Cake. While we don’t see an apparent religious affiliation with either of the characters we do see clips into what each devotion was like throughout the book as well (and when not available we can make assumptions by their lifestyle and ethic) as what others thought of their devotion.

The African-American religious culture is one of purity and acceptance. Through adversity they kept their Christian faith strong accepting their place in society and praying for a better life for themselves and their descendents. Often, they sang gospel in the work fields encouraging each other through the sung prayer and keeping those who were weakened from falling. This community and encouragement would deem to be extremely important in their emancipation. This was how they were able to regain their communities and have the will to build cities and encourage more for the younger generations. The body, mind, and soul are seen as one and this concept of unity is seen throughout the community as well, where every person is viewed as part of a larger whole.

The culture does not always match the views however as we saw often in Janie’s life. She was married to Logan, although not out of love but out of obedience. She tried her best to be accepting of the life that she was offered but as Logan progressively began to treat her of a lesser equal, she decided instead to leave this marriage after a chance meeting with who would be her second husband Joe. We can make the assumption of Logan’s faith by reading of his daily work routine. He worked hard and quite possibly made it to mass at the end of the week ushering what he wanted folks to see as his dutiful wife. Janie, whether she was a believer or not, would have to go along.

The culture then was different than it is now in both the African-American and the Caucasian communities. Women were not seen as equals but rather as lesser than the man was. Especially in the black communities where the men, sodden from their experiences, often kept their women close by abusing them – physically, mentally or both. This of course is against what our Lord wanted for us as seen in Paul’s writings in Colossians 3:18 “Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be embittered against them”. Often in that time period, the lines of faith and culture were blurred especially when it came to spousal relations.

When Janie ran off with Joe, she clearly broke the marital covenant and her vows of forever. She did not care though because she was more concerned with her childhood fantasies of a passionate marriage that also had the benefit of wealth. She thought this would happen with Joe and although she never filed for a divorce from Logan (which may have not been necessary at the time due to the laws governing African-Americans); she married Joe and immediately set her sights on becoming a faithful and happy wife.

Janie and Joe quickly acquired wealth and prestige as Joe built up the town near Maitland and was appointed Mayor. During this time, Janie felt inspired and appreciative. Their duty as Mayor and Mrs. Mayor were to attend the weekly Christian services especially in order to show themselves there as an example to the other townsman. Joe fell into the culture through jealousy and forced Janie to tie up her hair and to obey his every wish, which included her being left behind during celebrations and basically being tied to the shop they ran. Janie was bitter of this and when Joe was on his deathbed she told him just how she felt – purging years of anger, deficiency and oppression. Fighting against slavery only brought these women into a different type of slavery.

After Joe’s death, Janie chose to live an independent life, probably assuming that love just was not what she thought it was. One day, a man entered her life and changed it completely. Tea Cake was many years her junior but allowed her the innocence that she craved. They played games together and went fishing in the middle of the night. She giggled and felt like a child again. The townspeople, appropriately, though that Janie as acting maliciously to Joe’s memory by gallivanting around with a new man while she should be in mourning. She was no longer acting in mourning – wearing pale blue instead of black and running around with Tea Cake not feeling the shame. One stated how Janie was even missing the weekly Church services and commented on how Tea Cake was a bad influence. This is one of the only times that Janie’s Christian faith was mentioned up until now. However, the voracity of this sin was palpable and the importance was not exaggerated. Janie chose to ignore her friends and neighbors choosing to run away with Tea Cake and remarrying for the third time. The passion she craved was there which amounted for more than the money she wanted. Though she and Tea Cake had some difficulty in their marriage due to his jealousy and gambling – including his abuse due to the jealousy – they loved each other at the end of it, when she lost him to an illness caused by a dog bite. I can note that Tea Cake’s lifestyle was that in conflict with the Christian worldview – jealousy being a venial sin and gambling viewed as one due to the lack of control on a gamblers part and the dangers that can follow. Tea Cake resounded with his jealousy by being abusive with Janie in order to keep her in check. As we have seen with her previous relationships – this is in complete contradiction to the Christian faith and worldview.

The current Christian culture of the African-American’s has not dulled. In fact, faith is more of a part of their persona and lifestyle as well as their community. They continue to keep one another involved. The culture still does not always match the faith that they hold. We often see unmarried men and women having multiple children (not only in the African-American culture but it is somewhat of an epidemic). The men and women living in more povertised areas are falling into criminal mischief. Prevalent is the knowledge that had they been offered the same beginning as other immigrants they would be at a more stable place now. Their emancipation was only 150 years ago but the segregation and oppression continued until only 50 years ago. Although the culture misaligned with the faith, the continued work and education allows the community to raise up their descendants with more opportunity and higher expectations. Prayerfully and devoted to their faith, the African-American community will prevail through this adversity as it has with so much in their past.

This was written by: Sossy Matos