Abstract:Zola Neale Hurston is one of the most important and remarkable Afro-American female writers. Their Eyes Were Watching God is her representative work. This thesis aims to explore the process of self-realization of Janie the protagonist of this novel through her three marriages. It is analyzed that as Janie marries three different men, she experiences the initial awareness of her self in her childhood, her journey to reach the ideal dream in her first two marriages and final self-realization in her third marriage. Therefore, she gradually sheds the oppressive definition of selfhood given to her by her grandmother and the society, thus fulfills her metamorphosis from a silent object to a speaking subject. 

Key words: Their Eyes Were Watching God; Janie; self-realization

CONTENTS

摘要

Abstract

1. Introduction1

1.1 Overview of Zola Neale Hurston

1.2 Introduction to Their Eyes Were Watching God

2. Janie’s Pursuit of her self-realization.3

2.1 Janie’s Initial Awareness of Her Self

  2.2 Janie’s Journey to the Horizon in Her First Two Marriages

2.3 Janie’s Self-realization in Her Third Marriage

3. Conclusion10

Bibliography.11

Acknowledgements12