Characters & Characterization (Janie as a child)

"She was sixteen. She had glossy leaves and bursting buds and she wanted to struggle with life but it seemed to elude her [...] She searched as much of the world as she could from the top of the front steps and then went down on the road. Looking, waiting, breathing short with impatience. Waiting for the world to be made." (11)

I was pleasantly surprised when I read this passage. Often times authors try to create a feeling or emotion that a character is undergoing, but it is often difficult for them to accurately portray this feeling or emotion as it affects a character of a younger age. Despite that Hurston was in her forties when she was writing Their Eyes Were Watching God, she was able to really captivate the emotion of a teenager coming to the realization of just how big the world is. Other authors often fail at recreating this feeling for the reader. Therefore they fail at generating a sense of empathy for the character from the reader. The fact that Hurston is able to do so is meritorious.

Personally, this passage describes just how I felt when I came to this realization. Though I was at a younger age than Janie was in this scene, I remember the wonder that I felt as I was sitting on a swing in my backyard, looking into what seemed to be an infinite array of trees. Previous to that moment, it had always seemed to me as though the entire world dwelled within my very yard. I had always felt as the the world was within my grasp. Looking back, I often find myself embarrassed at how naive I once was. I then have to convince myself that coming to the realization of how small of a role each of us play in such an enormous world, is an essential part of growing up. Even now, as a teenager I find it hard to conceive a world outside of Westford because it is all I have ever known. Perhaps that's why so many of us are all too keen to head off to college soon.

The portrayal of Janie's wonder and awe at the world as a child suggests that she is eager to learn. As soon as she realizes that the world in her own backyard does not satisfy her, Janie searches further. The line "Waiting for the world to be made", describes Janie's hunger to discover her significance and just how real the world is. She is ardent in finding out how everything and everyone is connected, how the world is made.