Their Eyes Were Watching God // This is Water.

When looked as two separates written pieces, there aren't many similarities between Hurston’s "Their Eyes were watching god" and Wallace's "This Is Water". From the type of writing to the purpose of both pieces. However, when looked at through the same lens, a lot of Wallace's theories are applicable to Janie's life in Their Eyes were watching god. 

Overall, the idea of This is Water, is about the power of choice and how that gives real freedom to the people who take advantage of it. Wallace emphasizes that in order to live a content and optimistic life, you need to make sure that you don't fall trap to your subconscious mind. Though he understands that falling into these traps is sometimes not a choice, it needs to become one, one that we do not choose. It's the choices that you make in your everyday life - like when you're in traffic or even waiting in line a grocery store - that determine if you end up happy or not. This same idea can be applied to Janie's life. From the very beginning, Janie's decisiveness and determination are clear. The minute she sees a better opportunity she's right there grabbing on, Jody for instance. She wasn't happy with Logan and the minute she found a way out she jumped on board. The choice freed her from her loveless marriage with Logan. Things go well with Joe at first, but soon enough things start going south. Janie could have left, but decided to fall into the subconscious track and years and years past with her simply accepting her condition though deep inside the discomfort was eating at her. However, after Jody's death, she makes a choice and runs away with Tea Cake, a choice which leads her to a path full of happiness, love and fun, the path she's been dreaming of as a teenager watching the pear tree. At the end of the novel, Janie reaches her best point, a sense of freedom overcomes her, even after Tea Cakes death; which she would never have reached if she didn't make the choices all throughout the novel. 

From reading Their eyes were watching god, the main message that first popped in my head, among many was that everything happens for a reason. Every choice that Janie made brought her to where she is now. The human experience of choice and freedom of choice is something that I felt was a reoccurring theme in Hurston's novel. This resulted in me realizing in fact, how much freedom of choice we really have on a day to day basis. It's these choices that we make which determine how the rest of our life plays out. For instance, could you imagine what would have happened if Janie decided to stay with Logan? Would Eatonville exist? Would she ever meet tea cake? Phoebe? It's hard to imagine a reality other than the one we are living in, but understanding that things could have gone a completely different way is interesting and important in order to appreciate both the good and the bad that happen. 

Challenge yourself to make connections to Hurston’s purpose in how she crafts Janie’s journey of self-discovery “tuh de horizon and back” through specific references to the novel.