"That Evening Sun" & Their Eyes Were Watching God

Nancy is a dependent of white people who employ her, treat her like a child, and generally dismiss her. The horror of the story lies in the little boy's repeated remark that he is "not a nigger", contrasted with Nancy's statement that she is "nothing but a nigger" (1130). The child is being socialized into a system where his view of black people will be just like the ideas that Nancy herself has absorbed. In her view of the social order, and her position in it, she has been as thoroughly socialized as the child will be. Nancy expects to be victimized in various ways by Mr. Stovall, by the narrator's family, and by Jesus. The problem is that she is torn between those who victimize her. Her question is one of who has greater rights over her--white people who expect her to prostitute herself or the black man who blames her for it.

Hurston's Janie, on the other hand, begins with the values of the dominant white society and moves toward the appreciation of African American life and culture. Acceptance of domination is preached to her as her role in life. Her grandmother, Nanny, sees no way to get on i

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the biggest thing God ever made, the horizon . . . and pinched it in to such a little bit of a thing that she could tie it about her granddaughter's neck tight enough to choke her" (85). Nancy is left behind, contained in her cabin, diminishing until she disappears from view. Janie, on the other hand, "pulled in her horizon like a great fish-net . . . and draped it over her shoulder" (184). B. The circumstances of the lives of Faulkner's Nancy and Hurston's Janie lead them to different perceptions of the nature of God's role in their lives. In both cases, however, the God they learned about (and religion in general) was part of the structure of male domination that had created the situations in which they found themselves. Nancy's acceptance of what she had been taught contrasts with Janie's desire to work it out for herself. Nancy's religion is one that features a wrathful God and punishment. Jesus the man blends with Jesus the God in Faulkner's story. When the children go to see why Nancy is making a strange noise in the night the noise is described as being "like singing and it wasn't like singing, like the sounds that Negroes make" (1130). This refers to the singing of religious spirituals. The fear that Her man
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Janie God, Janie Nancy's, Nancy Janie, Hurston's Janie, Massa Jesus, Nancy Nanny, God Faulkner's, African American, God Hurston, Jesus Nancy, janie hand, eyes watching god, watching god, eyes watching, circumstances lives, hurston's janie, cabin protection, view janie, treat child, janie god, faulkner's story,
Approximate Word count = 1208
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)