In this thesis, I argue that in her 1937 novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston demonstrates protagonist Janie Crawford's development through her use of gesture. As the narrative moves throughout Janie's life, she becomes progressively able to communicate her feelings and desires through the use of her body's movements. By depicting Janie's subjectivity as fundamentally embodied, Hurston indicates an awareness of the cultural oppression Janie suffers, linking her body to those of women in the past that suffered as slaves. She draws attention to Janie's body by relying on her gestures in order to emphasize the challenges Janie faces and ultimately transcends in her journey towards greater self-awareness and understanding. In addition to her novel, I also rely on Hurston's essay \"Characteristics of Negro Expression\" in order to show how she employs gesture as a mode of communication that can communicate as clearly as spoken language within Janie's community.
","abstract_html":"<p>In this thesis, I argue that in her 1937 novel <em>Their Eyes Were Watching God</em>, Zora Neale Hurston demonstrates protagonist Janie Crawford's development through her use of gesture. As the narrative moves throughout Janie's life, she becomes progressively able to communicate her feelings and desires through the use of her body's movements. By depicting Janie's subjectivity as fundamentally embodied, Hurston indicates an awareness of the cultural oppression Janie suffers, linking her body to those of women in the past that suffered as slaves. She draws attention to Janie's body by relying on her gestures in order to emphasize the challenges Janie faces and ultimately transcends in her journey towards greater self-awareness and understanding. In addition to her novel, I also rely on Hurston's essay "Characteristics of Negro Expression" in order to show how she employs gesture as a mode of communication that can communicate as clearly as spoken language within Janie's community.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Celley, Madeline Elizabeth"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"M.A.","degree_level":"Masters Thesis","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Tayana L. Hardin, Ph.D.","Billy Stratton","Hava Gordon"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2016,"date_issued":"2016-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2016-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:02:03Z","subjects":["Gesture","Hurston","Performativity","Their Eyes Were Watching God","African American Studies","English Language and Literature","Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
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"]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Flinging the Apron and Tearing the Kerchief: Janie Crawford's Gestures in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Tayana L. Hardin, Ph.D.","Billy Stratton","Hava Gordon"],"dc:creator":["Celley, Madeline Elizabeth"],"dc:date.available":["2017-02-14T08:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["In this thesis, I argue that in her 1937 novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston demonstrates protagonist Janie Crawford's development through her use of gesture. As the narrative moves throughout Janie's life, she becomes progressively able to communicate her feelings and desires through the use of her body's movements. By depicting Janie's subjectivity as fundamentally embodied, Hurston indicates an awareness of the cultural oppression Janie suffers, linking her body to those of women in the past that suffered as slaves. She draws attention to Janie's body by relying on her gestures in order to emphasize the challenges Janie faces and ultimately transcends in her journey towards greater self-awareness and understanding. In addition to her novel, I also rely on Hurston's essay \"Characteristics of Negro Expression\" in order to show how she employs gesture as a mode of communication that can communicate as clearly as spoken language within Janie's community.
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"],"dc:subject":["Gesture","Hurston","Performativity","Their Eyes Were Watching God","African American Studies","English Language and Literature","Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies"],"dc:title":["Flinging the Apron and Tearing the Kerchief: Janie Crawford's Gestures in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God"],"thesis:degree_level":["Masters Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["M.A."]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:02:03Z"}