『그들의 눈은 신을 보고 있었다』에 나타난 생태주의 연구

A Study on Ecological Features of Their Eyes Were Watching God

This paper analyzes Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston's most well-known novel, focusing on the ecological aspects which are found in the plot as well as in the names of the main characters. After many years of unfair evaluation, the works of Hurston, including this novel, started to have been reevaluated by recent critics and authors, as various literary assessment methods have changed, and black women writers have gained public reputations as well. Since the publication in 1937, Their Eyes Were Watching God has been misunderstood in a patriarchal and racist literary culture. Hence, it has been the center of both acclaim and criticism, because it is a novel of a black woman who kills her third husband on her own in a white, male-dominated society. Contrary to former scholars who have paid attention only to the identity growth of Janie, the main female character of this novel, I try to focus on Hurston's implied but ongoing interest in the relations not only between men and women, men and society, but also between men and nature. In this novel, Hurston gives all of the male characters unique names which are related to trees; Logan Killicks, Jody Starks, and Vergible Woods. She also represents Janie as a fertile and lively woman with many characteristics of 'Mother Nature.' In addition, Hurston effectively conveys her points of view about men and nature, by taking away her husband Tea Cake's life and giving him back to life in her own memory at the end of the novel. These ecological features of Their Eyes Were Watching God show that men cannot live by themselves without positive interactions with other beings on the Earth, that we human beings should have a brand-new eco-critical vision that each and every being has its own value and role in the ecosystem on the Earth, and that we humans should also try hard to find the best way to live harmoniously together and cooperate with other beings on the Earth.