eir Eyes Were Watching God: The novel's title is taken from Chapter 18, as the hurricane strikes the Everglades. Tea Cake and Janie "sat in company with the others in other shanties, their eyes straining against crude walls and their souls asking if he meant to measure their puny might against His. They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God" (151). This passage, taken in conjunction with other occurrences in Their Eyes Were Watching God, signifies God's arbitrary will, which provides Janie and her companions with a sense of fate and destiny. Janie recognizes that people have to be watching because life comes down hard on them, as evidenced in the case of many characters throughout the novel.Top Ten Quotes 1) Janie, on her gossiping neighbors, stressing the importance of storytelling and oral tradition: "Ah don't mean to bother wid tellin' 'em nothin', Pheoby. 'Tain't worth de trouble. You can tell 'em what Ah say if you wants to. Dat's just de same as me 'cause mah tongue is in mah friend's mouf" (6). 2) Janie, to the men of Eatonville: "Sometimes God gits familiar wid us womenfolks too and talks His inside business. He told me?how surprised y'all is goin' tuh be if you ever find out you don't know half as much 'bout us as you think yo do. It's so easy to make yo'self out God Almighty when you ain't got nothin' tuh strain against but women and c...
