During the early 1900s, racial tension continued to grow. Despite slavery having ended decades previously, African Americans were still far from being equal to White people. This inequality can be seen in chapter 18 of Their Eyes Were Watching God, when the characters were attempting to survive the hurricane that was taking place on the Muck. By looking at Zora Neale Hurston’s symbolic use of day night, the portrayal of God, and word choice when mentioning white people, we see that Zora Neale Hurston is relating the Hurricane to racial issues during the 1920s and 1930s in America. This is significant because these racial tensions influenced Janie’s and Tea Cake’s actions leading up to and during the hurricane, which eventually led to Tea Cake’s death. 

During the hurricane, Hurston uses two key symbols: light (or daytime) and night (or darkness). The light represents mercy, hope, and security, as we can see when Hurston writes “It is so easy to be hopeful in the day time when you can see the things you wish on” (Hurston 158). This shows that the characters were still able to have hope when they could see what was going on outside. Night on the other hand, represents fear and powerlessness. When Hurston writes that “Night was striding across nothingness with the whole round world in his hands” (Hurston 158), we visualize Night as being a huge and powerful being, able to consume everything and everyone. While there is still light, there is still hope that the storm won’t devour them. But the moment the light goes out, that hope disappears. So when Hurston writes that the “wind came back…and put the light out for the last time” (Hurston 160), all hope that the hurricane will not harm them is gone. The light represented the characters’ hope, so when the winds became stronger, the characters lost hope, and their light went out.

The symbols of light and darkness help describe the feelings of the characters during the storm, which represents how the racial issues during the 1930s got as bad as they did. When light or daytime is mentioned, there is still hope that the storm (racial tension) will just pass over or be solved. However, when night comes and the light goes out, there is no chance that the storm will pass over. They had to deal with it because it had become an issue they could no longer ignore. In this situation, the hurricane represents the worsening racial issues. Hurston was trying to explain that up to a point, there was still hope that the gradual worsening of racial issues would just pass over. However, the light eventually went out and the worsening issues became a huge problem that would not go away on its own. This affected Janie and Tea Cake’s decision to wait out the storm because before the storm came, it was still light outside, so they still had hope that it would pass them over. But it ended up being much worse than they expected and they had to try to deal with the issue at its worst point.

The word choice that Hurston uses when talking about white people (also called the “bossman” or the “people”) and African Americans (also referred to as “folks”) makes the reader think that the white characters are in control of everything. After the “folks in their quarters and the people in the big houses further around the shore heard the big lake,” (Hurston 158) Hurston writes that “If the castles thought themselves secure, the cabins needn’t worry” (158). The “folks” (The black people) felt safe in their little cabins because the “bossman might have the [lake] stopped by morning” (Hurston). The black people were confident in the white people’s ability to keep them safe from the hurricane and the overflowing lake. Also, referring to the white people as “people” and the African Americans as “folks” has a dehumanizing effect on the African Americans. Hurston also wrote that “The folks let the people do the thinking” (Hurston 158). This is saying that the black people in the muck didn’t need to decide whether or not to leave, because the white people had made their decision already. The black peoples’ “decision was already made as always” (Hurston). 

One message that Hurston is trying to convey here is that African Americans during this time period needed to start to take the lead in gaining their rights. They couldn’t wait around for white people to help them, or else they’d be stuck where they were, just like how Janie and Tea Cake were stuck in the hurricane. And just like how Tea Cake died due to the fact that they had tried to stay in the muck, Hurston was trying to say that African Americans would only be worse off if they waited for the white people to help them gain their rights. 

God is mentioned several times in these passages, and is portrayed as an all-powerful being. The hurricane is a representation of God’s power in these passages. The book talks about how the black folks in the muck would “Chink up [their] cracks, shiver in [their] wet beds and wait on the mercy of the Lord” (158). This adds a sense of hopelessness for the characters because they are unable to do anything except wait. They stayed in the muck and prayed that God would show them mercy and spare them from his demonstration of his power. But God continued to show his power and “He meant to measure their puny might against His” (160). The black folks were completely defenseless against the hurricane, and Hurston wrote that “They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God” (160). The dark, as we know, represents fear and powerlessness. So, this is saying that they were in fear of what God was doing but they could do nothing about it, only God could.

God is portrayed here as being able to assert his power over people with ease. He is controlling the hurricane in these passages. God represents the power that white men have in society during this time period. He was able to control the hurricane just like white men were able to create new racial issues and tensions. This would have effected Janie and Tea Cake’s decision to stay in the muck because they were following the white people’s decisions. And the white people decided to stay because their big houses could withstand the storm. But Jim Crow laws (which were some of the new racial issues) and the idea of “separate but equal” could be seen in the size of the houses; the white people’s houses could withstand the hurricane, but the black people’s cabins could not. So, Janie and Tea Cake thought themselves safe since the white people stayed, but they were not. 

During these passages, Zora Neale Hurston was trying to show how much black people were affected by the racial issues and tensions of the time. Janie and Tea Cake had decided to stay in the muck because it was still light when they made their decision, so there was the chance the storm would pass them over and they thought they would be safe since the white people were staying. But this led to Tea Cake’s death by the end of the story. I believe that through this, Zora Neale Hurston was trying to say that even though there was still hope that the racial issues of the time would be solved before they got any worse, black people had to start taking the initiative if they wanted to get things done, or else they would end up like Tea Cake, being stuck in the worst of the storm and never really making it out.
