Bury the Past and Look to the Horizon: Self-Discovery and Self-Fulfillment in Things Fall Apart and Their Eyes Were Watching God Anonymous College

The main characters in the novels Things Fall Apart written by Chinua Achebe in 1958, and Their Eyes Were Watching God written by Zora Neale Hurston in 1937 are Okonkwo and Janie Mae Crawford. The countries in which they reside (Nigeria and The United States), the time and side of history they occupy (pre and post Colonial Africa, and post-Independent America), and the natural environment that surrounds them, contributes to shaping their livelihoods. Okonkwo and Janie are both independent and heady in their decision-making and they attempt to retain their agency over those decisions and how it will impact their lives; such decisions are shaped by the natural world they inhabit. For Janie and Okonkwo, the natural world represent glimmers of hope and unveils certain difficult moments in their lives to be revelatory and the environment they inhabit also create meaning in their own lives. Through analogies, ancestral, allegorical story-telling, searching the horizon for meaning, and using pastoral language and ideas to create an illusion of control and ownership, both Janie and Okonkwo engage in and take responsibility for their lives in the midst of social and cultural upheaval.

The natural environments the characters inhabit play...