Their Eyes Were Watching God is a novel written by an African-American writer Zora Neale Hurston. This book secures a special place in American literature and remains the most famous work of the author. In this essay, the summary of the narrative and description of the main characters and themes will be provided. In addition, personal opinion on the novel will be included at the end of the paper. The Summary of the Novel The narrative represents a life story of a middle-aged woman, Janie Crawford, who was brought up by her grandmother, Nanny. Trying to build a better life for Janie, Nanny arranges her marriage with an old farm worker, Logan Killicks. This alliance, however, does not bring happiness for Janie, who is looking for love. Being a very pragmatic and cold man, Logan expects his wife to be a hard farmworker rather than a life partner. After Nanny’s death, Janie decides to leave Logan and runs away to Eatonville with another man, Joe Starks. In Eatonville, Joe becomes a successful businessman and achieves recognition and respect for residents. Soon, Janie realizes that Joe does no treat her well and tries to control everything that she does. Even though they are married for a long time, this marriage turns out to be a torture for Janie as Joe starts hitting her and suppressing emotionally. Later, Joe dies of kidney disease, and Janie gains financial independence. In some time, Janie meets a young and attractive man, Vergible Woods, and falls in love with him. He becomes her third husband, who she marries for love as she was always dreaming about. Unfortunately, this marriage does not bring much joy to Janie’s life either. One day, during the hurricane in Florida, her husband gets bitten by a rabid dog, which resulted in his aggressive and unpredictable behavior. Being unable to control his anger, Vergible initiates arguments and tries to kill Janie. During one of these disputes, she defenses herself and accidentally shoots Vergible. The story ends when Janie returns to Eatonville after her husband’s funeral. The Main Characters and Theme of the Book The protagonist of the story, Janie Crawford, is a very naïve and dreamy girl who believes in marriage for love. However, as the narrative develops, and she becomes older, readers can notice transformations in her personality. Being married three times, she is always under the pressure of gender norms and physical abuse from her husbands. Trying to change her life for the better, Janie struggles to find a partner who would treat her equally. While the first husband tries to force her to work hard on the farm, the second one treats her as his possession rather than a human being. Only during her third marriage, Janie experiences true love and equal treatment, but she is still easily manipulated by her spouse. Throughout the narrative, Janie tries to be independent, stay true to herself, and build a family based on equality and partnership. Her freedom-loving character is shown through Janie’s thoughts about life that is described in the novel numerous times. For instance, she advises her friend to never listen to the opinions of other people, but go and see if she wants to know something. “Pheoby, you got to go there to know there. Yo papa and yo’ mamma and nobody else can’t tell yuh and sho