Their Eyes Were Watching God; The struggles of the past that leech into the present

I will tell you the truth, most of the books that I have read and remember enough to post about were from high school. Some books come to mind more clearly than others. Their Eyes Were Watching God is one example that stood out to me. My english teacher at the time, Ms. Wathen, had us read this, and it truly meant a lot to read it while all of us were growing and maturing into adults. This story is a coming of age tale in the best way, we follow the growth and life of Janie Crawford, a girl shaped by the civil war and the racial tensions after. Living with her maternal grandmother who lived through the civil war, and being freed from slavery really shaped how she raised Janie. I was like Janie, hoping for my prince to come, but life has a way of changing things. She goes from marrying for the sake of family, and dealing with being put in the female stereotype, "Thank yuh fuh yo’ compliments, but mah wife don’t know nothin’ ‘bout no speech-makin’. Ah never married her for nothin’ lak dat. She’s uh woman and her place is in de home." Her struggles in finding love, and making a life for HERSELF first really stuck out to me.