Journal #8: What is the significance of the title? What does Hurston suggest about the relationship between the characters and God?

Hurston suggests that God is omnipresent in the characters' lives. Although things happening around them are very real, the explanation for them is that it's God's doing. When things are difficult to understand, either wonderful or terrible, the source is God's power. The balance between real world and spiritual belief is highlighted in this quote: "They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God." The characters not only fully accept that God is the meaning of everything, but they cling to the belief with all of their might. The fact that everything is explained as God's doing does not suggest that the characters are uneducated and have no other answer; the characters are merely religious.