Oprah's Eyes Were Not Watching Oprah provides a false interpretation in Their Eyes Were Watching God by turning a vintage story into an altered tale. It changed many important aspects in Their Eyes Were Watching God by ignoring the symbolic meanings, character portrayal, relationships, and the entire theme of the story. Oprah stripped the story of its originality and left her with copious amounts of questions. Oprah changed the theme of Their Eyes Were Watching God giving the story less meaning. He changed the theme by converting a woman's journey into a romantic love story. By focusing on the story of love, Oprah distanced herself from the topic of self-disclosure. Zora Neale Hurston revealed that her book is the journey of a woman finding herself through the hardships of life. “So the beginning of this was a woman and she had come back from the burial of the dead” (Hurston 1). Janie's journey has made her realize that love can never be promised forever, that money does not create happiness and that life is about experience. “Now he knew that marriage did not make love. Janie's first dream was dead, so she became a woman” (Hurston 30). “There are two things that everyone must do for themselves. They managed to go to God, and they discovered how to live on their own” (Hurston 226). This means that during the Their Eyes Were Watching God period everyone needed to discover how to live their life for themselves, no one could live it for them. Oprah shows a romantic version of Their Eyes Were Watching God giving it a false meaning; this separates the true meaning of the theme attributed by Zora Neale Hurston. Oprah ignored the symbolic meaning of the gate by not realizing its importance to the book. The gate contained a very important... medium of paper... is it a city? Because, 'there's nothing but a wild place in the woods” (Hurston 40). Joe sees the city as a dump that needs to be cleaned up. It gives men and women the same characteristics allowing both to gossip. She allows women to gossip openly for Janie to hear rather than behind her back. “All the men she can get and she goes off with a guy like Tea Cake” (Film). Oprah created a city of poverty and gossip of both men and women. This took away the real Eatonville created by Zora Neale Hurston. Oprah stripped the story of its originality by ignoring things she thought were unimportant. It gave less meaning to the novel and gave a false understanding to Zora Neale Hurtson's book. It provided viewers with an overall false concept and information. Oprah abolished a woman's journey and transformed it into a romantic love story.