ISSN : 2950-869X
Their Eyes Were Watching God is a classic in African American literature written by African American female writer Zora Neale Huston. Pulitzer Prize winner Alice Walker once stated that there was no book more important to her than this one. By depicting Janie’s process of awakening, from an innocent girl to a mature and independent woman with feminist consciousness, the novel tells the story of an African American girl’s journey of desire-pursuing. Desire is deemed as the essence of a human being by French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan. According to his theory of desire, human yearnings consist of three levels: need, demand, and desire. As the highest level of the three, desire is often unsatisfied and therefore keeps motivating the actions of human beings. Based on Lacan’s theory on desire, this paper focuses on the desire of the protagonist Janie, trying to answer questions such as: What is Janie’s desire? What’s the relationship between Janie’ s desire and other characters’ desires? Through analyzing symbolism in the novel, Janie’s desire or quest for self-identity and love will be revealed.
City branding and identity are important aspects of understanding the historical, socio-cultural, economic, and political aspects of a locale. This study looks into the impact of large-scale events on the branding of cities. More specifically, it explores the experiences of various cities on how they develop and implement mega events and what it means for their city branding. This study employs a qualitative research approach through data analysis of existing studies and other online resources. This study examines the history of city branding relative to various events, such as sports. Specifically, it discusses the experiences of large-scale city events, the role of stakeholders, cases of cultural events, sports events, the impact of social media, and some of the key challenges related to this. This study concludes by affirming the positive contributions of large-scale events in developing and maintaining city branding and identity. Large-scale events help boost local tourism, contribute to economic growth, strengthen citizens’ sense of identity and belonging, and promotes culture worldwide.