In what ways could Wallace's theory be applicable to [Their Eyes Were Watching God]?
How could this novel specifically develop empathy and emotional intelligence, as well as contribute to the self-awareness of the reader?

Wallace's Theory is people should be thinking about different people's perspective. Simply, people tend to forget the importance of surroundings if they are too close to our daily routine like Wallace made a comparison with young and old goldfish at the beginning of his essay. It is also related to [Thier Eyes Were Watching God] written by Zora Neale Hurston because throughout her novel, it develops the emotion of Janie in detail with much explanation of surroundings or atmosphere of the situation which leads the reader to eventually think in the way how Janie does. Also, the flow of the novel is quite simple and time-based, which allows the reader to understand the situation easier than other novels which keep skipping between multiple points of view in different time periods, which might confuse the reader. As the novel flows naturally, the readers can easily feel emotionally related to the protagonist even though the reader doesn't really have any of the similarities based on their culture or race. As Emotional Intelligence is based on people's ability of empathy, and this novel has many of the aspects of developing empathy throughout reading process, the novel [The Eyes Were Watching God] helps the reader to develop their empathy and emotional intelligence.