In this excerpt from Dust Tracks on a Road: An Autobiography, Zora Neale Hurston discussed her childhood home, her family and the lesson instilled in her by her mother. Hurston reveals that she wanted to be like her mother but that her personality was nothing like that of her mother. Zora Neale Hurston dislplays her childhood wonder through reminiscence and alternating her perspective. Hurston beings this excerpt with a reminiscence. Hurston tells of the neighborhood and home that she grew up in and how there where Cape jasmine bushes lining the sidewalks. “When I got to New York and found out that the people called them gardenias, and that the flowers cost a dollar each, I was impressed...A dollar for a Cape jasmine bloom! Folks up north there must be crazy.” (ll. 7-13) By opening this excerpt with a story like this it contextualizes Hurston’s childhood. In this paragraph Hurston writes as an adult reflecting on the past, but as the excerpt progresses her point of view changes.
Zora Neale Hurston’s diction is childish and becomes more informal as the excerpt progresses. In paragraphs two, three and four Hurston goes into more detail about her childhood home and family and calls her parents “Mama” and “Papa.” By addressing
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Hurston states,” She said that there was no need for us to live like “no-count Negroes and poor-white trash,” (ll. 58-60). It is clear that Hurston mother wanted what was best for her children. Hurston writes, “Things like that gave me my first glimmering of the universal female gospel that all good traits and learnings come from the mother’s side,” (ll. 65-68). From this the reader can infer that Hurston’s childhood was dictated by these good traits and learnings. Here, Hurston is indirectly tell her audience that she admires her mother. This universal female gospel is present in all cultures in some form or another and Hurston admires her mother for teaching her
Zora Neale Hurston was born in Notasulga Alabama on, January 7, 1891. When she was a little girl her family moved to the now iconic town of Eatonville Florida. She was fifth child of eight of John Hurston and Lucy Ann Hurston. Eatonville was one of the first all-black towns to be established in the United States. Zora’s interest in literature was piqued when a couple of northern teachers, came to Eatonville and gave her books of folklore and fantasy. After her mother died, her father and new stepmother sent her to a boarding school. In 1918 Hurston began her undergraduate studies at Howard...
Zora Neale was an early 20th century American novelist, short story writer, folklorist, and anthropologist. In her best known novel Their eyes were watching God, Hurston integrated her own first-hand knowledge of African American oral culture into her characters dialogue and the novels descriptive passages. By combing folklore, folk language and traditional literary techniques; Hurston created a truly unique literary voice and viewpoint. Zora Neale Hurston's underlying theme of self-expression and search for one’s independence was truly revolutionary for its time. She explored marginal issues ahead of her time using the oral tradition to explore contentious debates. In this essay I will explore Hurston narrative in her depiction of biblical imagery, oppression of African women and her use of colloquial dialect.
This piece of auto biographical works is one of the greatest pieces of literature and will continue to inspire young and old black Americans to this day be cause of her hard and racially tense background is what produced an eloquent piece of work that feels at times more fiction than non fiction
As a reader of the Zora Neale Hurston book; Dust Tracks on a road, I discovered many different significance of the title. Zora was a little black girl growing up in the 1900’s, where in that time period their where a lot of race riots. She never established that she was misused or treated poorly by whites. According to Zora she got the most love and gracious from whites. Due to that time period a color girl being civil with whites and getting treated nicely by whites was not usual. Zora father was the person in town who established all the rules, so Zora had to have this attitude and act presentable because who her father was. At the age of nine Zora lost somebody who was very much important to her (her mother). Growing up without a mother is rather difficult for a little black girl in that time period and can cause many emotions. Many may not understand but can make you want to live a strong life and give your all to do something. As a child a white man said these words to Zora “Do not be a nigger” (Hurston, 1900’s, p.x). Not meaning it as don’t be black, but meaning be more than the color of your skin. As Zora set out on big dreams and goals to not be just a nigger but to be more. So as you think about the title this road that Zora has made she has to gone down this dusty to be a better Zora and not just for herself but for everybody in her race to make them succeed.
However, there is something to say about promoting pride within one’s community. There has been a trend in education to promote celebration and awareness instead of tolerance to combat racism. This aligns with what Hurston tries to argue. The traditional “color-blindness” model has proven not to work. At the same time, it can be argued that this is a redundant “fight fire with fire” tactic. Hurston conveniently ignores the many ways that blacks are treated less than whites within the united states at the time. Would blacks be better off if they were left to themselves in a constant situation of minority? This might have been a situation where pride was successfully sacrificed to promote give equal opportunity to all
Zora Neale Hurston was, the daughter of a Baptist minister and an educated scholar who still believed in the genius contained within the common southern black vernacular(Hook http://splavc.spjc.cc.fl.us/hooks/Zora.html). She was a woman who found her place, though unstable, in a typical male profession. Hurston was born on January 7, 1891 in Eatonville, Florida, the first all-incorporated black town in America. She found a special thing in this town, where she said, "... [I] grew like a like a gourd and yelled bass like a gator," (Gale, 1). When Hurston was thirteen she was removed from school and sent to care for her brother's children. She became a member of a traveling theater at the age of sixteen, and then found herself working as a maid for a white woman. This woman saw a spark that was waiting for fuel, so she arranged for Hurston to attend high school in Baltimore. She also attended Morgan Academy, now called Morgan State University, from which she graduated in June of 1918. She then enrolled in the Howard Prep School followed by later enrollment in Howard University. In 1928 Hurston attended Barnard College where she studied anthropology under Franz Boas. After she graduated, Zora returned to Eatonville to begin work on anthropology. Four years after Hurston received her B.A. from Barnard she enrolled in Columbia University to begin graduate work (Discovering Authors, 2-4). Hurston's life seemed to be going well but she was soon to see the other side of reality.
I think both authors would agree with this view. Both stories involve a woman and how they are viewed as well as the struggles they face. Hurston’s story is about a power struggle between men and women. She states “see God and ast Him for a li’l mo’ strength so Ah kin whip dis ’oman and make her mind.”
Ong, Geo. “A Headstone for an Aunt: How Alice Walker Found Zora Neale Hurston.” The Urchin Movement, The Urchin Movement, 5 Feb. 2013, www.urchinmovement.com/2013/02/05/a-headstone-for-an-aunt-how-alice-walker-found-zora-neale-hurston/.
Despite the mindset that most of her peers keep about the inequality of race, she maintains an open mind and declares to the reader that she finds everyone equal. Thus proving herself as a person ahead of her own time. What I feel is truly remarkable about this author is that despite all the scrutiny and anguish that she faces like most of her race at the time she does not take a negative attitude towards white people and she actually chooses to ignore the general racial segregation. Her charming wit and sense of humor despite all the hardship is what attracts the reader. Hurston does not let her social disadvantages stop her from trying to achieve her aspirations and dreams.
Within her article, A Society of One: Zora Neale Hurston, American Contrarian, Claudia R. Pierpont, a writer and journalist for The New Yorker, tells, analyzes, and gives foundation to Zora Neale Hurston’s backstory and works. Throughout her piece, as she gives her biography of Hurston, she deeply analyzes the significance of Richard Wright, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, as he accuses Hurston of “cynically perpetuating a minstrel tradition meant to make white audiences laugh”(Pierpont 3). By doing so, Wright challenges Hurston’s authority to speak for the “black race” as he claims that her works do not take a stance, rather she only writes to please the “white audience. ”As his critiques show to be oppressive, Pierpont reminds the reader the
Zora Hurston was an African American proto-feminist author who lived during a time when both African Americans and women were not treated equally. Hurston channeled her thirst for women’s dependence from men into her book Their Eyes Were Watching God. One of the many underlying themes in her book is feminism. Zora Hurston, the author of the book, uses Janie to represent aspects of feminism in her book as well as each relationship Janie had to represent her moving closer towards her independence.
In Zora Neale Hurston’s powerful feminist novel, “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” she tells the story of Janie Stark and her journey into becoming a powerful black woman during the time when those words were not spoken together. Hurston uses Janie as an archetype for what we should all aspire to be, because in Hurston’s eyes, and the eyes of many others, Janie is the only character in the novel that gets it right. The thing about Janie that set her apart from everyone else, the reason that she got it right, was not because she was just born that way, but it was because she used all of the trials and hardships in her life to her advantage. She never crumbled or quit, but she continued to move on and use her life experiences to help mold to her
She even talks about how they were being generous to her. For example, Hurston says, “During this period, white people differed from colored to me only in that they rode through town and never lived there. They liked to hear me “speak pieces" and sing and wanted to see me dance the parse-me-la, and gave me generously of their small silver for doing these things, which seemed strange to me for I wanted to do them so much that I needed bribing to stop, only they didn 't know it” (539). Hurston would soon find out that when she had to leave her small town to go to a boarding school because of family changes that the real world is full of racism and discrimination towards colored people. I think this is when she realizes that she is
Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz factors out how it is always the dominant culture who has found it their duty to define the Black woman. Which then subjects the question of, “Is it fair for the white race to define motherhood of the black culture based off what they only see?” The first step into figuring out the meaning of motherhood in the black culture is to first break its meaning down to the simplest form. In order to do that one must analyze all phases of what black motherhood is which transforms into true womanhood and equates to a “good” mother, according to Collins (Sealey-Ruiz 141-53). Motherhood is defined as the kinship between a mother and her offspring(s). Then we have womanhood which is merely just the state of being a woman. Now when you define what a “good” woman is one
The mother in the story a nameless figure with very little description and almost no voice what so ever. She is a bitter reminder of how society views some woman. They are seen as a permanent stature of a home but not necessarily a figure in society. The kids both very loud and annoying portray a selfish, rude, an almost ignorant way of society such as Jo...