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Zora Neale Hurston, Alice Walker, and Paule Marshall Alice Walker, through her essay "In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens", and Paule Marshall, in "Poets In The Kitchen", both write about the African-American women of the past and how these women have had an impact on their writing. Walker and Marshall write about an identity they have found with these women because of their exposure to the African culture. These women were searching for independence and freedom. Walker expresses independence as found in the creative spirit, and Marshall finds it through the spoken word. Walker and Marshall celebrate these women's lives and they see them as inspirations to become black women writers. Zora Neale Hurston's "Sweat" embodies some aspects that are found in Walker's and Marshall's essays. Delia, the main character, has an identity that is found through her hard work and spirituality. She also finds her freedom and independence in her home. It is essential to first analyze Walker's and Marshall's essays through each of the themes of identity, independence, and inspiration, respectively. Then these themes will be drawn out of Hurston's work to show the similarity between each of these writers' works. Walker and Marshall write about an identity that they have found with African-American women of the past. They both refer to great writers such as Zora Neale Hurston or Phillis Wheatley. But more importantly, they connect themselves to their ancestors. The see that their writings can be identified with what the unknown African-American women of the past longed to say but they did not have the freedom to do so. They both admire many literary greats such as Charles Dickens, Virginia Woolf, and Jane Austen, but they appreciate these authors' works more than they can identify with them. Walker's and Marshall's identification is related to the African-American culture that they have been exposed to throughout their lives. Walker states that: Therefore we must pull out of ourselves and look at and identify with our lives the living creativity some of our great-grandmothers were not allowed to know. I stress some of them because it is well-known that the majority of our great-grandmothers knew without even "knowing" it, the reality of their spirituality, even if they didn't recognize it beyond what happened in the singing at church (Walker, 1996: 2318-2319). Walker delves into the subconscious and ever-present spirituality that is found in African-American women and she believes that it is important to identify with this.
Marshall uses many historical events that involved African American culture and conveyed his message of blackness and what it means to be an African American through his art work. Ah Xian uses the traditions of his culture and heritage to express where he came from and how heavily integrated it is into his identity. However these two artist differ in their ideas about cultural identity. Ah Xian believes that your culture doesn’t change simply because the times or your location have changed. Marshall has a different view he believes that a person culture will change with the location and events they experience. I agree with Marshall that our cultural identity can change because of the influences around us. We are constantly being influenced by politics, news, current events, media and changes in society; Art in general and art forms such Popular culture and new media is constantly changing and inspiring people connecting with them and influencing us every day. Allowing us to identify with Art and experience it in new
Ethnic group is a settled mannerism for many people during their lives. Both Zora Neale Hurston, author of “How It Feels to Be Colored Me; and Brent Staples, author of “Just Walk On By: A Black Man Ponders His Power to Alter Public Space,” realize that their life will be influenced when they are black; however, they take it in pace and don’t reside on it. They grew up in different places which make their form differently; however, in the end, It does not matter to them as they both find ways to match the different sexes and still have productivity in their lives.. Hurston was raised in Eatonville, Florida, a quiet black town with only white passer-by from time-to-time, while Staples grew up in Chester, Pennsylvania, surrounded by gang activity from the beginning. Both Hurston and Staples share similar and contrasting views about the effect of the color of their
This paper examines the drastic differences in literary themes and styles of Richard Wright and Zora Neale Hurston, two African--American writers from the early 1900's. The portrayals of African-American women by each author are contrasted based on specific examples from their two most prominent novels, Native Son by Wright, and Their Eyes Were Watching God by Hurston. With the intent to explain this divergence, the autobiographies of both authors (Black Boy and Dust Tracks on a Road) are also analyzed. Particular examples from the lives of each author are cited to demonstrate the contrasting lifestyles and experiences that created these disparities, drawing parallels between the authors’ lives and creative endeavors. It becomes apparent that Wright's traumatic experiences involving females and Hurston's identity as a strong, independent and successful Black artist contributed significantly to the ways in which they chose to depict African-American women and what goals they adhered to in reaching and touching a specific audience with the messages contained in their writing.
Hurston, Zora Neale. Spunk: The Selected Stories of Zora Neale Hurston. Berkeley, CA: Turtle Island Foundation, 1985. Print. 106 pages
Zora Neale Hurston’s “Sweat” is one of the well-renowned stories in the American literature. As an extraordinary American writer, Hurston’s writing emphasizes on depicting the real-life events. Hurston’s famous story “Sweat” is the story of an African-American wash women Delia Jones, who has been physically, verbally, and emotionally abused and cheated by her husband. Throughout the story, Hurston used different symbols, setting and climax in order to explore the idea of hard work and justice.
Zora Neale Hurston was a novelist, folklorist, and anthropologist. Zora plays an important role for the Harlem Renaissance. Zora Neale Hurston is considered one of the titans of twentieth-century African American literature. Despite that she would later fall into disgrace because of her firm views of civil rights, her lyrical writing which praise southern black culture has influenced generations of black American literary figures. Hurston’s work also had an impact on later black American authors such as Ralph Ellison, Alice Walker, and Toni Morrison.
The author mentions that another beginning factor that assisted in forming Thurgood Marshall’s perspectives involve...
James, Johson Weldon. Comp. Henry Louis. Gates and Nellie Y. McKay. The Norton Anthology of African American Literature. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2004. 832. Print.
To most people, the name Zora Neale Hurston is associated solely with Their Eyes Were Watching God, her most famous work. In some cases her name is synonymous with the Harlem Renaissance. However, very few people are informed about the aspects of Zora's life that influenced her writing of Their Eyes , nor do they know about how she arrived in New York to become one of the most famous Black female writers of her time. Robert Hemenway's Zora Neale Hurston: A Literary Biography and Valerie Boyd's Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston both seek to educate people about the life of this writer and to give the reader information about her other literary works. Both authors also draw from other sources to tell the story of Zora's life, including interviews with friends and colleagues and Zora's own words.
Two well regarded and recognized poets, Maya Angelou and Alice Walker, wrote lots of different renowned poetry that is appreciated for its beauty and its truth. Both poets are African American woman, although in different times, many of their words rang true to one other. Their work can be compared and contrasted by understanding the poems as two separate pieces of work, and then looking at how each are similar and different in their own respects.
The 1930 's were a conflicting time for race relations in America. Despite the decline of such organizations as the Ku Klux Klan, which had renewed support during the 1910 's and 1920 's, racism was as strong as ever in the Southern states. Literature at this time was affected as authors included the clear distinction within the social class relating to skin color. Authors such as Richard Wright and Zora Neale Hurston published credible novels containing African prejudice at the time. Another American author, William Faulkner born in 1897, finished writing his novel Light in August. A story dealing with issues such as racism, and social class in the heart of Mississippi in 1932. Other works of his including The Sound and the Fury and Absalom, Absalom! include the clear African prejudice due to the character’s beliefs, Southern setting, and current segregation time period. In the novel Light in August, William Faulkner demonstrates the struggle to find self-identity within the characters while exploring the idea of racism.
Thesis Statement: Alice Walker, a twentieth and twenty- first century novelist is known for her politically and emotionally charged works, which exposes the black culture through various narrative techniques.
Hinton, Kip Austin. "Zora Neale Hurston." Zora Neale Hurston Web Site. Kip Austin Hinton, ed. 07/16/2003. Available at www.1.am/zora
During this era African Americans were facing the challenges of accepting their heritage or ignoring outright to claim a different lifestyle for their day to day lives. Hughes and Cullen wrote poems that seemed to describe themselves, or African Americans, who had accepted their African Heritage and who also wanted to be a part of American heritage as well. These are some of the things they have in common, as well as what is different about them based on appearance, now I shall focus on each author individually and talk about how they are different afterwards.
"Alice Walker (1944-)." Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter. Vol. 319. Detroit: Gale, Cengage Learning, 2012. 145-203. Literature Criticism Online. Gale. . 2 December 2013