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Zora neale hurston literary criticism
Zora neale hurston literary criticism
History of african americans in the 20th century
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As a result of reading Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, I was able to gain insight into the African American culture in the deep South during the early 1900s. In her autobiography Dust Tracks on a Road, Hurston describes that she wanted to tell a “story about a man”, but “Negroes were suppose to write about the Race Problem” (50). However, she stated that she was thoroughly sick of the subject” and her “interest lies in what makes a man or a woman do such-and-so, regardless of her color” (50). She recognized that she would face criticism for her decision and was reluctant to publish the novel, but did as a result of her passion for anthropology and desire to document the Southern. I believe her courage and willingness …show more content…
to stray from the expected makes the novel more intriguing to read. While there are a plethora of works describing racial tensions that existed during the time period, there are not as many that so effectively highlight and preserve the culture that existed during this time period. I believe that Hurston was primarily able to capture the culture of the region in Their Eyes Were Watching God by writing all the dialogue in the vernacular language of the region and by incorporating the African American rural folklore and mythology that existed in the region at the time, for example Janie’s haunting personification of death (217). In addition to showcasing the African American culture, Hurston also describes the inequality that exists within the African American community during the time period.
Although literature set in the early 1900s in the United States focuses on the inequality that existed between white and colored people, much fails to mention the inequality that existed within the African American community. This inequality is especially seen in the actions of Joe Starks, Janie’s controlling second husband, in that everything he does as the mayor is excessive. After receiving the town streetlight, he ceremoniously “wiped it off carefully and put it up on a showcase for a week for everybody to see” and then he organizes a lavish lamplighting ceremony (140). Also, to ensure that the whole town knows how prosperous he is, Joe builds an elaborate two story house “with porches, with banisters, and such things” and he paints it “a gloaty, sparkly white” which is impossible to ignore(146). Furthermore, through the characterization of Mrs. Turner, Hurston also demonstrates the discrimination that African Americans faced within their own community. Mrs. Turner is disgusted by color people, even though she herself is one and she lives in an colored community in the Everglades. Mrs. Turner desires to have white skin and scorns all those who embraced their African American genetics and heritage (325). I believe that inequality within the colored community that Hurston expresses in her work is …show more content…
an universal idea. Almost all communities or organizations have hierarchies which can be useful for the progress of it, but if people, especially leaders, begin to think too highly of themselves it can result in corruption. I was especially interested by the structure of the novel as a frame narrative.
A frame narrative is a literary structure in which a secondary story is embedded within the primary story. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, the story of Janie’s life is framed within her returning to her hometown. I thought that the use of frame narrative was beneficial for giving meaning to Janie returning to the town. The use of the symbol of the horizon in the beginning and conclusion of the novel fully connected the frame narrative and gave this symbol more meaning. Hurston opens the novel figuratively talking about the numerous opportunities Janie’s life has: “Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men” (57). The concluding sentence of reflects on the many opportunities she has yet to encounter in her life: “She pulled in her horizon like a great fish-net. Pulled it from around the waist of the world and draped it over her shoulder. So much of life in its meshes” (428). I believe that by ending the novel describing Janie’s hopefully disposition toward her future demonstrates that her whole life story, that has been learned from her narrative, had the purpose of preparing her for something
incredible
What is one’s idea of the perfect marriage? In Zora Neal Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie has a total of three marriages and her best marriage was to Tea Cake. Janie’s worst and longest marriage was to Joe Starks where she lost her dream and was never happy. The key to a strong marriage is equality between each other because in Janie’s marriage to Joe she was not treated equally, lost apart of herself and was emotionally abused, but her and Tea Cake's marriage was based on equality and she was able to fully be herself.
..., she found her identity. It did not come easy for Janie. It took her years to find out who she really was.
Zora Hurston’s novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God” depicts the journey of a young woman named Janie Crawford’s journey to finding real love. Her life begins with a romantic and ideal view on love. After Janie’s grandmother, Nanny, soon grows fearful of Janie’s newfound sexuality and quickly marries Janie off to Logan Killicks, an older land owner with his own farm. Janie quickly grows tired of Logan and how he works her like a slave instead of treating her as a wife and runs away with Joe Starks. Joe is older than Janie but younger than Logan and sweet talks Janie into marring him and soon Joe becomes the mayor of an all African American town called Eatonville. Soon Joe begins to force Janie to hide not only her
Their Eyes Were Watching God is written by Zora Neale Hurston in the year of 1937. In the novel, the main character is Janie Crawford. Janie has been treated differently by others during her life because of how she was raised and the choices she has made throughout her life. The community is quick to judge her actions and listen to any gossip about Janie in the town. Janie is known to be “classed off” from other members in her community in various ways. “Classed off” means to be separate or isolated from other people.
In Their Eyes were watching God, Hurston’s heavy use of dialect and folk speech drew both praise and criticism from other African-American writers and literalists in her time. The toughest criticism came from Richard Wright, who wrote that Hurston “exploits that phase of Negro life which is ‘quaint.’” Wright said Hurston’s dialogue captured only the “psychological movements of the Negro folk-mind in their pure simplicity,” and likened Hurston’s technique to that of a minstrel show designed to appease a white audience. During a time of pervasive and overt racial oppression, Wright found in Their Eyes Were Watching God, “no theme, no message, no thought.”( Wright, 1937). This sparring or confliction of schools of thought or ideologies is one of the many fundamental differences that separate many black people today. People who follow Neale Hurston’s line of thought would say that although the black man has been afflicted by the environment that the “oppressor” or the white man has set for up him. Their eyes were watching God was written in the same time period as Native Son so why is there such large fundamental differences in the way that the two authors write? Wright’s description of racism is captivating, but not novel. Due to its tragic nature, the somber racial situation of mid-19th century America is well documented. The more interesting aspect of Wright’s account is his attribution of racism to massive misunderstandings between both blacks and whites of the other social group. On pages 18 and 19, Bigger and Gus play ‘whites and blacks’, a game in which they imitate the ostentatious and rude way in which they believe all white people speak. The separation between blacks and whites leads Bigger to view white society as “a cold and distant world; a world of white secrets carefully guided” . Wright does not blame Bigger for having such a narrow-minded view of white people, but
Zora Neale Hurston grew up in Eatonville, Florida also known as “Negro Town” (Hurston, 1960, p.1). Not because of the town was full of blacks, but because the town charter, mayor, and council. Her home town was not the first Negro community, but the first to be incorporated. Around Zora becoming she experienced many hangings and riots. Not only did Zora experience t...
“There are years that ask questions and years that answer.” From the moment one is born, one begins to form their identity through moments and experiences that occur throughout the years. In Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie’s identity of independence arises through her past marriages through the words and actions of her husbands.
The contrast of these two places reinforces the theme of a search for love and fulfillment. To see what an ideal situation for an independent woman like would be, Hurston must first show the reader what Janie cannot deal with. Hurston has her character Janie go on a quest, one that was begun the day she was forced to marry Logan Killucks. The contrast in the setting is similar to one between good and evil.
When thinking about the novels that are read in high school, To Kill A Mockingbird and The Great Gatsby come to mind for most people. The novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston usually is not thought of. Throughout the years, critics believed Hurston’s novel to be just fiction and that it pose no meaning. In spite of the novel not having much politics, it does contain many social issues from the past that are still somewhat relevant today. Above all, Their Eyes Were Watching God deals with the way people are unequally treated in society based on their gender, race, or anything that makes them diverse from others. It is probable that Hurston brings up the controversial issues of her time era in the hope to cause a transformation in the world.
It is strange that two of the most prominent artists of the Harlem Renaissance could ever disagree as much as or be as different as Zora Neale Hurston and Richard Wright. Despite the fact that they are the same color and lived during the same time period, they do not have much else in common. On the one hand is Hurston, a female writer who indulges in black art and culture and creates subtle messages throughout her most famous novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. On the other hand is Wright, who is a male writer who demonstrates that whites do not like black people, nor will they ever except for when they are in the condition “…America likes to see the Negro live: between laughter and tears.” Hurston was also a less political writer than Wright. When she did write politically, she was very subtle about stating her beliefs.
Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God is greatly praised by most critics today but was held in a different light when first published. Popular black authors during Hurston’s era held the most disdain for Hurston’s novel. Famous writer Richard Wright harshly criticized the book as a “minstrel technique that makes the ‘white folks’ laugh. Her characters eat and laugh and cry and work and kill; they swing like a pendulum eternally in that safe and narrow orbit in which America likes to see the Negro live: between laughter and tears” (Wright, Between Laughter and Tears). Wright dominated the 40’s decade of writing for blacks (Washington, Foreword). His review explains Hurston book is feeding the whites additional reasons why black are the “lower” race. This was the complete opposite idea of what blacks strived to be seen as and as such Hurston’s novel would be unread by the black culture. This made Wright’s review the most crippling towards Hurston because it was intensely harsh and his influence greatly urge the readers to dismiss Their Eyes Were Watching God leading to its disappearance.
The Harlem Renaissance was all about freedom of expression and the search for one's identity. Zora Neale Hurston’s, Their Eyes Were Watching God, shows these goals through the main character Janie and her neighbors. Janie freely expressed what she wanted and searched for her identity with her different husbands. Even though Janie was criticized by everyone except her friends, she continued to pursue. She lost everything, but ultimately found her identity. Hurston's writing is both a reflection and a departure from the idea of the Harlem Renaissance.
Both Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes were great writers but their attitudes towards their personal experience as an African American differed in many ways. These differences can be attributed to various reasons that range from gender to life experience but even though they had different perceptions regarding the African American experience, they both shared one common goal, racial equality through art. To accurately delve into the minds of the writers’ one must first consider authors background such as their childhood experience, education, as well their early adulthood to truly understand how it affected their writing in terms the similarities and differences of the voice and themes used with the works “How it Feels to be Colored Me” by Hurston and Hughes’ “The Negro Mother”. The importance of these factors directly correlate to how each author came to find their literary inspiration and voice that attributed to their works.
Zora Neale Hurston’s writing embodies the modernism themes of alienation and the reaffirmation of racial and social identity. She has a subjective style of writing in which comes from the inside of the character’s mind and heart, rather than from an external point of view. Hurston addresses the themes of race relations, discrimination, and racial and social identity. At a time when it is not considered beneficial to be “colored,” Hurston steps out of the norm and embraces her racial identity.
Zora Neale Hurston once said, “Happiness is nothing but everyday living seen through a veil.” In post-slavery African American society, this statement was unusual, as society was focused on materialistic values. The “veil” Hurston mentions is a lens used to sift through one’s beliefs; to help one understand that what they have is more important than what they don’t. Hurston alludes the veil in her novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, in the form of a fish-net, saying “She pulled in her horizon like a great fish-net. Pulled it in from around the waist of the world and draped it over her shoulders" (193). Just like the veil, the “fish-net” allows one to sift through one’s beliefs, deciding what is important and what is not. Essentially, Hurston