Analysis Of Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neale Hurston

At first glance most people only see the coloring of another's skin, but some chosen few are able to look beyond this predesigned outlook and see simply people. In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, and short essay, How It Feels To Be colored Me, she discusses what it mean to discover one's color. Hurston does this through her characters in her novel, stating her views on race in her short essay, and by accepting her differences.

Hurston was a revolutionary author, and saw the world in a way that was far beyond her time. Many of Hurston’s thoughts about the world can be seen through her character Janie. Similar to how Hurston grew up, Janie did not see herself as black, and was unaware of her racial identity. It takes a picture being taken of her and her master's children to realize that she was different. “Ah couldn’t recognize dat dark chile as me… ‘Aw, aw! Ah’m colored!’” Janie never saw herself as different from the

other children, or associated color into the equation when picking friends. After seeing the photo, Janie is opened up to a new world that had been foreign to her. Instead of accepting her fate of being a lowly colored girl, she choose to define herself with the community she is with, and not by color. Janie’s line of thought comes directly from Hurston's personal experiences. “ I remembered the day I became colored...I left Eatonville, the town of oleanders, a Zora.” Hurston never viewed herself as colored, and this is linked to the fact that she grew up in an all black town. However, the world soon found her and showed her the differences between color. “When I disembarked from the river boat at Jacksonville, she was no more… I was now a little colored girl.” Hurston began to become aware of how people treated her differently. Nevertheless, Hurston refused to be brought down because of her color and strove to accomplish her goals.
Hurston recognizes the special attention given to the black community, and chooses to ignore their dated ideas. “Someone is always at my elbow reminding me that I am the granddaughter of slaves.” Hurston took time to recognise slavery, and then moved on stating that “slavery is sixty years past.” Hurston instead looked to the future and ignored the degrading of the world; claiming to be “busy sharpening my oyster knife.” Hurston viewed racial identity as a fling from the past. She instead ignored the views of the world and choose to treat everyone as equals.
However, Hurston recognized the difference between each race, and viewed these differences as something to celebrate.

“A white person is set down in our midst, but the contrast is just as sharp for me.” Hurston may be able to look beyond the color of individuals, but she still recognized people's differences. She recounts a time where her and a white individuals were at a restaurant together. As the band played Hurston responds vigorously to the music by dancing along with the piece. When it ends she claims to “creep back slowly into the veer we call civilization” while the white individual who was with her has remained “sitting motionless in his seat, smoking calmly.” Hurston accepts everyones differences and celebrates her own throughout her life. She uses a brown bag analogy to alluded to the connection that everyone has, regardless of color. “Pour out the contents, and there is discovered a jumble of small, things priceless and worthless.” Hurston recognized that everyone had a part to play, despite their

coloring.
Huston was able to transcend past someone’s color and view them as simply a person. She had revolutionary ideas about racial topics and never let anything dampen her spirit. Through her works, Hurston shared her views on racial identity, some of her personal experiences through her characters, and showed that someone is more than their race.