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Essay on african american literature
Features of African American Literature
Essay on african american literature
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Zola Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God is a story about a young women coming to age and discovering what love is. Jody is the main protagonist who meets and live with different men of different kinds. She runs from money and power to find love. But is deeply affected by the community she interacts with. Mrs.Hurston shows communities are generally bad environments for anyone unless lead by a strong and noble leader to set an example for the rest of the townsfolk. As she grew up she stood away from boys but when she noticed and kissed one her nanny married her off. In hope to give a wealthy life in which work was a distant memory. Her treatment in the first community was that of a object by her older husband (Mr.Killington). The community followed his example and thought her as nothing more than a common gold digger. They would gossip and spread rumors about her killing and running away with a young black man.
Eventually one day a man by the of Joe Stark came and
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She still manages the store and interacts with the community but doesn't receive the respect she deserves. One day a man called Tea cakes walks in the store and everyday after until he finally convinces her to head off to a new community. One not so big or flashy with no over bearing leader. Both Tea cake and Jody set the rules and standards. They live happily until the unfortunate hurricane and falling out. He treats her with love and respect. They both supports each other and the community the best they can and they do the same in return. As Mrs.Hurston told in the narrative the best communities are the ones with the best leaders. So whenever the highest level of authority in not the best the community can offer than everyone will soon follow their example. Thats why people care about politics. They want the best from their leaders and community in which to live the most peaceful, fulling, and safe lives they
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.
Zora Neale Hurston’s, Their Eyes Were Watching God tells about the life of Janie Crawford. Janie’s mother, who suffers a tragic moment in her life, resulting in a mental breakdown, is left for her grandmother to take care of her. Throughout Janie’s life, she comes across several different men, all of which end in a horrible way. All the men that Janie married had a different perception of marriage. After the third husband, Janie finally returns to her home. It is at a belief that Janie is seeking someone who she can truly love, and not someone her grandmother chooses for her. Although Janie eventually lives a humble life, Janie’s quest is questionable.
The book, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is about Janie Crawford and her quest for self-independence and real love. She finds herself in three marriages, one she escapes from, and the other two end tragically. And throughout her journey, she learns a lot about love, and herself. Janie’s three marriages were all different, each one brought her in for a different reason, and each one had something different to teach her, she was forced into marrying Logan Killicks and hated it. So, she left him for Joe Starks who promised to treat her the way a lady should be treated, but he also made her the way he thought a lady should be. After Joe died she found Tea Cake, a romantic man who loved Janie the way she was, and worked hard to provide for her.
...he’s treated as if she’s Joe’s servant, not wife. After Joe’s death, Janie met her third husband Tea Cake. Tea Cake teaches her how to play checkers, hunt, and fish. Soon, Janie fell in love with him, she decides to leave everything behind, and elope with Tea Cake to the Everglade. The main character and the author are willing to sacrifice and risk having a life they wish.
It’s no wonder that “[t]he hurricane scene in Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, is a famous one and [that] other writers have used it in an effort to signify on Hurston” (Mills, “Hurston”). The final, climactic portion of this scene acts as the central metaphor of the novel and illustrates the pivotal interactions that Janie, the protagonist, has with her Nanny and each of her three husbands. In each relationship, Janie tries to “’go tuh God, and…find out about livin’ fuh [herself]’” (192). She does this by approaching each surrogate parental figure as one would go to God, the Father; she offers her faith and obedience to them and receives their definitions of love and protection in return. When they threaten to annihilate and hush her with these definitions, however, she uses her voice and fights to save her dream and her life. Hurston shows how Janie’s parental figures transform into metaphorical hurricanes, how a literal hurricane transforms into a metaphorical representation of Janie’s parental figures, and how Janie survives all five hurricanes.
...d feels that she is lucky to have him. Joe Starks, Janie's second husband, seems to be her singing bee when they first meet but she realizes that he is not. When Joe becomes what he strived to be, he tried to control Janie and change her into what he expected and thought for her to be. Only Tea Cake, Janie's final husband, truly cared for the person that she really was and treated her as his equal. He encouraged her to speak her mind and tell him her opinion so that they can gain a better understanding of each other. In the course of these marriages, Janie is lead toward a development of self and when she arrives back in her hometown she has grown into a mature, independent woman who was still left with the warm memories of love and laughter with Tea Cake.
Janie's outlook on life stems from the system of beliefs that her grandmother, Nanny instills in her during life. These beliefs include how women should act in a society and in a marriage. Nanny and her daughter, Janie's mother, were both raped and left with bastard children, this experience is the catalyst for Nanny’s desire to see Janie be married of to a well-to-do gentleman. She desires to see Janie married off to a well to do gentleman because she wants to see that Janie is well cared for throughout her life.
People are constantly searching for their voices. A voice gives someone independence and the ability to make her own decision. The First Amendment ensures that all United States citizens possess the freedom of speech; however, not all people are given the ability or opportunity to exercise that right. When a person has no voice they rely on others to make their decisions. Throughout Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Are Watching God, Janie constantly struggles to find her voice. Her marriage to Logan Killicks, Joe Starks, and Tea Cake help her discover and utilize her voice in different ways. During Janie’s first marriage to Logan she has no voice, Joe silences Janie’s tiniest whisper and controls her similar to a slave; in contrast to Logan and Joe, Tea Cake encourages Janie to use her voice and make her own decisions. Janie cannot express her voice until she discovers happiness and independence through her final marriage.
“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.
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is about a young woman that is lost in her own world. She longs to be a part of something and to have “a great journey to the horizons in search of people” (85). Janie Crawford’s journey to the horizon is told as a story to her best friend Phoebe. She experiences three marriages and three communities that “represent increasingly wide circles of experience and opportunities for expression of personal choice” (Crabtree). Their Eyes Were Watching God is an important fiction piece that explores relations throughout black communities and families. It also examines different issues such as, gender and class and these issues bring forth the theme of voice. In Janie’s attempt to find herself, she grows into a stronger woman through three marriages.
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.
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, is a book that demonstrates the journey of a woman that stepped out of the box in community that was so sexist. The book explores the life of a young southern Black girl in the 1930s searching and attempting to understand her wants and her needs.Janie Mae Crawford, the protagonist, brings the reader through the journey of love, tradition, and judgment. Janie gives the reader the inside scope of her life. She was born a mixed baby, her mother left her, her grandmother raised her, and she was married off at sixteen years old with her grandmother’s wishes to a much older gentleman named Logan Killicks. Marriage wasn’t what she expected it to be, loving and happy. Instead, it was unloving and
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
“Cinderella finds the perfect man and lives in a castle the rest of her life, so why can’t I?” Society uses fairytales to make children think that love is perfect, but the sad reality is that true love has flaws. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Hurston, Janie’s experiences show that true love is not like a fairytale. Throughout the novel Janie has three separate relationships, trying to find true love. Only to realize that her version of love does not exist. Through the evolution of Janie's relationships in connection to the imagery of nature, Hurston depicts that love is imperfect.
In the novel, Their Eyes Are Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston the reader is introduced to a young African American women named Janie and her caretaker that we know as Nanny. Throughout the story, Nannys hopes for Janie are skewed from the beginning because of her traumatic experiences in the past. Nanny lived through slavery and was even raped by her white master resulting in Janie's mom. After Janie's mom died, Nanny is forced to take care of Janie for most of her life. Therefore, Nanny has always hoped for Janie to have a marriage and relationship with a wealthy man that will take good care of her. In hopes of creating a marriage that Nanny and Janie's mom never had. However, Janie is not happy with Nanny’s ideals of a man for her when