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Zora Neale Hurston uses figurative language to show that dreams can only be attained by being strong enough to overcome tragic reality. For instance, while Janie reflects on her life she says to Phoebe that she has “been tuh the horizon and back” (Hurston 191), signifying her accomplishment of her dreams as well as the pitfalls she has passed by along the way. Throughout the novel, the horizon has been symbolic of Janie’s hopes and dreams, by stating that she has been to the horizon Janie is essentially saying that she has successfully attained her dreams. Whereas, being back is the opposite side of the spectrum highlighting all the awful things she has had to encounter in pursuit of her dreams. An example would be either the constant oppression
or the plentiful racism and sexism she has endured. Equally important, is when Nanny comes to the epiphany that while she has endured a lot nothing was too much to keep her from giving Janie a better life and “stand on high ground” as she has dreamed (Hurston 16). Nanny’s lived an eventful life to say the least, from surviving slavery, to the blatant racism of the present south, while raising not just one but two different girls on her own. Despite her tragic past, she is still willing to overcome it and dream for Janie to have a better future, a future where she can metaphorically stand on high ground meaning she wishes for Janie to be able to live a secure life. Nanny has enough strength to keep moving forward and not be knocked down by her stifling past. Her strong convictions push Janie toward Logan and while this is not Janie's ideal relationship, Nanny’s dream is fulfilled. Time and time again throughout the course of the novel, it is proven that the only way around is through, meaning the only way to get something done is to have enough strength to overcome whatever life throw may throw.
The title of the short story, “Four Directions” is symbolic for Waverly’s inner misconceptions. As she goes about her life, she is pulled in different ways by her past and her present. She is torn between her Chinese heritage and her American life. She never thought that instead of being pulled in four directions, she could take all of her differences and combine them. In the end she realizes this with the help of her mother. “The three of us, leaving our differences behind...moving West to reach East” (184), thought Waverly. Her whole life she misconceived her mother’s intentions. Lindo never wanted Waverly to solely focus on her Chinese heritage, but rather combine it with her new American ways. The idea of being pulled in four
1. As a writer who was also an anthropologist and a folklorist, Zora Neale Hurston studied
Hurston’s juxtaposition of the dreams of men in contrast to the dreams of women is signified by the movement from concrete imagery to abstractions. She describes men’s dreams as cargo on a ship which is at the mercy of the tide, while women’s dreams are likened to memory, which can be controlled. Her deliberate choice to contrast the way that men and women dream affects the reader by immediately raising the issue of the differences of perception between the two genders. The purpose of this comparison is to immediately prompt the reader to realize a fundamental difference between men and women by using imagery they can relate to. The difference is also one of the novels thematic concerns: women are proud and defiant, they can control their wills and chase their dreams while men never really reach for their dreams. This is symbolized by men’s dreams on a ship; dreams for men either come to them or leave them, like a ship. A ship is
In “Queens, 1963”, the speaker narrates to her audience her observations that she has collected from living in her neighborhood located in Queens, New York in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement. The narrator is a thirteen-year-old female immigrant who moved from the Dominican Republic to America with her family. As she reflects on her past year of living in America, she reveals a superb understanding of the reasons why the people in her neighborhood act the way they do towards other neighbors. In “Queens, 1963” by Julia Alvarez, the poet utilizes diction, figurative language, and irony to effectively display to the readers that segregation is a strong part of the American melting pot.
Firstly, Janie views the horizon as an opportunity for something great to happen in her life. For example, in the beginning paragraph in the novel, it illustrates how harboring ships give people hope for the ships to be carrying cargo that they need the most: “[s]hips 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” (Hurston 1). By including this in the story Hurston gives the feeling that any dream is possible. Janie’s dream was to fall in love, which showed just how naive she is at the start of the book. Perusing this further, as Janie sat under the pear tree and sees Johnny Taylor walk by, she pe...
William Faulkner brings all aspects of the game to life by going beyond the game itself, and immersing the readers into the intricate details that are often overlooked by most spectators. While spectators and televised sports commentators focus on the literal game itself, the points and teams, Faulkner describes the “kaleidoscopic whirl” of motion, the grace of the players and the designs they carve into the ice. He goes beyond the typical description of skates and hockey sticks, depicting them as “knife blades of skates” and “deft sticks which could break bones.” Faulkner, through this fluid and detail oriented writing, portrays the game of hockey in a way most people fail to see.
Zora Neale Hurston opens Their Eyes Were Watching God with an eloquent metaphor regarding dreams: “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 (Hurston 1).” Hurston describes here how some dreams are achieved with time while others lurk out of reach until the dreamer gives up. Janie Crawford, protagonist of Their Eyes Were Watching God, encounters numerous ambitions throughout her life, mainly concerning a desire to somehow achieve something in life, and to not just go through the motions. While Janie’s dreams and my own do not exactly correspond, we both aspire to discover a greater passion in life and find a voice that will enable us to make a difference.
Zora Neale Hurston was an author during the time of the Harlem Renaissance who won Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards. She wrote a number of books but “Their Eyes Were watching God” was by far her most successful book that she has written. “Their Eyes Were watching God’” was published in 1937 had fifty-two editions and had a rating of 109,737. This was not only the most successful book that she had written but it was also one of the most popular books of her time. That may have been her most successful book she wrote but it is the same as all of her other fiction books with uses folklore in them witch is because of her background.
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.
Relationships force individuals to sacrifice some of their aspirations and ideals which leads to emotional wounds. Zora Neale Hurston uses an extended metaphor with symbolic images to expose the internal conflicts that arise from complications within relationships. Hurston constantly refers back to a vision of a blossoming tree to develop a symbol of Janie’s life, focusing on love. The author says: “The vision of Logan Killicks was desecrating the pear tree, . . .” (Hurston 83). This image is used to illustrate the power of a new relationship in Janie’s life. Her soon to be husband, Logan, will damage her tree. By including this metaphor, the author simplifies the abstract concept of love to an image that is seen in day to day life. As the reader follows Janie, he or she is able to understand her feelings through the symbol of the tree.
Before we explore Zora Neale Hurston’s literary content of “Sweat” in relation to feminism theory, we must first understand the meaning behind feminism theory as well as the Author and setting in which this short story takes place. I intend to use multiple sources from scholarly peer-reviewed journals and websites that help back my sentiments of Zora Neale Hurston using her literature to illustrate a time of women empowerment. While some may argue that this story paints a picture of great sorrow for women, I believe that it is that very argument that can used to show how women still thrive after being mistreated with inadequate respect in comparison to men overall. There are many aspects of “Sweat” that allows the woman to not be depicted as
"Wading through waist high weeds, Alice Walker stumbled upon a sunken rectangular patch of ground", under it lay the forgotten literary genius of the South: Zora Neale Hurston (Boyd 2). Zora Neale Hurston, was an African-American novelist, folklorist, and anthropologist during the 1920s in Harlem, New York. The 1920s, also known as The Harlem Renaissance, African-Americans were able to express and represent their culture in its entirety, which until then had been pushed aside by the Whites. During this era Hurston not only embraced her culture, but provided women with a model on how to effectively contribute to it themselves. She showed them what it was like to be a woman writer and speak up for what she believed in regardless of the racial
“I have dreamed in my life, dreams that stayed with me after, and changed my ideas; they have gone through and through me, like wine through water, and altered the color of my mind.” This quote in which Emily Bronte wrote in “Wuthering Heights” means dreams become part of human lives and transform us, even when we have forgotten the actual dream. The line illustrated the common occurrence of imagination of death as one of the themes which is often found in much of Bronte’s poetry. Bronte’s writing was influenced greatly by her family, environment, and her past experiences.
"Sweat" by Zora Neale Hurston is filled with symbolism ranging from images that are easily captured to things that require a little bit more insight. Religion has apparently played a major role in Hurston's life, readily seen in "Sweat" with the references to a snake and Gethsemane. Symbolism plays a big part of this story and after analyzing these, they give the story a deeper meaning and can enlighten the reader as to the full meaning of "Sweat".
Tragedy is an ever present part of life, whether it be illness, inability, death or anything else, it takes its toll on everyone. A very common tragedy found in literature and daily life is the loss of dreams, in Langston Hughes’s poem “A Dream Deferred” Hughes poses the question of what truly happens to a deferred dream: “What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up… Or fester like a sore… Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over...Or does it explode?” The outcome of lost dreams differs for each individual and their attitude. This is seen throughout America and also in The Sound And The Fury by William Faulkner and The House On Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros.