Existing Outside of Race:
Reading “How It Feels To Be Colored Me” Through the Lens of
“American Letters, African Voices”
In her essay “How It Feels To Be Colored Me”, Zora Neale Hurston combines prose with lyrical language to create a work that explores what it means to live outside of race. The essay defies typical African-American literature notions of revision and repetition. In his essay “American Letters, African Voices”, Henry Louis Gates Jr. argues that revision and repetition are central in African-American literature. However, Hurston crafts an argument that extends beyond the African-American canon. Hurston’s essay argues that it isn’t her color, nor her racial history, that makes her phenomenal, rather it is her ability to exist
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without the weight and sorrow of her race. Gates’ theory distorts the theme of being able to exist outside of race within in Zora Neale Hurston's text. Hurston's ability to acknowledge herself outside of her race validates her authenticity as an author. Hurston “remember[s] the very day that [she] became colored” (Hurston). This means that she was not born as a person of color, rather she was born simply as a human and color was a label placed against her body. She writes: “During this period, white people differed from colored to me only in that they rode through town and never lived there. They liked to hear me “speak pieces” and sing and wanted to see me dance the parse-me-la” (Hurston). As a child she didn’t have a concept of what race meant in regards to societal hierarchies, however, this does not invalidate her existence. Rather, Hurston's experience as living as someone free of color allows for her to approach race differently once language teaches her the differences between “white” and “colored” (Hurston). In his essay, Gates writes: “Precisely because “blackness” is a socially constructed category, it must be learned through imitation, and its literary representations must be learned as well, through repetition and revision” (Gates). Hurston dismantles this argument by acknowledging that it is only when “[w]ith a white person, [her] color comes” (Hurston). Rather than learning her “blackness” through other people of color (as Gates argues), Hurston learns her “blackness” through the presence of “whiteness”. However, Hurston’s ability to exist as both black and American in the same breath does not separate her from the canon of African-American literature. Gates writes: “writers in the black tradition have repeated and revised figures, tropes and themes in one another’s work” (Gates). Hurston’s essay is not void of African-American themes. Hurston reflects on feelings of discrimination and pride, two themes explored heavily within African-American texts. A trope that appears significantly in her text is the imagery of voyage: “When I disembarked from the river-boat at Jacksonville, she was no more. It seemed that I had suffered a sea change. I was not Zora of Orange County any more, I was now a little colored girl. I found it out in certain ways. In my heart as well as in the mirror, I became a fast brown-warranted not to rub nor run” (Hurston). In Gates’ essay he reflects on Gronniosaw- a slave whom travelled across the sea from his home in Africa to Western land. Although Gronniosaw and Hurston have a similar pattern of imagery in regards to crossing water, this is not a trope specific to African-American literature. Hurston does not exist in the canon simply because she has imagery and/or themes within her text that may or may not act as a revision to the past. Hurston writes: “Someone is always at my elbow reminding me that I am the granddaughter of slaves. It fails to register depression with me. Slavery is sixty years in the past. The operation was successful and the patient is doing well, thank you” (Hurston). Hurston is disassociating herself from literature that defines her as a category. Her grandparents may have been slaves, but she is choosing to not let any “dark ghost thrust its leg against [hers] in bed” (Hurston). It’s important to note that her ability to live outside of a category does not take away from her identity. Rather she does “no[t] [have] separate feeling[s] about being an American citizen and colored” (Hurston). Black and American can both be a part of her, but they are not her. This essay is individualizing her from being seen as only “black” or “American”- exactly what Gates’ argues against in regards to African-American literature. At the same time this essay is validating her as an African-American author.
Hurston- although not necessarily following the patterns- is a part of the canon. Gates appears to be defining the genre by the usage of a specific “black voice” (Gates). In contrast Hurston’s piece seems to convey the message that there is not one specific “black voice”. Furthermore, she seems to be conveying that the “black voice” does not exist. Hurston writes: ““In your hand is the brown bag. On the ground before you is the jumble it held- so much like the jumble in the bags, could they be emptied, that all might be dumped in a single heap and the bags refilled without altering the content of any greatly. A bit of colored glass more or less would not matter” (Hurston). What could have been the “black voice” prior to the pieces falling out, could now be categorized as the “white”, “yellow”, or “red” voice. Rather than being her race, Hurston feels her race, and therefore, Hurston has the authority to talk about her race. Because she is viewing her race as an emotion, rather than a state of being, she can produce literature that is authentic to only her experience- eliminating the umbrella of the “black …show more content…
voice”. That being said, Henry Louis Gates’ argument does not invalidate authors who build and reflect off of one another, however, his argument adds a calculative lens into literature that Hurston’s piece does not take into account.
By starting her piece with: “I am colored but I offer nothing in the way of extenuating circumstances except the fact that I am the only Negro in the United States whose grandfather on the mother’s side was not an Indian chief”, Hurston is deviating from the typical entrance of a slave narrative. Hurston does not have to justify her ancestry in order for her piece to exist. In his essay, Gates writes: “Undaunted, John Wheatley collected 18 of “the most respectable Characters in Boston” including John Hancock and Samuel Mather, and had them read Phillis’s work; afterward she submitted herself to an oral examination by this august jury. Satisfied that she was indeed the author, the group signed the following “letter of Attestation,” which appeared as the book’s preface” (Gates). Instead of repeating history in regards to literature, Hurston is changing the face of it completely. In a way Hurston is sitting on the “front porch” of her genre. In her essay she says the front porch is a daring place, but for her it was like a gallery seat (Hurston). In other words, Hurston doesn’t mind sticking out, and coexisting with things different from
her. Zora Neale Hurston’s piece “How It Feels To Be Colored Me” is a unique take on race in relation to the world. Her ability to look at race as something one feels rather than something one is adds a different perspective into the canon that is African-American literature. Rather than revising or repeating literature, as Gates argues, Hurston is adding to literature. In turn this promotes looking at previous works in a different light. Rather than reading a slave narrative and categorizing it as a repetition of say, Frederick Douglass's narrative, one can read a slave narrative and look at the individual absent of theme or trope. By reading a story or an essay for the individual rather than the genre, scholars can dissect the message of the text in a more unique fashion that might possibly bring more to the table of the genre. Hurston’s essay is noteworthy, not only for this particular take on race, but for the strength and pride the essay elicits. Hurston is not distancing herself from African-American literature, rather she is embracing her individual experience that can add to canon. Hurston does not “belong to no race nor time. [She is] the eternal feminine with its string of beads” (Hurston).
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
Appiah, K.A. and Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. eds. Zora Neale Hurston: Critical Perspectives Past and Present. New York: Amistad Press, Inc., 1993.
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...
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.
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.
Like Irish oral tradition, storytelling is an incredibly important event in both African and African American communities. Through this storytelling the principles and values of African American culture was depicted. The reader sees the dichotomy between Hurston’s use of the third person narrative
Hurston’s “How it Feels to be Colored Me” the presence of conflicting views in their
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.
In ‘How it feels to be colored me’ Neale Hurston opens up to her pride and identity as an African-American. Hurston uses a wide variety of imagery, diction using figurative language freely with metaphors. Her tone is bordering controversial using local lingo.
The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B Dubois is a influential work in African American literature and is an American classic. In this book Dubois proposes that "the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line." His concepts of life behind the veil of race and the resulting "double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others," have become touchstones for thinking about race in America. In addition to these lasting concepts, Souls offers an evaluation of the progress of the races and the possibilities for future progress as the nation entered the twentieth century.
Though her race was a victim of brutal, harsh discrimination, Hurston lived her life as an individual first, and a person of color second. In the narrative “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” by Zora Neale Hurston, Hurston says, “The cosmic Zora emerges. I belong to no race nor time. I am the eternal feminine with its string of beads” (Hurston 3). She feels as though an extraordinary form of herself is brought out. This form is not bound by physical traits and is the everlasting woman with the cards she is dealt. The “cosmic Zora” emerging represents the empowered, fearless Zora from Orange County, Florida. When she says that she belongs “to no race nor time”, she means that her race and background do not define who she is as an individual. “The eternal feminine” symbolizes the
Hurston does not concern herself with the actions of whites. Instead, she concerns herself with the self-perceptions and actions of blacks. Whites become almost irrelevant, certainly negative, but in no way absolute influences on her
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.
Over the course of the century chronicling the helm of slavery, the emancipation, and the push for civil, equal, and human rights, black literary scholars have pressed to have their voice heard in the midst a country that would dare classify a black as a second class citizen. Often, literary modes of communication were employed to accomplish just that. Black scholars used the often little education they received to produce a body of works that would seek to beckon the cause of freedom and help blacks tarry through the cruelties, inadequacies, and inconveniences of their oppressed condition. To capture the black experience in America was one of the sole aims of black literature. However, we as scholars of these bodies of works today are often unsure as to whether or not we can indeed coin the phrase “Black Literature” or, in this case, “Black poetry”. Is there such a thing? If so, how do we define the term, and what body of writing can we use to determine the validity of the definition. Such is the aim of this essay because we can indeed call a poem “Black”. We can define “Black poetry” as a body of writing written by an African-American in the United States that formulates a concentrated imaginative awareness of an experience or set of experiences inextricably linked to black people, characterizes a furious call or pursuit of freedom, and attempts to capture the black condition in a language chosen and arranged to create a specific emotional response through meaning, sound, and rhythm. An examination of several works of poetry by various Black scholars should suffice to prove that the definition does hold and that “Black Poetry” is a term that we can use.