Slavery In Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God

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The history of slavery and the oppression as a result thereof continues to linger within contemporary society. Colored women in the slave culture particularly felt the brunt of the social injustice against black people in the African American culture. Confining domestic tasks, sexual abuses and abuse in general left them in the savage web of oppression and of the oppressor. Zora Neale Hurston's Their eyes were watching God explores the effects that slavery has on women and the generational effects thereafter. Janie recounts the reasons of her absence in the community to her best friend Phoebe after Phoebe informs her that community members have been speculating about where she has been. Janie Crawford is raised by her grandmother who forces …show more content…

Hubbard suggests that the difference of opinion lies in, "Janie's romantic vision and her grandmother's pragmatic grounding in reality" (39). This suggestion is evident in Nanny's words which states, "...us colored folks is branches without roots" (19). This extract follows Nanny's decision to tell Janie that she will marry Logan Killicks after the moment that Nanny catches her kissing Johnny Taylor. Nanny's statement is a reflection of the reality in which she is brought up and lives through for most of her life as an adult. The use of the word "us" evokes a sense of segregation and distance. "Us" is followed by the deliberate use of the word "colored". This emphasizes the reality that Nanny faces as a black woman during slavery and the remnants thereof that still lingers. The term "colored" is a weapon that was used by the oppressor to confine black people's identity to their race and to remind them of their social standing. Hurston reinforces Nanny's history through the use of black dialect and it captures the essence of that time. She uses a first person narrative perspective to emphasize the space and place that Nanny's words comes from so the reader can identify and resonate with her reasoning. Nanny draws a comparison between "colored folks" and "branches without roots". This metaphor is effective in describing the …show more content…

Janie exudes the freedom that she found in herself and she wants to share this freedom of her individuality without the restrictions of a man. The effect of this is that she presents a feeling of being in control of herself and her own character. This is Janie's route to freedom that Hubbard suggests represents Janie's perspective. "Gleam" signifies Janie's need to shine brightly to those around her. Gleam also indicates to a light that shines however it is a light that shines for brief moments and this is evident in the next statement which says, "But she had been set in a market place to sell" (107). The "but" indicates the end of her hopes when she was married to Joe. The imagery of being sold in a market place degrades Janie and confines her to being a possession and having an owner. Slaves were sold as objects and traded for the use of labor. Their feelings and humanity were not considered or important. This imagery is effective because it reveals Janie's emotional state of mind and how she feels about her own existence. She feels as though she is being traded as a slave against her will for her external features. The imagery also gives the reader an indication of how she feels in the present moment after her husband has died and she reflects for the first time on how lost she has become in her own

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