Zora Neale Hurston Obstacles

911 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Double connotations in their eyes were watching god

Zora Neale Hurston, a moving black novelist, folklorist and anthropologist who changed the world of literature for woman and African American .Hurston work greatly impacts other famous black authors such as Ralph Ellison, Alice Walker and Toni Morrison. Zora Neale Hurston was a phenomenal woman she was known as the “Queen of the Harlem Renaissance “. She overcame many obstacles that were placed before her. Hurston rose from poverty to fame. Zora had an unusual life, living her life she was forced to grow up as a child. Despite her obstacles in her unsettled life she managed to prevail through every obstacle and become one of the most philosophical author of the 1920s. The life of Zora Hurston has been covered in mystery, mostly because of her literary work! Zora Neale Hurston was born January 7, 1891 in Eatonville, Florida Zora was the 5th of 8 children to Rev. John Hurston and Lucy Hurston. When Zora’s mother died, she was neglected and abandoned. Zora looked up to her mother for everything; understanding, support, protection, and encouragement. From that point she had no direction in life. In 1904 her father remarried and sent her to a private …show more content…

Hurston famous story, (which is also my favorite) “ Their Eyes were Watching God”. In the story the main character was , Janie, imitate the personal life of Zora Neale Hurston during her middle age. This is clearly portrayed by Janie's self-satisfaction with her life at the age of forty. Janie, like Zora, followed her own path, rejecting security and stability in favor for desire to live her life. A famous black female author who was greatly influenced by Hurston , Alice Walker stated, "Their Eyes Were Watching God speaks to me as no novel, past or present has ever done…. There is enough self-love in that one book---love of community, culture, traditions--to restore a world.

Show More
Related

  • Zora Neale Hurston and Maya Angelou: Influential Writers of the 20th Century

    616 Words  | 2 Pages

    Zora Neale Hurston and Maya Angelou are arguably the most influential writers of the mid 20th century . Their work has inspired young African Americans to have more confidence in their own abilities. Their work has also been studied and taught countless times in many schools across the U.S. But the main reason why their work is considered classics in American literature; is because their work stands as testament to the treatment, and struggles of African Americans in the mid 20th century America.

    Read More

  • Dependency in Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston

    632 Words  | 2 Pages

    Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God describes the life of Janie, a black woman at the turn of the century. Janie is raised by her Grandmother and spends her life traveling with different men until she finally returnes home. Robert E. Hemenway has said about the  book, “Their Eyes Were Watching God is ... one of the most revealing treatments in modern literature of a woman’s quest for a satisfying life” I partially disagree with Hemenway because, although Janie is on a quest, it is not for a satisfying life.  I believe that she is on a quest for someone on whom to lean. Although she achieves a somewhat satisfying life, Janie’s quest is for dependence rather than satisfaction.

    Read More

  • Jay Gatsby vs. Janie Crawford: A Race to Make Dreams Come True

    1211 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. Harper Perennial Modern Classics: Reissue Edition 2013

    Read More

  • Janie and the Pear Tree in Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

    906 Words  | 2 Pages

    Appiah, K.A. and Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. eds. Zora Neale Hurston: Critical Perspectives Past and Present. New York: Amistad Press, Inc., 1993.

    Read More

  • Janie’s Courageous Voice in Their Eyes Were Watching God

    1409 Words  | 3 Pages

    Through her use of southern black language Zora Neale Hurston illustrates how to live and learn from life’s experiences. Janie, the main character in Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, is a woman who defies what people expect of her and lives her life searching to become a better person. Not easily satisfied with material gain, Janie quickly jumps into a search to find true happiness and love in life. She finally achieves what she has searched for with her third marriage.

    Read More

  • Zora Neale Hurston and Their Eyes Were Watching God

    3388 Words  | 7 Pages

    Zora Neale Hurston was, the daughter of a Baptist minister and an educated scholar who still believed in the genius contained within the common southern black vernacular(Hook http://splavc.spjc.cc.fl.us/hooks/Zora.html).  She was a woman who found her place, though unstable, in a typical male profession. Hurston was born on January 7, 1891   in Eatonville, Florida,  the first all-incorporated black town in America.  She found a special thing in this town, where she said, "... [I] grew like a like a gourd and yelled bass like a gator," (Gale, 1).  When Hurston was thirteen she was removed from school and sent to care for her brother's children.  She became a member of a traveling theater at the age of sixteen, and then found herself working as a maid for a white woman. This woman saw a spark that was waiting for fuel, so she arranged for Hurston to attend high school in Baltimore. She also attended Morgan Academy, now called Morgan State University, from which she graduated in June of 1918.  She then enrolled in the Howard Prep School followed by later enrollment in Howard University.  In 1928 Hurston attended Barnard College where she studied anthropology under Franz Boas. After she graduated, Zora returned to Eatonville to begin work on anthropology.  Four years after Hurston received her B.A. from Barnard she enrolled in Columbia University  to begin graduate work (Discovering Authors, 2-4).  Hurston's life seemed to be going well but she was soon to see the other side of reality.

    Read More

  • Zora Neale Hurston Their Eyes Were Watching God Analysis

    944 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • How it Feels to be Colored Me by Hurston and Hughes’ The Negro Mother

    1238 Words  | 3 Pages

    McLeod, Laura. "Zora Neale Hurston: Overview." Feminist Writers. Ed. Pamela Kester-Shelton. Detroit: St. James Press, 1996. Literature Resource Center. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.

    Read More

  • Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God

    1783 Words  | 4 Pages

    Hurston, Zora Neale. Their eyes were watching God . New York: Perennial Classics, 1998. Print.

    Read More

  • Zora Neale Hurston

    937 Words  | 2 Pages

    Zora Neale Hurston was a novelist, folklorist, and anthropologist. Zora plays an important role for the Harlem Renaissance. Zora Neale Hurston is considered one of the titans of twentieth-century African American literature. Despite that she would later fall into disgrace because of her firm views of civil rights, her lyrical writing which praise southern black culture has influenced generations of black American literary figures. Hurston’s work also had an impact on later black American authors such as Ralph Ellison, Alice Walker, and Toni Morrison.

    Read More

  • Zora Neal Hurston Integrates Folklore with Fiction

    765 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • How It Feels to Be Colored Me by Zora Neale Hurston

    715 Words  | 2 Pages

    In conclusion, Hurston was a modernist writer who dealt with societal themes of racism, and social and racial identity. She steps away from the folk-oriented style of writing other African American authors, such as Langston Hughes, and she addresses modern topics and issues that relate to her people. She embraces pride in her color and who she is. She does not hate the label of “colored” that has been placed upon her. She embraces who she is and by example, she teaches others to love themselves and the color of their skin. She is very modern. She is everybody’s Zora.

    Read More

  • Comparison Of Alice Walker And Zora Neale Hurston

    1034 Words  | 3 Pages

    Alice Walker and Zora Neale Hurston are similar to having the same concept about black women to have a voice. Both are political, controversial, and talented experiencing negative and positive reviews in their own communities. These two influential African-American female authors describe the southern hospitality roots. Hurston was an influential writer in the Harlem Renaissance, who died from mysterious death in the sixties. Walker who is an activist and author in the early seventies confronts sexually progression in the south through the Great Depression period (Howard 200). Their theories point out feminism of encountering survival through fiction stories. As a result, Walker embraced the values of Hurston’s work that allowed a larger

    Read More

  • The Harlem Renaissance

    641 Words  | 2 Pages

    The increased black population in the North during the Great Migration created a new black urban culture for themselves. The Great Migration led to an increase in African American political involvement that would make an impact in black culture ever since. Zora Neale Hurston was one of the many authors who gained recognition during the Harlem Renaissance. Hurston was raised in Eatonville, Florida and lived there during her younger days. She attended Morgan University, Howard University, and finally moved to New York City to pursue a writing career in 1925....

    Read More

  • Essay On Emma Lazarus A Masque Of Azarnice

    1203 Words  | 3 Pages

    Emma Lazarus was born in New York City on July 22, 1849, and is the fourth child of Moses Lazarus, and Esther Lazarus. Moses Lazarus was a wealthy sugar merchant and his wife, Esther Lazarus was well known for her side of the family, which was a family whose members were very influential in New York legal circles. Emma and her siblings were raised in New York and were spoiled by their parents. Emma was very weak as a child and could not leave the house often so all of the Lazarus children were educated at home by private tutors. Lazarus’ first literary achievement happened because of her un-paralleled knack for languages. (7)

    Read More

More about Zora Neale Hurston Obstacles

Open Document