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Zora neale hurston literary criticism
Zora neale hurston literary criticism
Race and ethnicity in america zola Neale Hurston
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Quote #1: “ ‘Listen, Sam, if it was nature, nobody wouldn’t have tuh look out for babies touchin’ stoves, would they? ‘Cause dey just naturally wouldn’t touch it. But dey sho will. So it’s caution.’ ‘Naw it ain’t, it’s nature, cause nature makes caution. It’s de strongest thing dat God ever made, now. Fact is it’s de onliest thing God every made. He made nature and nature made everything else.’ ” (Hurston 64-65)
The porch loafers have a tendency to find ways to entertain any sort of audience, and one of the ways they do so is by initiating false arguments. Typically, Sam and Lige are the stars of their shows, and this heated conversation is no exception. Sam and blank decide to passionately debate caution and nature. This leads us to the
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given quote, where they both state their claim, and the other refutes with a counterclaim. As I reflect on this quote, I feel that it is the nature of any living species to exert caution after having experienced a negative feeling from a certain object. It is then deemed to be a danger, and thus it is avoided. Nature causes living beings to exert caution - Nature taught the world the difference between reliable, neutral, and a danger to the well being of any certain individual. Nature, in my opinion, is indeed the first of everything. It will always be considered the predecessor of anything that has ever been laid before a living being’s feet. Quote #2: “ It was inevitable that she should accept any inconsistency and cruelty from her deity as all good worshippers do from theirs. All gods who receive homage are cruel. All gods dispense suffering without reason. Otherwise they would not be worshipped. Through indiscriminate suffering men know fear and fear is the most divine emotion. It is the stones for altars and the beginning of wisdom. Half gods are worshipped in wine and flowers. Real gods require blood.” (Hurston 145) It is with great certainty that I say this is the most enthralling quote I have ever laid eyes upon.
When I first read this quote, I was utterly astounded by how through yet clear Hurston was with her explanation. The context of this quote is that it was placed in the conversation between Mrs.Turner and Janie, when Mrs.Turner reveals that she links race to class. My interpretation of this quote is quite simple, in that I have no previous influence when the topic pertains to religion, nor do I have any biased opinion on either race or class. This quote is similar to an analogy. It states that is is nigh impossible for Mrs. Turner to not accept that she was lesser than those who were viewed as part of the lighter-colored class. Hurston compares those in the higher class to the likeness of a God. This comparison allows the author to form a resemblance between the cruelty of true gods. The narrator is, in all simplicity, stating that those with European blood were cruel to those of color, which made the African-Americans believe that they had to worship them - after all, they were forced …show more content…
to. Essay Question #1: In 1937, Richard Wright reviewed Their Eyes Were Watching God and wrote: “The sensory sweep of her novel carries no theme, no message, no thought. In the main, her novel is not addressed to the Negro, but to a white audience whose chauvinistic tastes she knows how to satisfy.” In particular, Wright objected to the novel’s discussion of race and use of black dialect. Why might Wright have objected to Their Eyes Were Watching God? Do you agree or disagree with Wright’s interpretation of the novel? Wright may have very well believed that the author, Zora Neale Hurston, was making a purposeful attempt at raising her status as a african-american female. By creating this call for help, Wright might’ve considered the thought that Hurston was trying to make Caucasians apologetic and remorseful. He objected this novel because he thought he’d uncovered the truth - the truth that Hurston hastily crafted a less than mediocre novel in order to raise her status as a woman of color, and to become a known name in all races of the nation. In short, Wright believes Hurston wrote this story for personal gain. However, I strongly disagree with this interpretation.
It is my strong belief that Hurston wrote this novel not as a cry for help, but as a call to action. She wanted to change history, to reveal what life was like for a colored woman in the most raw format known to her. Nonetheless, she made sure to include vast quantities of insightful quotes in order to make the most out of her influential writings. She knew she had a gift, and she knew how to project her voice. So, why shouldn’t she use these talents to her advantage? Furthermore, the transient amount of time it took for Hurston to write this novel should not dissuade anyone from taking this novel as seriously as they would any other. In conclusion, Wright believes that Hurston wrote this novel in order to make Caucasians feel apologetic, and for personal gain. In my opinion, I believe Hurston wrote this so she could show other colored females that they have a voice and that they’re not
alone. Essay Question #2: Their Eyes Were Watching God is concerned with issues of speech and how speech is both a mechanism of control and a vehicle of liberation. Yet Janie remains silent during key moments in her life. Discuss the role of silence in the book and how that role changes throughout the novel. In the beginning of the story, it seems as if Janie doesn’t know the definition of silence. Being a child, she was full of ignorant innocence, but her naivety would eventually get the best of her. By the time Janie first felt the blossoming of the pear tree, she had begun to silence herself and remain in secrecy. So, she stayed silent as Nanny berated her for her misdemeanors. This was the first time we ever experienced Janie choosing to remain silent as she is talked down upon and put into her place. When Janie was married off to Logan Killicks, Janie goes back to her roots and speaks to him all high and mighty. So Logan, consequently, shamed her for her spoiled self, because he believed her to be constantly riding atop a high horse of her creation - a high horse that, in his mind, she has no right to own. This shame continues to erode Janie’s right to her own voice, and when she runs off with Joe Starks, he also scrutinizes every mistake she’s ever made, and inflates each and every one to make Janie feel that each and every one was a massive, social status-changing mistake that she should be ashamed of. Thus, it makes complete sense that Janie begins to stiffen her vocal cords and remain silent, as was the wish of her current husband. Silence plays the role of Janie’s mind, and it is the fundamental decision maker in the most key moments of Janie’s life, and this role becomes more and more major as time passes in the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God.
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston portrays the religion of black people as a form of identity. Each individual in the black society Hurston has created worships a different God. But all members of her society find their identities by being able to believe in a God, spiritual or other. Grandma’s worship of Jesus and the “Good Lawd,” Joe Starks’ worship of himself, Mrs. Turner’s worship of white characteristics, and Janie’s worship of love, all stem from a lack of jurisdiction in the society they inhabit. All these Gods represent a need for something to believe in and work for: an ideal, which they wish to achieve, to aspire to. Each individual character is thus able to find himself or herself in the God that they worship.
In Hurston’s essay, she mentions her family didn't what her to make contact with white people. It is the turning point of this essay. She had a great enlightenment when she realized: the society isn't treating us differently, it’s us who see ourselves differently. Anyhow, she has been very proud to be an African American. The entire essay is written in an encouraging way, which leads the reader to brainstorm the position of ourselves in this
Hurston did not design her novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God with the intent of creating a protagonist figure in Tea Cake Woods. Hurston’s characters just naturally fit into the roles and personalities that African American women have been socialized to expect and accept from black men. The good over the bad; turn the other cheek; don't let it get you down. Forever taught that the road ain't gonna be easy and that a ain't-half-bad man is better than no man, African American women have been instilled with the belief that abuse, bitterness, and sadness can be ignored if there is something else to focus that energy on. In Janie's case, we are moved to accept Tea Cake, who is at times abusive, because of the way he makes Janie feel - young and happy.
In Zora Neale Hurston’s powerful feminist novel, “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” she tells the story of Janie Stark and her journey into becoming a powerful black woman during the time when those words were not spoken together. Hurston uses Janie as an archetype for what we should all aspire to be, because in Hurston’s eyes, and the eyes of many others, Janie is the only character in the novel that gets it right. The thing about Janie that set her apart from everyone else, the reason that she got it right, was not because she was just born that way, but it was because she used all of the trials and hardships in her life to her advantage. She never crumbled or quit, but she continued to move on and use her life experiences to help mold to her
I think both authors would agree with this view. Both stories involve a woman and how they are viewed as well as the struggles they face. Hurston’s story is about a power struggle between men and women. She states “see God and ast Him for a li’l mo’ strength so Ah kin whip dis ’oman and make her mind.”
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.
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.
She does not see being colored as a disadvantage, but accepts it as a challenge to excel and be unique. It is a great pity that with writers with an attitude towards race such as Hurston there is still such a negative attitude towards racial and cultural differences all over the
She even talks about how they were being generous to her. For example, Hurston says, “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, and gave me generously of their small silver for doing these things, which seemed strange to me for I wanted to do them so much that I needed bribing to stop, only they didn 't know it” (539). Hurston would soon find out that when she had to leave her small town to go to a boarding school because of family changes that the real world is full of racism and discrimination towards colored people. I think this is when she realizes that she is
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
As he stoops over her as she attempts to do her work he yells, “You sho is one aggravatin’ nigger woman!” he declared and stepped into the room. She resumed her work and did not answer him at once. Ah done tole you time and again to keep them white folks’ clothes outa dis house. (Hurston, 1926)
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.
In “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” Hurston undergoes many obstacles such as challenges because the colored of her skin, her change of life style, but the most important aspect is her attitude, the way she react towards these obstacles. Hurston nightmares starts when her life style changes. She moves to a town in which people of colored do not have good relationship with white. She is going to thirteen when she becomes colored she says. She becomes such because people (white) around keep reminding her of what she is. However, she never cares because she already knows that. Hurston
... middle of paper ... ... Through Janie's experiences and feelings regarding the love of her life, his death, and the hurricane, it is obvious that Hurston meant for the reader to relate self-realization to questioning God. Although God is not a dominant theme in the novel, it is likely that Hurston was mirroring the people she came into contact with throughout her endeavors as a folklorist.