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Zora neale hurston eatonville essay
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Eatonville was called a “race colony.” Instead of being pushed to the lower areas of town by whites, many blacks would build independent cities which was seen with the development of Eatonville. Eatonville was a very superstitious town. Most believed in hoodoo, or conjure. Coming from African beliefs, blacks believed that the cities hoodoo doctor could use roots to change things with magic. Most in the city used hoodoo to cure, when they did not believe in science and medicine, or when they believed an enemy placed a hex. Hoodoo was thrust into the national headlines by Zora Neale Hurston, who wrote about the practices. Hurston thought their practices were founded on a spiritual basis that had very little to do with superstitions. Her novels
1. As a writer who was also an anthropologist and a folklorist, Zora Neale Hurston studied
The author of this book has proposed an intriguing hypothesis regarding the seventeenth-century witchcraft trials in Salem, Massachusetts. Laurie Winn Carlson argues that accusations of witchcraft were linked to an epidemic of encephalitis and that it was a specific form of this disease, encephalitis lethargica, that accounts for the symptoms suffered by the afflicted, those who accused their neighbors of bewitching them. Though this interpretation of the Salem episode is fascinating, the book itself is extremely problematic, fraught with historical errors, inconsistencies, contradictions, conjecture, and a very selective use of the evidence.
Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. Harper Perennial Modern Classics: Reissue Edition 2013
Appiah, K.A. and Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. eds. Zora Neale Hurston: Critical Perspectives Past and Present. New York: Amistad Press, Inc., 1993.
In a setting of purity and orthodox, the usage of black and white thinking in the village of Salem had devastating effects. After the creation a brand new society, optimism for a bright future was high. Because of this optimism, the usage of black and white thinking made any anomalies critical in the colonists’ society. The townspeople enacted blind accusations and incriminating false charges based on suspicion which arose from the usage of black and white thinking. From the colony’s staunchly religious setting, black and white thinking became a major cause of the turmoil, suspicion and hysteria that rapidly spread throughout the town. This type of either-or fallacy, like those from the McCarthy Era, turned average citizens into fearful and suspicious vigilantes against unorthodox.
With Zora Neale Hurston traveling around the world and collecting myths of all different countries and cultures she is clearly an expert on mythology. Since the she could see the tradition of oral story telling was dying she kept it alive in her writing. She was able to tell a story that would not only be appealing to a woman or an African American but to everybody. In doing so she was accomplishing her goal of spreading and preserving mythology. Many of the key plot elements and characters were based on the myths that Hurston had researched and was familiar with.
Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. HarperPerennial Publishing New York, New York 1998
Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God is greatly praised by most critics today but was held in a different light when first published. Popular black authors during Hurston’s era held the most disdain for Hurston’s novel. Famous writer Richard Wright harshly criticized the book as a “minstrel technique that makes the ‘white folks’ laugh. Her characters eat and laugh and cry and work and kill; they swing like a pendulum eternally in that safe and narrow orbit in which America likes to see the Negro live: between laughter and tears” (Wright, Between Laughter and Tears). Wright dominated the 40’s decade of writing for blacks (Washington, Foreword). His review explains Hurston book is feeding the whites additional reasons why black are the “lower” race. This was the complete opposite idea of what blacks strived to be seen as and as such Hurston’s novel would be unread by the black culture. This made Wright’s review the most crippling towards Hurston because it was intensely harsh and his influence greatly urge the readers to dismiss Their Eyes Were Watching God leading to its disappearance.
... ?gris-gris? or hex existed as a common belief and no one questioned their abilities. The ones who practiced this were known as ?traiteurs?. Traiteurs were greatly respected and thought to be very reliable. They were used for minor ailments when doctors were not available. The term ?traiteurs? means ?treator? and originated from the French (Post, 1974). As long as Cajuns lived in Louisiana so have these ?traiteurs? and they will forever be a part of Cajun culture.
The notorious witch trials of Salem, Massachusetts occurred from June through September. It is a brief, but turbulent period in history and the causes of the trials have long been a source of discussion among historians. Many try to explain or rationalize the bizarre happenings of the witch hunts and the causes that contributed to them. To understand the trials and how they came to be, we must first examine the ideals and views of the people surrounding the events. Although religious beliefs were the most influential factor, socioeconomic tensions, and ergot poisoning are also strongly supported theories. A combination of motives seems the most rational explanation of the frenzy that followed the illness of the two girls. This paper looks closely at the some of the possible causes of one of the most notable occurrences in history.
Even though Africville was an area of which African Canadians felt accepted and safe, many problems occurred with poverty being one of the major ones. Due to discrimination people would refuse to hire or gave low paying jobs. About 65 percent of Africville residents worked as household employees or care takers. During this time Halifax was retrieving taxes and not returning any major services like running water or street lights. It wasn’t until 1883 when Africville received their first school, however not even one of the teachers gained proper training till 1930. Also, about the time of 1917, The Halifax Explosion occurred; many homes were greatly damaged if not completely destroyed. Another major problem was in 1854; Halifax created a railway
How does it feel to have the city you call home look at you like a pest? The minority populations of Denton and Portland know the feeling all too well. Both environments, while being incredibly hostile to them, had accumulated small African American communities- for Denton it was Quakertown and for Portland it was Vanport- which were displaced by larger forces.
Many people, especially the younger generation, would come together to pray for those who were afflicted. Groups of young people would spend time together transforming these “frolics”, or the times in which the girls would exhibit strange behavior as an opportunity to turn these events for prayer and worship. Some girls even attributed their behavior to a heavenly source, not a demonic one. But perhaps what’s most important is that the groups of young people left behind their subservient roles in the community in favor of leadership positions. Because of the strange behavior of the young people in the community, priests and ministers were able to exploit that behavior for their own benefit. In Northampton, a minister named Jonathan Edwards thought of the strange behavior of the girls and the young people’s reaction to it as a religious revival. Whereas in Salem, one of its most influential ministers, Samuel Parris immediately presumed it to be the work of witches. Both situations started out relatively similar, but once it was seen as witchcraft it gave people the ability to assign blame and that’s what turned a relatively mild situation into a
It is human nature to become superstitious and fearful upon witnessing something they cannot explain or when they make a seemingly flawless observation that links one thing to another. It is often for the human mind to attempt the path of least resistance and instead leap to a conclusion rather than to pursue a more complicated answer. Such uneducated thinking took lead and from it arouse the prospect of witchcraft. The simple idea that if your neighbor were acting peculiarly or children, particularly female children, were misbehaving in some way that they must be a witch allowed an easy scapegoat for the minds of continental Americans and became a widespread accusation. The acts of the “witches” often varied, though they were commonly blamed
On January of 1692 the daughter and niece of Reverend Samuel Parris of Salem Village became ill. When they couldn’t prove they were actually ill the village doctor, William Griggs, was called in. His diagnosis of bewitchment was put in place of being mot...