Examples Of Local Color In Their Eyes Were Watching God

The essence of a location is often embodied in the traits and traditions that it’s people hold dear. The term “local color” summarizes this concept very well and it explains that “the customs, manner of speech, dress, or other typical features of a place or period that contribute to its particular character.” This idea is prevalent in many author’s writing and can help humanize and bring to life the scene that the story takes place in. Zora Neale Hurston uses local color in her novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. This book describes the life of a young woman Janie and her journey throughout Florida and the lessons and life experiences she gained while visiting these diverse places. The idea of local color can be found in the three locations

The novel takes place during the early 1900s, which is a very precarious time for black Americans. Although slavery is officially abolished the South is still a bitter place for African Americans to live. Eatonville, the first all black town in the South, is home to Janie and Joe Starks. The idea of local color is especially prevalent in this town because it’s all black population and ideals are extremely unique and not seen anywhere else in America. This town has many characteristics that help to define and separate it from all other settings in the novel. The dialect of english, one that omits many letters in words and does not confine to the strict grammar rules of proper english, is found in this town and is popular amongst black americans in the South. This type of speaking plays into the local color as it is a trait all the townspeople share and see as normal. Another aspect of Eatonville that distinguishes it from other locations is the type of work that the people in the town

Turner in the Everglades. Janie and Tea Cake move to the Everglades, or what they call the Muck, so that they can find good, stable work. The most important aspect of the Muck is that it is a labor-based community. Janie and Tea Cake join the many other laborers in tiring and dirty work in the muck. This hard labor during the day leads the townspeople to drink and party during the night and creates an atmosphere of the “work hard, play hard” mentality. This routine of nightly drinking and daily labor is the essence of the Everglades and gives the townspeople a very unique quality that they all share in common. The unified schedule creates order in the community and gives its residents something to bond over despite their individual differences. Another aspect of the Everglades and the American South in general is racism. One muck resident, Mrs. Turner is a very public supporter of racism and someone who disgusts the black race. The irony in her beliefs is that Mrs. Turner is in fact a black woman but still believes that the only way for black people to improve themselves is “lighten up de race”(page 140) and then there will be no race problem. Her stance on racism is very interesting as she feels she is a part of a group that is inherently flawed and instead of black people fighting for more rights the entire race should lighten up their skin in order to fit in with white people. Her