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Hurston's Curveball

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Hurston’s Curveball Some writers are almost as curious as the crew of the Mystery Machine, constantly looking for a way to wow readers. Zora Neale Hurston was no different, and a prime example. In her book, Their Eyes Were Watching God Janie Crawford, Nannie, Tea Cake, Joe Starks, and Logan Killicks made this book something special. The story that rotates around the deep south while making fun of its racial ideas was a stand out of its time. Zora Neale Hurston’s writing is both a reflection of and a departure from the ideas of the Harlem Renaissance. The Jim Crow Laws were seen in this book, and as a part of the Harlem Renaissance, were made fun of. “Each and every white man think he know all de GOOD darkies already. He don’t need tuh know no mo’.(p. 172)” Tea Cake is forced into cleaning up the dead from a hurricane and was discussing the treatment from the white enforcers while also making fun of them. This shows that Hurston was not afraid to make fun of white people and the idea of racial superiority. Hurston was not only making fun of whites and showing the culture of blacks, but also embracing southern culture that would disappoint many of the writers …show more content…

These radical ideas are still what can be used as a refusal point to that same claim though since many of them wouldn’t have even been taken seriously at the time, and if they couldn’t have been taken seriously then they couldn’t have been very useful to the Harlem Renaissance cause. The argument for the involvement in the Harlem Renaissance is still relevant because of the way that Hurston portrayed them, as a progression of life. This is important to remember because it happened at a time when these were controversial ideas but were still shown with the twist of them still happening in the deep south but by common black people who showed it being a functioning

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The fact that the story is set in a racist society is a huge reason that many of the characters adhere to change and do not want to be inferior to the white people. The dark skinned fellows such as Mathu, Gable, Coot and Charlie all are influenced by their inferior status compared to the white men. The men did not like how the white people would always accuse them of their actions. The black people were treated like slaves sinee the white people could determine what would happen to the black people. Coot was always angered by the white people, who did not want Coot to wear his uniform, and Gable, whose son was guilty, was accused, just because it was a white woman.

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Many African American authors and critics very strongly disagreed with how the white plantation owners and the slaves were portrayed in the book. For example Nat Turner’s first slave owner, Samuel Turner, was presented in very high light. This was probably not the case, and that is the reason it enraged so many readers. The book was also banned in some places because of the sexual violence that was portrayed in the novel. Before I get into the book itself it is important to know about the actual person who was Nat Turner and the rebellion that he led in 1831.

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This was partly because she was a black woman writing about very high profile events and issues of the time period. She presents the ideas of the freedom of woman and then many of the same concepts as Hughes did in his writing. She contemplated racial identity and the cultural differences but came to the same conclusion as Hughes did in saying that different cultural activates did not make them different from other races. In her short story “How it Feels to be Colored Me” there are many passages that portray her work as a whole and capture the voice of the black community “I am colored but I offer nothing in the way of extenuating circumstances except the fact that I am the only Negro in the United States whose grandfather on the mothers side was not an Indian Chief”(Hurston 2124). The very first lines in this piece by her definitely resonate her opinionated voice.

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Zora Neale Hurston, an author during the Harlem Renaissance, wrote Their Eyes Were Watching God, an amazing novel written about the losses and loves of a lady named Janie Crawford. The author describes the way Janie found out who she really was and what love was throughout her three marriages. Janie’s first two marriages were unfulfilling and not healthy for herself. Janie realized what true love was when she met Tea Cake. Janie’s first marriage was to a man named Logan Killicks, which was forced upon her by her grandmother.

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Just by defending a black person Atticus is trashed on how horrible he is for doing such a thing. The bigotry about race is the same back then in the book than it is now in modern

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Literature is a precious art form to many and important for various reasons. Literacy helps improve grammar, provides entertainment, educates people and provides inspiration. It is specifically useful for educating people on racial discrimination as many classic works contain racism. Both To Kill a Mockingbird and The Butler are great at expanding people’s knowledge on racism. Although they have two entirely different plots, they both depict how little people value an African-American’s opinion, characters challenging racism and the acceptance of blatant racism.

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Hurston’s autobiography, Dust Tracks on a Road marks the popularity of her career as a writer in the Harlem Renaissance. It is an autobiography intertwined with reality, mystery, imagination, creation, humor and wisdom, celebrating Hurston’s struggle from an isolated southern child to a recognized black female writer. It is an autobiography contains a controversial work evoking both recognition and discrete criticism. Starting with the history of Eatonville, the founding of the pure Negro town, Hurston in Dust Tracks locates herself as a carefree black girl in a harmless place immune from threats of the racial segregation, then delineates her life as a wander after her mother’s death. Aside from her journey in life, the alienation of the narrator

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Zora Neale Hurston’s writing in Their Eyes Were Watching God, reflects the Harlem Renaissance through Janie 's individuality, and departs from the Harlem Renaissance with the common recurrence of black woman empowerment. In the novel, Hurston reflects the ideas of the Harlem renaissance with the ways in which Janie rebels and goes against norms for women.

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In Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, the long-lasting effects of slavery have taken a toll on Janie Crawford. Janie’s grandmother was raped by her master and had a child named Leafy. Leafy, although not born into slavery, endured a similar fate, which led her to run away, leaving her mother to raise her child, Janie. Janie’s appearance, showing strong European features, was both praised and shamed by society. This double standard was created by racism and was able to remain present due to segregation.

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As Harper Lee states “ Tom’s dead was typical, typical of a nigger to cut and run, typical of a nigger mentality to have no plan, no though for the future, just run blind first chance he saw “(240). This important because even though a colored person is dead they still judge him and there still rude too. As Harper Lee states, “too proud to fight, you nigger loving ‘baster” (217). This is important because there calling names to Atticus for taking the case of Tom Robison and for talking to him. As Harper Lee states, “White man who’ll take advantage of a Negros’s ignorance, don’t be a fool yourselves’’ (221).

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In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston wrote in a way that conveyed a message through her characters, using a storytelling "frame" to express her ideas. Hurston did not stop by means to get her point across. Hurston uses Janie’s thoughts and actions to represents how during Reconstruction, African Americans were trying to find their identities and achieve their dreams of independence. At the start of the novel Hurston begins to illustrate how African Americans in Eatonville feel about their lives.

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As a consequence, men did not want to see women working or earning more than them. In the story, although Syke did not work and he lived through Delia's wage, he did not approve of Delia financially supporting the both of them. The racism experienced by African American's was a large factor in the inspiration for most of Hurston's writings. The majority of jobs held by African American women were domestic based jobs for white people. Similar to Syke, this fact upset many husbands (Seidel).

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It showed a different side of the American Dream, to be united as one unit and country, despise the color of your skin. In “To Kill A Mockingbird”, by Harper Lee, the way people talk about blacks, shows how harshly people treated the idea of them being treated the same. It made some people extremely upset by the idea of blacks being treated poorly. For example, “For some reason Dill had started crying and couldn’t stop; quietly at first, then his sobs were heard by several people in the balcony. ”(Lee, 265).

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