Summary Of Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Hurston

The late 1890’s and early 1900’s were an oppressive time for people of color, but one woman overcame the oppression and made a name for herself. Anthropologist and novelist, Zora Neale Hurston, became a fixture of the Harlem Renaissance. During her life, Zora wrote multiple short stories and her most recognized piece, ‘Their Eyes Were Watching God’. Coming from a family with lots of brothers and sisters, Zora was the only one to become something big. Her life was very thrilling and interesting, but ended in an unfortunate way.

Zora Hurston was born in Notasulga, Alabama on January 7th, 1891. She was born into a big family of seven other children and their parents. She did not have time to make memories in her birth place because when she

Lucy’s death was very tough for Zora. When her mother died, Hurston wrote, "That hour began my wanderings, not so much in geography, but in time. Then not so much in time as in spirit." So the death of Lucy really took a toll on little Zora. Her mother was always the one to encourage her and her siblings to do big things in life, and never to let anyone bring them down. She urged them to “Jump at de sun”. I think that the influence from her mother and just the community that she lived in gave Zora the opportunity to do the great things she did in life and make it as big as she did. Her father, John Hurston, on the other hand was a preacher and a strict parent. He was born into slavery in Alabama. (Boyd). That explains a lot as to why he was trying to keep Zora close to home and away from the world. He was afraid of her being discriminated and ridiculed because of the color of her skin. Though they grew up in a black community with no oppression, he was still skeptical of the rest of the world. It is interesting as to why her father was so skeptical, but her mother was so open to the world and was not afraid for Zora to go out into the world. Both of her parents came from slavery, but that just shows how different people grow from those circumstances. It’s good that she had the influence though, because from it came great writings and an adventure filled life for

It was completely self-governed by other colored people, including her father who played a part in formulating the laws for the town. Zora moved out at the age of thirteen and began her life, doing odd jobs for different people and companies to keep her money up and support herself. Some of these jobs included working for an actress in a touring Gilbert and Sullivan group as a maid. With such ambition and want to be on her own in the world without the help from her parents that she was not too fond of, it was no surprise that she became who she did. She ended up obtaining her associates degree in the year of 1920 from Howard University. Some years down the road from that, she moved to The Big Apple, New York City’s Harlem Neighborhood. In that town, she became a token of the thriving art scene. Since New York is such a big city filled with opportunity, it was a good thing she moved over there to make her mark. It’s so amazing that she just went out at such a young age and began working towards her goals and things that she just wanted to accomplish. She learned her way around the world just by going through it. It would be so nice if things like that were still possible today. If a thirteen or fifteen year old could just go and start their life and make their way through the world. There was definitely more trust in the world back in the late 1800