Zora Neale Hurston Obstacles

Hurston and Janie both endured oppression during their lives based upon their race and gender however, their strong wills propelled them threw unforeseen obstacle. Zora Neale Hurston was a phenomenal African American woman whom despite her rough childhood would become one of the most profound authors of the century. Throughout her lifetime she was the, “Recipient of two Guggenheims and the author of four novels, a dozen short stories, two musicals, two books on black mythology, dozens of essays, and a prizewinning autobiography” (Gates 4). Hurston had to overcome numerous obstacles because of her gender, economic status, and racial identity. Hurston was born in 1891 in Notasulga, Alabama but grew up in Eatonville, Florida. Her mother died when she was thirteen-years-old, and as a result, her father sent her to boarding school shortly after. Overcoming many odds, Hurston graduated from Barnard college in 1927 with her

Growing up Janie had a pear tree in her yard and the tree grows to have significant meaning for her as she began to consider herself a sexual being. Janie’s infatuation with the pear tree and the bee symbolized her desire for real love. The blossoms on the pear tree resembled Janie’s budding sexuality as a woman, as the bees resembled the men needed to keep her sexuality in bloom. Each of Janie’s three marriages served as a development stage in her quest to find a man that she loves. Janie is unexcited with Logan, and mistreated by Joe Stark. Both men represented the oppression that women faced in American society. When Janie meets Tea Cake Woods, she is finally liberated and has fulfilled her quest for true love. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie represents the ideal “negro women,” a woman who does not let the abuse that she faces at the hand of her first two husbands discourage her from finding love on her own