In the late 1890's, growing up in America's first incorporated Black community meant growing up sheltered from the harsh reality of the rest of America. For Zora Neale Hurston, it also meant growing up with a fiery personality as a Black woman. At that time in America, African Americans faced horrifying racial injustice including the Jim Crow Laws, violence, and poverty, with Black woman being even more oppressed. The Black female experience growing up in Eatonville, Florida is illustrated in Zora Neale Hurston's "Dust Tracks on the Road" by employing the use of diction, hyperbole, and details. Hurston utilizes powerful diction in order to describe her home life growing up. Her attitude towards her life growing up is featured in …show more content…
Hurston had grown up sheltered from the rest of the world. Her parents feared that she was unprepared for the harsh reality of the world. She writes about this in the last paragraph when she stated that her "Papa always flew hot when Mama said that. I do not know whether he feared for my future, with the tendency I had to stand and give battle... He predicted dire things for me. The white folks were not going to stand for it." The hyperbole in this quote, "flew hot", is used to translate her father's fearful concern about her future. The hyperbole "with the tendency to stand and give battle" is used to show that Hurston was fiery, which was not accepted of a Black woman outside of Eatonville. The hyperboles used illuminates how far removed from the world Hurston was because of her happy childhood. Hurston also stated that "Posses with ropes and guns were going to drag me out sooner or later on account of that stiff neck I toted. I was going to tote a hungry belly by reason of my forward ways," meaning that she believed that she was not going to succeed in life because of her red-hot personality. The hyperbole is used to emphasize how much of an impact her childhood was going to leave on her adult life, which was going to be, what her father thought, ill-fated. With this said, her childhood actually set her up for success as a freewheeling
Hurston tells the story of Janie, a black woman who because of her grandmother experiences and beliefs was forced to marry into a loveless marriage with Logan Killicks, a hard-working farmer who had 60 acres of land and could provide for Janie. This marriage ended when Janie ran away with Joe Stark, a man that she fell in love with and thought could give her the love absent between her and Logan. But Janie soon realized that her second marriage wouldn’t turn out better than her first. Joe was just as controlling and degrading as Logan. He hardly expressed his love for Janie and spoke to her like an incompetent child.
In the excerpt of Zora Neale Hurston’s novel “Seraph on the Suwannee,” the author describes this town as unique compared to the ones that exist today with the numerous amounts of literary devices such as diction, vivid imagery, and parallelism. Moreover, Hurston goes into detail about the distinct features this town attains with a detached tone that shifts in the third paragraph to a characterizing one when referring to the past and the civilians that reside at the particular location. Ultimately, the author gives life to the community through words to represent who they are due to their demeanor towards Sawley rather than their individuality. The excerpt begins with a geographic description of Sawley and its surroundings. Hurston utilizes literary devices such as descriptive diction and imagery to aid the reader in visualizing the environment she is referring
Zora Neal Hurston Rhetorical Analysis In American novelist, Zora Neal Hurston’s, How It Feels to Be Colored Me, Hurston’s purpose is that African- Americans should celebrate their individual identity and look towards the future. In order to impress this on her readers, especially all of race-conscious America, Hurston utilizes satire and metaphors in the interest of conveying deeper meaning and implementing her own personality, thus, further developing the effectiveness of her text. Firstly, Hurston incorporates satire into her text, in which she uses humor to expose and criticize people's vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics. Authors take advantage of many aspects of this device, (strong use of irony,
“"…but Ah’m uh man even if Ah is de Mayor. But de mayor’s wife is somethin’ different again. Anyhow they’s liable tuh need me tuh say uh few words over de carcass, dis bein’ uh special case. But you ain’t goin’ off in all dat mess uh commonness."” (Hurston)
Zora Neale Hurston was an American novelist, anthropologist, folklorist, and short story writer and is closely associated with the Harlem Renaissance. Hurston grew up in one of America’s first all-black community’s this gave her a sense of independence, freedom and boldness that many African-Americans especially females did not have during this time, this distinguishes her from other writers of her time and it is clearly reflected in her work. In Hurston’s time she wrote a plethora of short stories, plays, essays and 4 published novels. Of all of the works she published and accomplishments she had, she is best known for her 1937 novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. This novel tells the story of Janie Crawford a young African-American girl growing
Throughout the text, Hurston infers that she's optimistic about being colored. “How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company”(67)? Hurston writes that she feels discriminated against but also feels how could anyone not want to be in her presence therefor She feels optimistic about the future. Hurston recalls that “Slavery is sixty years in the past” (65).
Zora Neale Hurston was a significant figure in the Harlem Renaissance as a writer. She wrote several pieces but most significantly the piece called Their Eyes was Watching God. In Their Eyes were Watching God she gave us the story of Janie and her life where Janie went through many trials and troubles. She was also thought of as a controversial writer because her style of writing didn’t exactly help the goal of the Harlem Renaissance. Most writers illuminated the struggles of blacks in the white America.
Zora Hurston uses vivid imagery, natural diction, and several literary tools in her essay “How It Feels to Be Colored Me”. Hurston’s use of imagery, diction, and literary tools in “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” contributes to, and also compliments, the essay’s theme which is her view on life as a “colored” person. Throughout “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” Hurston carefully incorporates aspects of her African American culture in an effort to recapture her ancestral past. Hurston’s use of imagery, diction, and use of literary tools shape her essay into a piece of Harlem Renaissance work. Imagery in “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” is quite abundant.
Life is time intervals of change that move each and every person with each passing moment, and reflect the world around us. Literature frequently reflects the culture along with the emotions and feelings of the environment and people around us. The novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, takes us through the life of Janie Crawford, a black woman in the early 1900’s, and her journey for love and identity through three different marriages. Janie’s different experiences and what goes on around her reflects how Zora Neale Hurston’s writing is both a reflection and departure from the ideas of the Harlem Renaissance, from the influence of slavery, and the re-emergence of stereotypes, respectively. The Harlem Renaissance was
The imagery used throughout the essay describes how the author feels when she is surrounded by white people. Hurston describes the feeling as is she is a “dark rock surged upon, overslept by a creamy sea”. The dark rock represents the author, while the creamy sea represents the white people surrounding her. The author uses this as a way to describe how she isn't changed by being around white people. They might surround her but she is still herself.
Racism can be defined as prejudice, discrimination, or contributions to a system that perpetuates the idea that one race is inferior to another. Racism was heavily enforced throughout American history, specifically in the early 1900’s. Coincidentally, this was the same time feminists, or women’s-rights activists, were in the in the midst of their fight for equality. Feminism is the theory that women should be treated equally to men in terms of social, political, and economic matters. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston uses the protagonist, Janie, to convey both concepts through her journey to self-love and acceptance.
It is also important for the reader to understand the setting of the story to know what was accepted by the culture during that time period and location. In Hurston’s writing, we can see how Delia is able to work through her abusive marriage and continue to stand up for herself. To begin, it is important to understand the setting of
During this rough time period, segregation was common and prohibition was recently introduced. Along with this, many other social and political issues played a role in Hurston's "Sweat." Consequently, a historical background of the early twentieth century would be ideal in order for the reader to better comprehend and appreciate the work thoroughly. In this story, Hurston writes about Delia and Syke's work lives. In the early 1900's, approximately sixty percent of African American woman and about twenty percent of men were employed (Mclaughlin).During this time period, men felt that they were vastly superior over women.
Name: Lakisha Minnis Instructor: Mr. Compton English 2202-001 Date: April. 24, 2017 Sweat Zora Neale Hurston is a prolific writer famed for numerous award winning plays, novels and short stories. In this paper, I will be elaborating on a character from the novel Sweat. Her novel Sweat was first published in 1926. Sweat is a novel that tells a story about the good, evil, and domestic abusive husband.
Zora Neale Hurston’s Seraph on the Suwanne (1984) opens with a panoramic view of the town Sawley; using a plethora of literary devices such as diction and imagery, Hurston characterizes its impoverished inhabitants in resemblance to the rural landscape. The excerpt opens with a general panoramic view of the Sawley land. Hurston introduces and familiarizes Sawley, the town located in Florida by mentioning the American song “Old Folks at Home”. Akin to the song, the excerpt’s descriptive language expresses the town as if a shared memory of an oral tradition, almost in a cinematic fashiom.