In A Thousand Buzzards Held A Flying Meet, By Zora Neale Hurston

When the Indians and the animals are leaving the Everglades their connectedness to nature is highlighted. The Indians were well adapted to understanding the signs of a future hurricane explicitly saying on page 154 that they were “Going to high ground. Saw-grass bloom. Hurricane coming”. The animals seemed even more aware of the danger the hurricane will bring. All types of animals headed east to avoid the path of the hurricane. Hurston portrays the hurricane as hazardous when she alludes to the infamous buzzards that were seen in chapter 6. In chapter 18 page 155 close to the bottom she says, “a thousand buzzards held a flying meet” closely mirroring the introduction of buzzards in chapter 6 page 61 second paragraph who were also, “holding a great flying-meet”. The use of the buzzards are in place so that Hurston can illustrate the immense death that will occur because of the the hurricane.
While the Indians and animals leave Janie and Tea Cake and their friends stay behind to take advantage of the profitable season. They are so encouraged by the possible income that they ignore the clear signs that indicate something bad is going to happen. On page 155 first paragraph, Hurston uses the non sequitur, “Beans running fine and prices good so the Indians could be, must be, wrong. You couldn't have a hurricane when you're making seven and eight

She writes through Tea Cake saying on 156, “De white folks ain’t gone no where. Dey oughta know if it’s dangerous” and on 158 where Hurston writes, “The folks [blacks] let the people [whites] do the thinking”. With so much white influence blacks have allowed their views to be veiled by the anglo-saxon ideaology that the whites spread. In another use of non- sequitur, Tea Cake announces not only that the Indians are wrong about the hurricane but that they, “...don’t know much uh nothin’ tuh tell de truth. Else dey’d own dis country