During the Harlem Renaissance, people believed that this was a time of discrimination but the African Americans took it as a new type of self-determination and pride within their race, and with excitement for the future they could keep a positive focus which later leads to the civil rights movement of 1964. Which created a nonviolent movement that abolished legalized racial segregation, and discrimination throughout the US.
In Zora Neale Hurston's book, Their eyes are watching God, Hurston both reflects and departs from the Harlem Renaissance belief that there is excitement for the future as shown by Janie's accomplishments, Independence as well as struggles with her different husbands and adventures. One way the novel shows a reflection is through independence and a sense of newness. This quote shows this by revealing “ A feeling of sudden newness and change came over her. Janie
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This quote is showing how Hurston is using blues music to express happiness and pride. “Then Tea Cake went up to the piano without so much as asking and began playing blues and singing, and throwing grins over his shoulder” (103). This quote is a Reflection on the Harlem Renaissance belief of pride and excitement for the accomplishments of the race because African Americans making music, singing, and interacting with the cotton club and other places was a huge turning point and accomplishment for the race. It gave them a way to express themselves without being put down and also gave them a voice. Tea Cake and Janie are hanging out when Tea Cake suddenly goes and starts to play the piano then Janie wakes up and Tea Cake starts to teach Janie how to play which makes Janie happy and makes her feel loved. Because of this Hurston is reflecting on the Harlem Renaissance belief of pride and excitement for the accomplishments of
In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston shows a life of a young woman that passes through a lot of difficulties due to her black cultural aspect during this time period. This leads into the idea that in the essay it will be discussed about how Neale Hurston reflects and departs from Their Eyes Were Watching God and the Harlem Renaissance in other similar details. First of alI, I’m going to talk about the similarities, topic ideas from the book and the Renaissance. For example, Jody states, “my wife doesnt know nothing about making a simple speech”(page:43) which shows how the mayor aka jody feels about her not being intelligent enough to make a public speech without his approval. This reflects on the idea of how Jody
In the fiction story it states, “She saw him on his hands and knees as soon as she reached the door” (line 108). This statement shows a reflection of the Harlem Renaissance through supporting the ideas of destroying old stereotypes of African Americans along with giving confidence towards the future. In the story the main character is being set free by letting her abusive husband die. This is figurative language of allowing old stereotypes die off. The death of the husband allowed the main character to have a free and bright future which can be a translation on how Hurston will allow the old stereotypes to die off and not hold her back from her bright future, reflecting on the beliefs of the Harlem Renaissance.
In the book, Hurston conveys the theme of alienation, with the african americans different practices and the fact that there were black slaves and writes about what they had felt and went through during that time. This was a real thing just before and in the very early stages of the Harlem Renaissance. Although she altered how it was established, it was still an accurate representation for what had happened. She had used Janie’s Grandmother ‘Nanny’ to deliver this information with her perspective of what she went through. A few examples of this include the time she was talking to Janie about what she went
Oprah’s Eyes Did Not Watch Oprah Winfrey changes the dynamic of Their Eyes Are Watching God, by creating her own script for the movie, instead of keeping the original dynamic from the novel. Janie’s strength had changed within herself and in her relationship with Jody; a love story and symbolism added; characters became missing: changing the story, and Eatonville and Everglades environments changed. Oprah Winfrey took and added ideas making it Oprah’s idea and twisting Zora Neale Hurston’s work.
The Harlem Renaissance was the peak of creativity for African Americans in art, music, and literature. African Americans were discovering self-love and how amazing the Negro actually was. The “New Negro” refused the commonly perceived slave image that many blacks were still viewed as. In Zora Neale Hurston’s essay, "How It Feels to Be Colored Me." , she also explains her life and what is was like to be her in the time during the Harlem Renaissance.
Zora Neale Hurston is writer known for her the books “Sweat”, “How It Feels To Be Colored Me”, and her most famous, Their Eyes Were Watching God. Hurston grew up in the South during the beginning of the twentieth century. Like many other African American writers in the Harlem Renaissance, she discussed the daily lives of African Americans in her works. However, many of her works were very contentious within the the African American community because of her peculiar views on several issues concerning African Americans. Zora Neale Hurston was a Harlem Renaissance writer that through her work reflected the many values of the Harlem Renaissance and disputed many of the key principles of the movement.
Whoever knew how difficult love can be. Love changes like the season. Summer and Spring are your happy moments. Winter and Fall are the bad moments. In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston shows how quick and easy love changes overtime.
In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, she shows that she shares the Harlem Renaissance value(s) of rebirth and self expression, however she departs from the value of prosperity. A prominent value supported both in the Harlem renaissance and Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston was the
Hurston employs cause and effect to illustrate how she “left Eatonville” a “Zora” but once at school and far from home, she became “a little colored girl”. Hurston describes how even when she began to learn of the racial inequities in the US, she kept a positive mindset. She illustrates “there is no great sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes,” utilizing personification to illustrate her genuine happiness. Again contrasting her attitude to the “typical” attitude of many blacks, Hurstron illustrates the “sobbing school of Negrohood '' who blame the hand they have been dealt and just feel sorry for themselves. Nonetheless, Hurston believes there is no use fretting about the past because she is “too busy sharpening (her) oyster knife” to worry about what she cannot control.
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).
When someone’s story isn't public knowledge, the public tends to make up their story for them. In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston uses third-person narration to demonstrate Janie’s story being told in a way of which she is not in control. By giving her story to Pheoby, Janie hopes to suppress the gossip and assumptions that have been made about her in order to earn her place in society. The role of storytelling demonstrates the necessity of a woman’s story in being part of a community.
For example, This transformation is depicted in the quote, "The young girl was gone, but a handsome woman had taken her place. She tore off the kerchief from her head and let down her plentiful hair”(Hurston 97). Hurston uses this image to show how Janie sheds the expectations of society and embraces her true self. This shows that Janie discovered her true self-identity after Joe’s death. She finally felt free to start bettering herself as an african american woman.
The empowerment of black women wasn 't present in the Harlem Renaissance and in this novel it shows the empowerment of black women. Zora Neale Hurston’s writing in Their Eyes Were Watching God, departs from the Harlem Renaissance through the common recurrence of black women
This essay brought Hurston’s name back into the public eye, and with hindsight the public found her work, their underlying themes, and even her work outside of writing truly a monument of the Harlem Renaissance. Hurston’s accolades include using the Harlem Renaissance to lead a successful feminist movement ahead of its time (5), and writing with both creativity and anthropology in mind to make her work have “life in it” to better portray literary elements (5). She was an activist to her final breath, fighting the Brown v Board decision in the 1950s, past both her and the Harlem Renaissance’s haydays. Hurston’s writing was able to portray black people with a soul, diverging from the norms and stereotypes the public had of African Americans, something very few could do. All of her wit and expertise allows her to be known today as one of the forefathers (mothers?) of the Harlem Renaissance, and embodies the cultural expression the Renaissance worked to
The Harlem Renaissance was a movement that reflected the culture of African Americans in an artistic way during the 1920’s and the 30’s. Many African Americans who participated in this movement showed a different side of the “Negro Life,” and rejected the stereotypes that were forced on themselves. The Harlem Renaissance was full of artists, musicians, and writers who wrote about their thoughts, especially on discrimination towards blacks, such as Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, and Langston Hughes. The Harlem Renaissance was an influential and exciting movement, and influenced others to fight for what they want and believed in. The Harlem Renaissance was the start of the Civil Rights Movement.