Analysis Of Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neale Hurston

Hurston’s autobiography, Dust Tracks on a Road marks the popularity of her career as a writer in the Harlem Renaissance. It is an autobiography intertwined with reality, mystery, imagination, creation, humor and wisdom, celebrating Hurston’s struggle from an isolated southern child to a recognized black female writer. It is an autobiography contains a controversial work evoking both recognition and discrete criticism. Starting with the history of Eatonville, the founding of the pure Negro town, Hurston in Dust Tracks locates herself as a carefree black girl in a harmless place immune from threats of the racial segregation, then delineates her life as a wander after her mother’s death. Aside from her journey in life, the alienation of the narrator

Zora Neale Hurston, born January 7th, 1891, was an African-American author, widely known for her classic novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. Being raised in Eatonville, Florida, the first black township of the United States, Hurston was indulged in black culture at a very early age. Zora was described to have a fiery, yet bubbly spirit, befriending very influential people, one being American poet, Langston Hughes. With heavy influence from her hometown, along with the achievement of the black women around her, an abundance of motivation came when Hurston wrote Their Eyes Were Watching God. The novel promotes black power, all while rejecting the stereotypes held against women.

For African Americans during the early 1900’s was a scary place. . People were filled with racism and hate towards those who are black. Ever thought of how much power a group of people have if they all unite for a similar purpose? The Harlem Renaissance shows exactly that. The African Americans of this time came together with the purpose of social change. Digging back into their roots to show the world just how beautiful it is. They chose to express their culture in writing, music, and art.

The United States Constitution states that the country values liberty, life, and happiness for all of its citizens. These three values shape the ideal American experience. Most view it as living freely, where all men, women, and races are created equal, and where oppression of genders and races does not exist. In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, however, Zora Neale Hurston challenges the traditional view of this experience by illustrating how gender roles and racism change it, manifesting that it is not close to what the average citizen goes through, especially if he or she is black.

In Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, the long-lasting effects of slavery have taken a toll on Janie Crawford. Janie’s grandmother was raped by her master and had a child named Leafy. Leafy, although not born into slavery, endured a similar fate, which led her to run away, leaving her mother to raise her child, Janie. Janie’s appearance, showing strong European features, was both praised and shamed by society. This double standard was created by racism and was able to remain present due to segregation. The minds of black people have been brainwashed into thinking that people with more European features are more beautiful. Janie’s appearance models power, reflects society’s hypocrisy, and shows the distinction between the inner

After Hurston heard the court ruling that schools will be desegregated , Hurston wrote that she has “no sympathy nor respect for the “tragedy of color” school of thought among us”. She felt there was no need for schools to desegregate. By saying this, it shows us Hurston was against desegregation. Therefore her goal was never for total equality for blacks and whites. She let’s this belief of hers show through in Their Eyes Were Watching God by illustrating abuse among the black community to each other. For instance Mrs. Turner’s racism towards black men and women that were “too dark.”When somebody talked mah husband intuh comin’ down heah tuh open up uh eatin’ place Ah never dreamt so many different kins uh black folks could colleck in one

“The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it.”

In the heart of the Harlem Renaissance, Zora Neale Hurston once said, "I am not tragically colored. There is no great sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes. I do not mind at all. I do not belong to the sobbing school of Negrohood who hold that nature somehow has given them a lowdown dirty deal and whose feelings are all hurt about it. Even in the helter-skelter skirmish that is my life, I have seen that the world is to the strong regardless of a little pigmentation more or less. No, I do not weep at the world—I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife"(Hardy 131). As one of the most famous Harlem Renaissance writers, Zora Neale Hurston embraced her race and sought to empower other African Americans. She had a big part in the Harlem Renaissance, creating stories that would later be used to inspire other people. The Harlem Renaissance was originally called the New Negro Movement in the early years. It was considered a literary and intellectual movement that created new black cultural expression in the 1920s and 1930s. Since racism was high and economic opportunities were scarce, creative expression was one of the only ways to pass the time for African Americans ("Great Days"). The timing of this coming-of-age was almost perfect. The years between World War I and the Great Depression was an excellent time for the United States. Jobs were plentiful in cities, especially in the North. Between 1920 and 1930, almost 750,000

During the 1920’s while segregation existed between blacks and whites, The Harlem Renaissance also known as the New Negro Movement developed in Harlem New York City. The Harlem Renaissance allowed was very benficial to African Americans because it allowed them to express themeselves. ‘Harlem gave African American people a new sense of their own beauty and power” (Haskins,2). During the harlem Renassance African AMericans expressed themselves through different types of art such as music, poetry, dance,and paintings.

The Harlem Renaissance time period and “The Lottery” documentary have many similarities to them. People are attempting to stand up and voice their opinions to make their lives and their children’s lives better. Good educational opportunities in a person’s community is a necessary requirement to improve one’s life situation and to be able to have a positive impact on society, but it was not and still is not offered to everyone in America.

As Janie ages, she has been going through different stages of loves and misloves, which gradually introduced her to reveal her feminnity. In the book Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston depictures Janie’s feminism through her growth of life from an innocent and vulnerable 17 years old girl who had not yet experienced love to a true women who forgets “all those things (she doesn’t) want to remember, and remember(s) everything (she doesn’t) want to forget” (1) in various of perspectives: Janie’s education and her grandmother’s instigation about marriage; Janie’s misloves with Logan and Jody; and Janie’s love for Tea Cake.

New York City, famously known as the city of dreams even before the Alicia Keys song. For the black communities of the 20’s, they found refuge in the back streets of Harlem, New York from the harsh reality of segregated America. Here, famous artists, musicians, and authors started a black pride culture phenomenon called today the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement of racial pride influenced by history, literature, and the culture of the era.

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.

The Harlem Renaissance brought about a new sense of African American pride. The arts flourished with new artists and writers and singers. This time period brought about more confidence for African Americans from their former experience in slave life. This mindset of this new generation of people effected both males and females. In Their Eyes were Watching God, the contrast between Janie and her grandmother shows the differing thought on independence and the new womanhood during the time period of the Harlem Renaissance.

Our group of four is studying the progression of the Harlem Renaissance and the impact it made upon the Civil Rights Movement. We conceived our idea after one of our group members did not find interest to the prior topic choice of Alice Paul and brought another idea to the table. We find great attentiveness in the current topic due to fact that we enjoy learning more about the black culture and the arts of the world. We chose the Harlem Renaissance after setting a main focal point of adroitness. Our group’s entry is about the Harlem Renaissance encouraging one of the biggest impacts of the United States, the Civil Rights movement.