Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Zora Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God as a Creation...

Zora Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God as a Creation Story Zora Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God is, among other things, a creation story. For creation stories are not simply myths about the historical origins of the universe and humankind but metaphors for individual maturation. Individual perception is, to a large extent, what constitutes the world. Hence, the individual is the source and embodiment of the world; Janie is, the narrator tells us, â€Å"the world and the heavens boiled down to a drop† (72). And Janie’s awakening, or maturation, represents not only a personal transformation, but the creation of a universe. As a child seeking meaning, Janie does not look forward to merely â€Å"growing up† but waits â€Å"for the world to†¦show more content†¦Janie is, of course, drawn to the forbidden fruit and soon eats of it when she kisses Johnny Taylor over her grandmother’s fence. And just as Adam and Eve enter into life when they eat of the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, so Jani e’s â€Å"life commence[s] at Nanny’s gate† (10). Spying her kissing Johnny Taylor over the fence, Janie’s grandmother calls her into the house. Janie â€Å"half believe[s]† that her grandmother has not seen her, and her grandmother circuitously approaches the subject. Finally, confronting Janie, her grandmother â€Å"slap[s]† her â€Å"face violently† (13). The scene maintains a detailed parallel with Genesis. God, by definition, knows when Adam and Eve have eaten of the forbidden fruit. Yet, like Janie’s grandmother, God temporarily feigns ignorance, first calling out to Adam as if unaware of his whereabouts, and then asking innocently how Adam came to know he was naked. And Adam, like Janie, apparently believes, or half believes, that God does not know he has eaten of the fruit. And finally, just as Janie’s grandmother punishes Janie by slapping her and forcing her to marry Logan Killicks, soShow MoreRelatedZora Neale Hurston Essay1890 Words   |  8 PagesNo longer were Black writers imitating a white style of writing. An expression of black culture represented an equality and a pride in a race that for hundreds of years was supposedly second-class. This movement spawned the some of the most acclaimed African-American authors to date such as Langston Hughes, Wallace Thurman as well as Zora Neale Hurston; one of the most infamous and revolutionary authors the Harlem Renaissance would produce. Understanding the ideals and themes of Zora Neale HurstonRead MoreThe Life of Zora Neale Hurston Essay1284 Words   |  6 Pages Zora Neale Hurston, known as one of the most symbolic African American women during the Harlem Renaissance in the 1930’s. Hurston was known as a non fiction writer, anthropologist and folklorist. 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Through this study and with the aid of an essay defining human nature written by Cardinal Jean Daniello, we can take a closer look at the behavior of the characters inRead MoreA Comparison of Community in Hurstons Their Eyes Were Watching God and Morrisons Sula2078 Words   |  9 PagesImportance of Community in Their Eyes Were Watching God and Sula      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Community is an important concern in both black and womens literature. The racist and patriarchal nature of American society, what Morrison refers to as the master narrative of our culture, places blacks and women and especially black women in a position of powerlessness and vulnerability. Communities serve as a protective buffer within which black women must function in order to survive. However both Hurston and MorrisonRead More Female Spirituality and Sexuality Explored Through Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God and Tell My Horse1647 Words   |  7 PagesZora Neale Hurston, while living in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, was researching voodoo on the most scholarly level. She was studying with Haiti’s most well known hougans and mambos, or priests and priestesses. At this time she was gathering knowledge about voodoo so she could write the text, Tell My Horse. Also, at this same time Hurston had finished writing, Their Eyes Were Watching God i n only seven short weeks. A close reading of this novel provides the reader with a relationship between voodoo andRead More Theme of Voice in Their Eyes Were Watching God Essay1867 Words   |  8 PagesBreaking Through In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God written by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie the protagonist is seen by critics as having no voice. For all women silence knows no boundaries of race or culture, and Janie is no exception. Hurston characterizes Janie with the same silence that women at that time period were forced into, (complete submission.) Women were to be seen and not heard. Janie spends forty years of her life, learning to achieve/find, her voice against the over-rulingRead MoreTheir Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neale Hurston1352 Words   |  6 Pagesand opposition. This is what women like Janie Crawford in Zora Neale Hurston’s novel had to have, to get through traumatic events such as domestic violence and oppression from other men. In Their Eyes Were Watching God the main character Janie Crawford faced oppression and domestic violence, but instead of this holding her back it made a stronger woman by the end of the novel. Janie showed some changes from the beginning of her story telling sequence to the end of the novel in her present dayRead MoreHistory5499 Words   |  22 PagesNegro Renaissance,’’ a term that includes all African Americans, regardless of their location, who participated in this cultural revolution. Followers of the New Negro dicta, which emphasized blacks’ inclusion in and empowerment by American society, were undeniably spread throughout the nation, and most major cities had pockets of the African-American elite that W. E. B. Du Bois dubbed the ‘‘Talented Tenth.’’ Nevertheless, New York City was, arguably, the most crucial site of this movement’s development

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