by Ciera Forestt
The Harlem Renaissance began a literary movement that opened the eyes of many white Americans to what life was truly like for African Americans. The Harlem Renaissance sparked a connection between white and black cultures while producing timeless literary material that expresses the many hardships that all Americans face, no matter their skin color. Zora Neale Hurston was one of the many brilliant authors who pioneered the Harlem Renaissance. Many of her works explore issues in the black community including those challenges faced by women in the American South. Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937), and essay, How It Feels To Be Colored Me (1928), unveil the reality of being a black woman trying to live “the American Dream” during the early twentieth century while facing discrimination and struggling to find an identity.
In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston tells the bittersweet story of Janie Crawford, a mixed-race woman living in Eatonville, Florida. Janie is ahead of her time as she shuns gender stereotypes by stressing the importance of independence—even as a woman in early 20th century in America (a relatively short time after slavery had been abolished). Janie Crawford is a free spirit and a force to be reckoned with. Her three marriages teach her lessons which truly define her. Janie receives constant criticism from both men and women in her community. However, she always strives to do what she feels is best rather than what is expected. Throughout Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie deals with discrimination, abuse, love, tragedy, and heartbreak. Zora Neale Hurston’s novel examines the many struggles women had to gain independence from men during the early 20th century in America. During this time, women did not have an identity beyond their husbands or children: “She starched and ironed her face, forming it into just what people wanted to see” (Hurston). In Janie’s marriages, there are many power struggles since the men expected women not to have an opinion (or if so not to let it be known). In addition to examining discrimination based upon gender, Zora Neale Hurston also explores racism. One character in Their Eyes Were Watching God is black yet still racist against darker-skinned blacks; this shows that during this time there was so much oppression that prejudice even occurred in a predominantly black community. However, cultural transformation is one of the most prominent themes in the novel. Some progress did occur during the 1920s: Slavery had been abolished and the Suffrage Movement had gained momentum. Janie struggles not to allow her gender to hold her back or define her. She even transforms from a submissive young wife wearing pretty dresses (in the beginning) to a tomboy wearing overalls (at the end) when she is finally free of all inhibitions: [The porch gossips]: “What she doin coming back here in dem overhalls? Can’t she find no dress to put on? …Why she don’t stay in her class?” (1.6). The novel is set in Eatonville, Florida. Eatonville is a prime example of post-slavery America as African Americans are striving to use their newfound freedom to create the American Dream—even though there is still a great deal of external and internal oppression. Janie’s story shows that although it was difficult to break free of the trials and tribulations of society, they were still possible to overcome.
In her essay, How It Feels To Be Colored Me (1928), Zora Neale Hurston offers her own story as a black woman in the American South of the 1920s. Hurston was a grant-winning anthropologist (Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Arts, etc.), and “As an anthropologist and as an African-American writer during the Harlem Renaissance, Hurston was uniquely situated to explore the critical possibilities of marginality” (Wald). Hurston tells the story of the day she became colored: She explains that she never thought of herself as colored until others identified her as such and treated her differently. The setting of her essay is (again) her home state of Florida, and she portrays the true characteristics of what it was like being raised as a black woman in the South during segregation. Power is an interesting topic in How It Feels To Be Colored Me. Hurston grew up in one of the first all-black towns which caused white tourists to stare. As Hurston was in her town, she would flip the power and stare right back for the fun of it. Power dynamics between races is also sampled in an opposite instance in which Zora Neale Hurston moves to an all-white town and deals with discrimination. How It Feels To Be Colored Me illustrates how separated people of different races were and the various attitudes among blacks and whites in different communities. Zora Neale Hurston goes on to explain that she is unapologetic about who she is and the color of her skin. She will not excuse who she is, where she comes from, or what she looks like. Zora Neale Hurston takes pride in being black no matter what prejudices others have: “Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It’s beyond me” (Hurston). This is what makes How It Feels To Be Colored Me an iconic and exemplary literary work of the Harlem Renaissance.
Their Eyes Were Watching God and How It Feels To Be Colored Me share many similarities such as the setting and nature of the protagonist. Zora Neale Hurston writes about a black woman living in the American South of the early 20th century. Flashbacks in each literary work show off Hurston’s writing style by building a connection between the reader and characters. However, the themes are the most important similarity as Hurston discuss issues of discrimination, gender, race, and the eternal search for identity. These works both advanced the Harlem Renaissance. Zora Neale Hurston wrote compelling literature and folklore about being black in America. Kristy Puchko asks, “Should African-Americans create without the constraints of a political or creative ideology?” Zora Neale Hurston did things her way by expressing the reality of living as an African American and a woman in America. As a result, “She saw her novel criticized for its embrace of the vernacular of the black South, its exploration of female sexuality, and its absence of an overt political agenda” (Punchko).
Although Zora Neale Hurston is a prominent author today, her work was once not recognized. As stated by Claudia Roth Pierpont, “Nevertheless, since Alice Walker’s In Search of Zora Neale Hurston appeared in Ms. in 1975, interest in this neglected ancestress has developed a seemingly unstoppable momentum” (Pierpont). Both of Zora Neale Hurston’s literary works, Their Eyes Were Watching God and How It Feels To Be Colored Me, were monumentally important in inspiring readers of all different genders, races, cultures, and ethnicities from the suffrage movements of her day to this day.
Works Cited
Elliot, Emory. New Essays on Their Eyes Were Watching God. Cambridge University Press, 1990.
Hurston, Zora N. How It Feels to Be Colored Me. The Norton Introduction to Literature. 12th ed., W. W. Norton & Co., 2016. Text
Hurston, Zora N. Their Eyes Were Watching God. New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2006. Print.
Pierpont, Claudia Roth. “Zora Neale Hurston, American Contrarian.” The New Yorker, 20 Dec. 2018, www.newyorker.com/magazine/1997/02/17/a-society-of-one.
Punchko, Kristy. “Zora Neale Hurston, Genius of the Harlem Renaissance.” Mental Floss, 7 Jan. 2019, mentalfloss.com/article/73895/retrobituaries-zora-neale-hurston-genius-harlem-renaissance.
Wald, Priscilla. “Becoming Colored: The Self- Authorized Language of Difference in Zora Neale Hurston.”American Literary History, 1990. Print.
Image: Zora Neale Hurston by Carl Van Vechten via The Philadelphia Museum of Art / Flickr