Usually, when it comes to discrimination, the matter is connected with race and people being oppressed due to their skin color or eye shape. Hurston’s symbols (the mule or pear tree in blossom) represent the becoming of Janie’s freedom and womanhood together with her victory over the men. Thus, Janie, the novel’s main character, cannot neglect society’s opinion before she experiences all the disadvantages of being a black woman. It is often a problem for a person to identify oneself due to the conflict between personal identity and the one created by society. In one of her best-known novels, “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” Hurston examines gender and race’s influence on personality formation. However, it was a part of the everyday life of many other black writers. In her childhood, she did not experience racism or extreme need. On the other hand, personal and historical reasons were also included. On the contrary, she emphasized that they were happy within their authentic culture. Hurston neglected the black population’s sufferings because of racism and injustice. The critics claim that Hurston had two main reasons for black folk culture application in her works. These are: Their Eyes Were Watching God, Mules, and Men, Man of the Mountain, Tell My Horse, Jonah’s Gourd Vine, and Moses. On the whole, some of Hurston’s works present African American Folklore. 4 It was done in her particular narrative and dialogical style. Hurston dedicated most of her writer’s and anthropologist’s career to depicting the uniquely African American folklore. It provoked the criticism of Hurston’s works. Still, such depiction was not typical at that time. Of course, this approach is the result of her childhood in Eatonville, where she could observe the life of the black community and their possibilities. On the contrary, Hurston showed blacks independent and proud of their culture. 3 The majority of black authors who arose at times of the Harlem Renaissance depicted the black population as oppressed by the whites. Within thirty years of her career, Hurston published two books of folklore, four novels, plays, articles, and short stories. Hurston often addresses gender dynamics in her short stories as well. Female anthropologists wanted to figure out the role of a woman in the context of time and culture. They tended to reveal women’s cross-cultural status and the factors that could influence it, historical, cultural, and economic. Feminist anthropologists aimed to discover the category of gender. Its primary task was to intensify the female anthropologic writing. Only in the 1970s, due to the feminist movement, the feminist anthropology appeared. Consequently, the gender components of the traditional communities were not discovered properly. Men were dominating thus, life aspects were highlighted from the male’s point of view. 2Īt that time, male supremacy was observed in all the spheres. Nevertheless, her literary works are not limited to these topics. Her works concentrate on race, class, and gender within the scope of African-American history in the United States. The work Tell My Horse: Voodoo and Life in Haiti and Jamaica analyze the spiritual traditions she observed in Haiti and Jamaica. She contributed to this field’s development with her selection of African American folklore, the book Mules and Men. Still, it should be mentioned that she was the first black woman who obtained a degree in anthropology. Zora Neale Hurston is well known as a writer. Her origin contributed to her writing style and the interpretation of cultural concepts within the anthropologic study. Among many female anthropologists, the personality of Zora Neale Hurston appeals to me most of all. She was collecting folklore during her trips around the American South and the West Indies Islands. Although more famous as a writer, Hurston had a degree in anthropology. 1 A student of Franz Boas, who is often called the father of contemporary anthropology, Zora Neale Hurston, contributed to the change of culture and gender in the 20th century. The experience of powerful role models helped her in adult life and work. With her parents being the community’s active members, she was brought up with much confidence in herself. She grew up with the best traditions of the southern Black culture. Due to this factor, she was proud of her race and did not experience intolerance. She grew up in Eatonville, Florida, a town with a rural black community. Zora Neale Hurston lived an unusual life.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |