Zora Neale Hurston And Richard Wright Essay

In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston portrays the religion of black people as a form of identity. Each individual in the black society Hurston has created worships a different God. But all members of her society find their identities by being able to believe in a God, spiritual or other. Grandma’s worship of Jesus and the “Good Lawd,” Joe Starks’ worship of himself, Mrs. Turner’s worship of white characteristics, and Janie’s worship of love, all stem from a lack of jurisdiction in the society they inhabit. All these Gods represent a need for something to believe in and work for: an ideal, which they wish to achieve, to aspire to. Each individual character is thus

It is strange that two of the most prominent artists of the Harlem Renaissance could ever disagree as much as or be as different as Zora Neale Hurston and Richard Wright. Despite the fact that they are the same color and lived during the same time period, they do not have much else in common. On the one hand is Hurston, a female writer who indulges in black art and culture and creates subtle messages throughout her most famous novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. On the other hand is Wright, who is a male writer who demonstrates that whites do not like black people, nor will they ever except for when they are in the condition “…America likes to see the Negro live: between laughter and tears.” Hurston was also a less political writer than

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. Hurston’s literature has served as a big eye opener during the Harlem Renaissance, celebrating black dialect and their traditions. Most of her published stories “depict relationships among black residents in her native southern Florida, was largely unconcerned with racial injustices” (Bomarito 89). Hurston was unique when it came to her racial point of views, promoting white racism instead of black racism. Even though her works had been forgotten by the time of her death, now her literature has left a bigger impact to future literature

     Zora Neale Hurston was a phenomenal woman. At the height of her success she was known as the “Queen of the Harlem Renaissance.” She came to overcome obstacles that were placed in front of her. Hurston rose from poverty to fame and lost it all at the time of her death. Zora had an unusual life; she was a child that was forced to grow up to fast. But despite Zora Neale Hurston’s unsettled life, she managed to surmount every obstacle to become one of the most profound authors of the century.

Zora Neal Hurston was criticized by other African American writers for her use of dialect and folk speech. Richard Wright was one of her harshest critics and likened Hurston’s technique “to that of a minstrel show designed to appease a white audience” (www.pbs.org).Given the time frame, the Harlem Renaissance, it is understandable that Zora Neale Hurston may be criticized. The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement which redefined how America, and the world, viewed African Americans, so her folk speech could be seen as perpetuating main stream society’s view of African Americans as ignorant and incapable of speaking in complete sentences. However, others, such as philosopher and critic Alain Locke, praised her. He considered Hurston’s “gift for poetic phrase and rare dialect, a welcome replacement for so much faulty local color fiction about Negroes” (www.pbs.org).

In Richard Wright’s novel, Black Boy, Richard is struggling to survive in a racist environment in the South. In his youth, Richard is vaguely aware of the differences between blacks and whites. He scarcely notices if a person is black or white, and views all people equally. As Richard grows older, he becomes more and more aware of how whites treat blacks, the social differences between the races, and how he is expected to act when in the presence of white people. Richard, with a rebellious nature, finds that he is torn between his need to be treated respectfully, with dignity and as an individual with value and his need to conform to the white rules of society for survival and acceptance.

Within Zora Neale Hurston’s writing, no matter if it be fiction or non-fiction, she makes it known that she isn’t just writing for fun: she’s writing to make a point. In her article, “What White publishers won’t print” she’s writing about the fact that literature that displays anything other than Black suffering will not be published. She makes this point by talking about how “Anglo-Saxon” people can’t see that we are more than just the stereotypes they created. This article is still relevant to this day, due to the fact that Black people still feel a very strong disconnect to White people when it comes to our personal stories and emotions. While reading the article I have come to the conclusion that Hurston does have a valid argument due to: their inability to look past preconceived notions that they created; the lack of interest of White audiences to Black stories; and, they’re indifference toward Black lives higher than servant status.

First, The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement throughout the 1920’s and 1930’s. The purpose of the Harlem Renaissance was that it created a new black cultural identity (Beth Rowen and Borgna Bower 2007).Next, this era was a time for people to find their identity in music, writing, plays, and much more.This was also a way for African - Americans to find their identity as individuals. This is where the African - American authors came to get their names known. The purpose of the Harlem Renaissance was to help the African- American culture find their identity as an individual instead of being labeled by other people’s opinions ( Rowen and Borgna , 2007 ). Because of all of the opportunities that Harlem presented, Zora Neale Hurston was able to leave a legacy during this era . Between 1920 and 1930: 750, 000 African- Americans migrated from the South to the North because of all the job opportunities and

Along with others, she demanded equal rights for African American culture in history (Bio.com). Hurston brought joy to the Harlem streets through her writings and folklore. She cared about the cause and wanted people to enjoy what happiness they had left. Hurston infrequently portrayed blacks as victims of white society. She represented them as self-determined beings who are proud of their culture. This demonstrated that Hurston wanted people to see the best in others. She wanted others to know that the downfalls of their lives do not define who they are. Hurston also tried to stand up to white supremacy. The editors then silenced her work, making her voice vanish from the community. Her work was later rediscovered after her death in the 1960’s and ‘70s (Zora Neale Hurston: A Female Perspective). Hurston wanted to speak out against the cultural norms and break the guidelines; she wanted to make a difference. Hurston wanted to stop the way whites treated African Americans. She wanted to help them find peace and equality through her

Both Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes were great writers but their attitudes towards their personal experience as an African American differed in many ways. These differences can be attributed to various reasons that range from gender to life experience but even though they had different perceptions regarding the African American experience, they both shared one common goal, racial equality through art. To accurately delve into the minds of the writers’ one must first consider authors background such as their childhood experience, education, as well their early adulthood to truly understand how it affected their writing in terms the similarities and

The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement in the 1920s that led to the evolution of African-American culture, expression through art, music, and literary works, and the establishment of African roots in America. Zora Neale Hurston contributed to the Harlem Renaissance with her original and enticing stories. However, Hurston’s works are notorious (specifically How it Feels to Be Colored Me and Their Eyes Were Watching God) because they illustrate the author’s view of black women and demonstrate the differences between their views and from earlier literary works.

In the short story “Drenched in Light” by Zora Neale Hurston, the author appeals to a broad audience by disguising ethnology and an underlying theme of gender, race, and oppression with an ambiguous tale of a young black girl and the appreciation she receives from white people. Often writing to a double audience, Hurston had a keen ability to appeal to white and black readers in a clever way. “[Hurston] knew her white folks well and performed her minstrel shows tongue in cheek” (Meisenhelder 2). Originally published in The Opportunity in 1924, “Drenched in Light” was Hurston’s first story to a national audience.

Zora Neale Hurston was born on January 7, 1891 in Alabama. She is known to be one of the most influential novelist of the twentieth century in African America literature. Hurston is described to be a very opinionated woman that stood for what she believed in; which reflected in some of her works. In addition to her many titles such as, being an anthropologist and short story writer, she was closely related and heavily focused on the Harlem Renaissance. Zora Neale Hurston and her political opinions placed her at odds with important figures during that time which I wholeheartedly believe played a part in the undeniable attraction that most people have towards her works. Being that Hurston was such a unique writer, to understand the ethics and themes of her and how she contributed to African American literature comes with an understanding of the background and childhood she had.

Zora Neale Hurston was one of the greatest authors in the Harlem Renaissance era, and it saddened me to discover that she died before seizing the benefits of her literary work of arts. Ms. Hurston was often criticized for her substantial use of southern country dialect and folk dialogue; she was a master at creating realistic African-American works of fiction. Hurston’s style of narrative is divided into direct and indirect dialogue. In her writing, she would employ a third-person narrative voice that was vastly intelligent with scholarly techniques such as formal grammar, rich vocabulary, vivid imagery, and allegories to define her settings, locations, and portrayals. Contrariwise, in the same piece, she would display a narrative voice in first-person and third-person using slang language, informal grammar, and irregular speech patterns. Through Hurston’s fictitious creations it enables us to appreciate how significant linguistic choices are used to enrich the production of contemporary literature and how different dualistic styles of narrative can work together in depicting the narration within that story.

Richard Wright’s Blueprint for Negro Writing uses criticism to aid in promoting the success of African-American writers. He did this because of how he viewed the literature standards and works of the writers