sep 18, 1937 - Their Eyes Were Watching God

Description:

Zora Neale Hurston, of Eatonville, Florida, was an author and folklore historian. Hurston was producing literature during the time of the Harlem Renaissance, and was largely rejected by the black academic community for her use of colloquialisms and black southern dialect within her writing. In Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937), Hurston undoubtedly uses both in order to depict the narrative of Janie Crawford. The novel is devoted to depicting the struggles of black women, personified through Janie’s life. I first encountered this text in high school, and have read it three times since then. While reading Malcolm X’s “Who Taught You to Hate Yourself,” particularly his sentiments regarding black women being the most “disrespected… unprotected… neglected person in America,” I thought of TEWWG. Hurston uses imagery of mules throughout the novel, as she is suggesting that black women are the mules of society.