The essence of a location is often embodied in the traits and traditions that it’s people hold dear. The term “local color” summarizes this concept very well and it explains that “the customs, manner of speech, dress, or other typical features of a place or period that contribute to its particular character.” This idea is prevalent in many author’s writing and can help humanize and bring to life the scene that the story takes place in. Zora Neale Hurston uses local color in her novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. This book describes the life of a young woman Janie and her journey throughout Florida and the lessons and life experiences she gained while visiting these diverse places. The idea of local color can be found in the three locations …show more content…
The novel takes place during the early 1900s, which is a very precarious time for black Americans. Although slavery is officially abolished the South is still a bitter place for African Americans to live. Eatonville, the first all black town in the South, is home to Janie and Joe Starks. The idea of local color is especially prevalent in this town because it’s all black population and ideals are extremely unique and not seen anywhere else in America. This town has many characteristics that help to define and separate it from all other settings in the novel. The dialect of english, one that omits many letters in words and does not confine to the strict grammar rules of proper english, is found in this town and is popular amongst black americans in the South. This type of speaking plays into the local color as it is a trait all the townspeople share and see as normal. Another aspect of Eatonville that distinguishes it from other locations is the type of work that the people in the town …show more content…
Turner in the Everglades. Janie and Tea Cake move to the Everglades, or what they call the Muck, so that they can find good, stable work. The most important aspect of the Muck is that it is a labor-based community. Janie and Tea Cake join the many other laborers in tiring and dirty work in the muck. This hard labor during the day leads the townspeople to drink and party during the night and creates an atmosphere of the “work hard, play hard” mentality. This routine of nightly drinking and daily labor is the essence of the Everglades and gives the townspeople a very unique quality that they all share in common. The unified schedule creates order in the community and gives its residents something to bond over despite their individual differences. Another aspect of the Everglades and the American South in general is racism. One muck resident, Mrs. Turner is a very public supporter of racism and someone who disgusts the black race. The irony in her beliefs is that Mrs. Turner is in fact a black woman but still believes that the only way for black people to improve themselves is “lighten up de race”(page 140) and then there will be no race problem. Her stance on racism is very interesting as she feels she is a part of a group that is inherently flawed and instead of black people fighting for more rights the entire race should lighten up their skin in order to fit in with white people. Her
The black culture is very diverse in different parts of the world-even in different parts of the state. Janie as moved throughout Florida to places such as West Florida, Eatonville, and the Everglades. Residing in these different places helps develop and define the character of Janie. Throughout Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie experiences many variations of black culture that helps build her character as she travels through Florida.
Prompt: How does the possession of an object reveal certain characteristics that an individual carries ? Growing up, many children attach themselves to an object such as a blanket or a stuffed animal. These objects give the child comfort and serenity when in an environment in to which he or she is not accustomed. Author’s use rhetorical devices such as figurative language and symbols in order to help reveal certain characteristics pertaining to one’s identity.
In "Their Eyes Were Watching God," Zora Neale Hurston. Writes a novel were Janie, the main character, finds herself into two unpredictable marriages. Were one was give and the other was chosen. Nevertheless, Janie is unable to find her true love, which cause her to fail on understanding the idealistic reality of marriage.
The pursuit of dreams has played a big role in self-fulfillment and internal development and in many ways, an individual 's reactions to the perceived and real obstacles blocking the path to a dream define the very character of that person. This theme is evident in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, which is about the search for identity. A woman of a mixed ethnicity resides in several communities, each playing an important role and serve as crucial influences on her life. During the story, she endures two failed relationships and one good relationship, dealing with disappointment, death, the wrath of nature and life’s unpredictability.
Robert Smith once said “If you feel alienated from people around you, it's because no one tries to understand you.” Countless characters are terribly alienated from their own societies and their own communities. By using alienated characters (typically because of gender, race, class, creed or another characteristic) authors show values of a society. Mayella Ewell is alienated because of her family name, where she lives and how unsocial she is. The author of To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee, shows how the town of Maycomb has the assumptions and moral values of a social hierarchy, strong prejudice and are very concerned about their ‘image’ by alienating Mayella Ewell.
Racism can be defined as prejudice, discrimination, or contributions to a system that perpetuates the idea that one race is inferior to another. Racism was heavily enforced throughout American history, specifically in the early 1900’s. Coincidentally, this was the same time feminists, or women’s-rights activists, were in the in the midst of their fight for equality. Feminism is the theory that women should be treated equally to men in terms of social, political, and economic matters. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston uses the protagonist, Janie, to convey both concepts through her journey to self-love and acceptance.
In Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, the long-lasting effects of slavery have taken a toll on Janie Crawford. Janie’s grandmother was raped by her master and had a child named Leafy. Leafy, although not born into slavery, endured a similar fate, which led her to run away, leaving her mother to raise her child, Janie. Janie’s appearance, showing strong European features, was both praised and shamed by society. This double standard was created by racism and was able to remain present due to segregation.
In Janie’s third marriage with Tea Cake, they encounter a white racist woman named Mrs. Turner. She is comfortable talking to Janie because she is part white and wants to bring her from the dark side to that of the light. One of her beliefs is that “it’s too may black folks already. We oughta lighten up the race” (Hurston 140).
Many authors utilize the events that have occurred throughout their lifetime as an inspiration for not only their novels’ plots, but also their novels’ themes. The author of Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston, is one of the many authors who have utilized their life’s experiences as inspiration for her novels’ themes. Throughout her major novels, she has utilized events in her life, such as her early life, her relationships, and the fact that she grew up in an all-black town, in order to inspire several themes in her novels, and several of her beliefs that she conveys in her novels. Themes, and beliefs, such as African-Americans are not all good nor are they all bad, experiences contribute to finding one’s true self, there is no
In the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, prejudice is a problem clearly evident in Maycomb. The novel not only focuses on black and white but other forms of prejudice such as racial injustice and class. Making opinions about someone or something not based on reason or experience has been a problem since 1930s and still is today. Prejudice causes society to overlook innocence and make judgments. Because of Maycomb society's prejudice, two characters in the novel are judged guilty despite their innocence.
“Your time is limited, so don 't waste it living someone else 's life. Don 't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people 's thinking. Don 't let the noise of others ' opinions drown out your own inner voice,” Steve Jobs once said. In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, the author uses many stylistic and literary elements to emphasize that Janie, the main protagonist, must not let anyone take away her voice. On page 43, Joe Starks made his speech as the Mayor of Eatonville.
Differences are what make people interesting. Different religions, cultures, and beliefs affect everyone and are interesting to see. However, sometimes these differences cause people to be persecuted. Prejudices threaten the cultural diversity that make the world such an interesting place. In Zora Neal Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, the main character, Janie is ostracized from her community because of the color of her skin.
The story takes place at the height of the Civil Rights Movement in America, when desegregation is finally achieved. Flannery O’Connor’s use of setting augments the mood and deepens the context of the story. However, O’Connor’s method is subtle, often relying on connotation and implication to drive her point across. The story achieves its depressing mood mostly through the use of light and darkness in the setting.
This essay aims to investigate the literary context of Harper Lee 's To Kill A Mockingbird (1960) from four different perspectives. The scope of this essay does not only include the context from historical, cultural and social points of views, but also the significance of Lee 's early life is considered. The essay explores deeply the novel 's events, characters and main themes, which can all be related to the literary context. This is why the research question of this essay is “A Study of Literary Context in Harper Lee 's To Kill A Mockingbird”. To Kill A Mockingbird never fails to amaze a reader because of its audacity, as it brings out many controversial issues from 1930s America.
In the novel, ‘To kill a mockingbird, Harper Lee demonstrates the small, imaginary town, the Maycomb County, as a place where racism and social inequality happens in the background of 1930s America. Not only the segregation between whites and blacks, but also the poor lived in a harsh state of living. As Scout, the young narrator, tells the story, Lee introduces and highlights the effects of racism and social inequality on the citizens of Maycomb County by using various characters such as Boo Radley, Tom Robinson, and Mayella Ewell. Firstly, Harper Lee portrays Boo Radley as a victim of social inequality through adjectives and metaphor in the phrase, “There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten;” ‘Long jagged scar that ran across his face’ tells us that Boo Radley has stereotype about his appearance, which forces to imagine Boo as a scary and threatening person. The phrase, ‘yellow and rotten’ make the readers think as if Boo Radley is poor and low in a social hierarchy, as he cannot afford to brush his teeth.