Hurston and the Harlem Renaissance

I found an informative article on Gradesaver.com that suggests that Zora Neale Hurston's literary work during the 30's (which is when this book was written) contributed to the Harlem Renaissance. Oddly enough, the article confirms the point made in my last entry about the subtle"Duality" theme in the book:

"One of the quintessential themes of the Harlem Renaissance was the notion of "twoness," a divided awareness of one's identity... American and Negro, two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled stirrings: two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder."

The article comments that though Hurston shares many of the ideals in of the Harlem Renaissance, her themes and political agenda extend far beyond the movement. Unlike the communist sympathizers of the Harlem Renaissance (like Langston Hughes), "Hurston supported the Back to Africa movement led by Marcus Garvey."

From my perspective (the reader's perspective) I would say that this is true. Hurston has a very naturalist view. In chapter 18, when a storm threatens the lives of Tea Cake and Janie, they refuse to leave town and heed the warnings of the Indians and Bahaman, as they may lose their jobs as bean-pickers. Hurston is thus commenting that American blacks are too far removed from their roots. The people who are closest to nature (the Indians and the Bahamans) understand God's ways and signals. The blacks and white Americans are too preoccupied with money to "watch God." Nowhere in this book does Hurston praise capitalism.

So it seems as though a larger theme in this book is infact her "political agenda." As the title reveals, no matter how big an empire that man appears to build, God will always transcend.

Love and Loathing in the Everglades

I am now on Chapter 14 of the book, and i have begun to notice an interesting reoccurring theme of duality. It's probably no mistake that I realize this now, I think Hurston makes it purposely evident at this time: Janie has found new love, in a man named Tea Cake and therefore has a more worldly perspective on things, and a means of comparison.

We find that Janie is starting to break away from old values. she says at one point that she hates Nanny (her Grandmother) and is ready to break away from the goals that she set for her since she was little. At one point she says: "Dis is uh love game... Ah done lived Grandma's way, now Ah means tuh live mine."

She is of course referring to the differences in between Tea Cake and Jody Starks, her last husband. The two are foils for one another, as both are at some point the object of Janies affection. Jody fits into Nanny's idea of a marriage sanction: a relationship forged on ambition and money. Tea Cake fits into Janie's idea of a marriage sanction: one thats based simply on love. This is demonstrated in many ways including Tea Cake's interactions with his fellow workers in the everglades. While Jody would maintain loyalty amongst his townspeople and customers by leading with fear, Tea Cake maintains loyalty through respect, honor, and love.

There are several other examples of duality, even behind the story Phoeby tells of Annie Tyler. When Annie runs away with a younger man, the "improvements" to her appearance are an effort on her part to look and behave like a white woman. She dyes her hair and wears "blotchy powder", aligning herself with "white values". She ends up in misery when her man leaves her and takes her money. Though this may be part of Hurston's theme of the importance of staying true to yourself, it may it also be seen as a white vs. black values theme of duality.

So in summation, Possession vs. Companionship, Ambition vs. Devotion, and Fear vs. Love are all part of this prevalent duality motif that Hurston keeps plugging. I will explain and delve further into this idea as I finish the book. (I'm almost there =])

Things that make me a smiling malchick

We are all slaves to our emotions. Thus I have put together a list of things that humble me and ease the angst of being human. If you'd like you can comment me with some other things that you like. If I concur with what you have to say, maybe Ill add it.

• Firepits
• Wrestling my dog
• Narrating my life as it happens, though speaking as if I am looking back nostalgically
  
• Flirting with a complete stranger, getting her number
• Flirting with a compete stranger, getting told to F*** off
  
• Beating the hell out of the ground with a wooden baseball bat
• push ups
  
• Music - Say Anything, Brand New, The Beatles
• Meditation
  
• The wonderful seconds in between when you get a text message, and when you read it.
  
• Missed calls
• Playing guitar really loud when no one is home, while singing horribly
  
• Playing guitar really loud when people are home, beating down my door.
  
• Walking in a different place, pretending that Im 50 years old reflecting on my life
• Going out to dinner with just my family
  
• Going out to lunch with just my friends
• Getting the upperhand, playing it to my advantage
  
• Getting the lowerhand, folding it, and walking away
• Seeing that she is calling me, but not picking up because I am having too much fun.
• The minute you realize that you are about to fall into a nap, letting it happen anyway.
  
• Laughing at someone else's embarrassment
• Going on a Weird NJ trip
  
• Midgitville
• Warm, humid nights in the summer
  
• Crisp, cool nights in the fall
• Spending your last dollar on something ridiculous
  
• Lifting
  
• Running for an extended period of time
• Laugh-crying
• Cry-laughing
  
• Pinwheels
  
• Altered stages of consciousness
  
• Scientific speculations
• Religious speculations
• Overly confident philosophies on life
  
• The "flow state" that can only be reached when staring at a partially blank page, pen in hand.
  
• The majesty of thought
  
• Losing track of time
• Knowing that there are people 1000x worse off than you.
  

Walker and Hurston

Although I may be relatively unnaffected by this piece of literature, it is no hidden gem of the African American community. Zora Neale Hurston is known as the "pioneer" of black feminism.

"In Black Feminist Criticism: Perspectives on Black Women Writers, Barbara Christian points out that "a persistent and major theme throughout Afro-America women’s literature [is] our attempt to define and express our totality rather than being defined by others (Bush 1988)."

The article goes on to highlight how Hurston inspired the more contemporary black feminist novelist Alice Walker. She is the author of another book I have read in my day: A Color Purple. This was the first thought that crossed my mind when I picked the book up: "This book seems all too similar to The Color Purple."

Their themes are identical - A young black woman coming of age, discovering her sexuality, struggling with oppressive relationships, searching for an identity, and forging deep sisterhood relationships. Janie is to Celie, Phoeby is to Nettie

Their language is identical - Both novels feature authentic southern dialect... spelling errors and all.

Both books emphasize narration - The Color Purple is from Celie's point of view in letters to her sister, Their Eyes were Watching God is narrated by a sympathetic unseen narrator who almost appears to have a close relationship with Janie.

This article runs through all of the little intricate differences between the two, which I don't see as necessary to mention. The point is, Hurston provided Walker as well as other writers like Toni Morrison, Paule Marshall, Gloria Naylor, Toni Cade Bambara, Ntozake Shange and Audre Lorde with an enduring novel about self-discovery.

Though I really don't care to much for her literature, I still give Zora Neale Hurston my utmost respect for providing the feminist movement with an intelligent and uplifting novel. One of the biggest honors you can have as a writer is to inspire others.

Hannah Montana Sucks

Is she serious? Does she honestly think she's an artist? Last time I laughed this hard out of pure ironic anger i was watching Michael Moore exist. HAH THAT MAN IS SO FAT!!

Haven't you people noticed how much Disney sucks ever since Shia Lebouf left the network? I mean, the same deal goes for Nickelodeon and the cancellation of SNICK. Once that lineup was cancelled I couldnt bare to watch Nick anymore... either that or I just matured... I cant be bothered to remember which one happened first.

Anyways back to Hannah Montana... she sucks. Every two years Disney pumps out another young "renaissance" pop star... she can act! she can sing! Of course its only a matter of time before the afore mentioned pop star realizes she has no talent, falls into a coke habit, gets a DUI, gets pregnant and shaves her head. Sometimes all five happen at once.


Furthermore I have proof that she plagiarizes (props to Chenzo on spotting this) her songs. Go home tonight, download the 80's song "I wear my sunglasses at night" by Corey Hart. Listen hard. You'll notice that her chorus in the song "I can't wait to see you again" bares an awfully similar rhythm to that of Hart's chorus. Hmmm.....

And dont even get me started with this song...

"Next time you think it's just one of those days
when you just can't seem to win
When things don't turn out the way you guys planned,
FIGURE SOMETHING ELSE OUT!
Don't be sad! Try it again! YEAH!"

Thank you for those wonderful words of advice Miley. Now kindly shut your face.



Hannah Montana is number two on the list of annoying things I hate. Whats number one? Girls my age who pretend to like her.

Their Eyes were Watching God

I have just begun reading the second book of the marking period: Their Eyes Were Watching God. I am about 7 chapters in and i have yet to find anything enjoyable about this novel.

The plot thus far is as follows: Protagonist Janie recounts the story of her life, in which she is forced to marry a rich man, Logan Killicks. She is unhappy so she moves away with a more exciting, ambitious man named Jody Starks. He too treats her like an object and she becomes unhappy. *Yawn*

Though I will hand it to Zora Neale Hurston (the author), this book is very cleverly written. I believe she made the narrator ambiguous in order to emphasize dialog, which i found to have an impressive verisimilitude to typical southern African American dialect. To emphasize this, certain chapter are all in quotes with only a few sentences of omniscient narration. In other chapters, Hurston finds it necessary to reveal the thoughts and motives of certain characters. The story begins when Janie talks to her friend Phoeby about her life, then suddenly, the narration picks up from there. I had to reread the first two chapters to get a better understanding of what was going on!

Still, I am not enjoying the book yet and really have nothing to say about it. It doesn't affect me and quite frankly I am tired of reading feminist literature, which no doubt this book appears to be. But for the sake of English class I made some additional effort to soak up the text. I read up on the late Zora.

What i found was rather interesting. Apparently Hurston grew up in the same place as this story's setting: Eatonville, Florida. Many facts about her life as that article reveals, hold true in the novel, even down the detail about how "Hurston would always present herself as at least 10 years younger than she actually was. Apparently, she had the looks to pull it off (Boyd 2007)." In the novel, Janie is subjected to years of an oppressive marriage yet still maintains her young looks. I wonder if this novel was rough autobiographical projection?