For Friday, please respond to the following in at least 200-300 words.
Zora Neale Hurston wrote "How It Feels to Be Colored Me" about race and identity, and in reading it, it connects closely with Their Eyes were Watching God both in content and theme. Pick out 2-3 points, quotations, and/or topics in the essay and explain why they are relevant to you and how they connect to the book. Be sure to include the specific point, quotation, and/or topic and finish your writing by asking a particular question for the next responder.
The first major similarity that jumps out when I read “How it feels to Be Colored Me” is the fact that the author, Zora Hurston, grew up in an all black town with little contact with whites. This is similar to the exclusion of white people in “Their eyes were Watching God.” In that book, whites are not even mentioned. This type of setting is unique because it was rare for this to happen in their time period. Usually African Americans would have to worry about whites and the terrible racism that came along with this time period. Yet, in both of these towns grew and existed without the constant fear of whites. This significantly changes the background of both stories.
ReplyDeleteAnother similarity that is apparent in both stories is the accent. We as a class have talked about the accent and how it affected consequences on multiple occasions. We see Hurston’s first hand experience with the accent and that it truly had a large effect on the way she was treated and it's not just something from “ Their Eyes Were Watching God”. I think this was a big issue for Hurston growing up. People who heard her accent took her less seriously and judged her as less intelligent just as we talked about in “ Their Eyes Were Watching God”. Although accent are usually just treated a fun thing, they can have dramatic effects on people's lives. People will try years to lose their acent so they can be taken more seriously in the world, and we see this was a major theme in both “ Their Eyes Were Watching God” and Hurston “ How it Feels to be Cooler Me”
What do you think we're advantages of growing up in an African American town? What could be some disadvantages?
It seems as if Mrs. Turner is the character who vocalizes her opposition to blacks most. Being that "it was so evident that Mrs. Turner took black folks as a personal affront to herself", Mrs. Turner saw a very black and white world, instead of gray (142). The people Hurston explains who she lived around and the approach on society in those times reflects Mrs. Turner's perspective. The "colored town", "the white natives who rode dusty horses [and] the Northern tourists chugged down the sandy village road in automobiles." But "the town knew the Southerners and never stopped cane chewing when they passed."
ReplyDeleteZora states that she "feels most colored when [she is] thrown against a sharp white background." I do agree with Hurston that because society connotes certain things as being "white", such as Starbucks and Uggs, it becomes a way of describing someone, or something. For example, the frequently used phrase, "She is such a white girl." And when she says that "she feels most colored when [she is] thrown against a sharp white background" I comprehended this as a way of saying any race can have or do anything, but because of peoples connotations, it affects the way people see her in different light.
So, I think that people should have a more diverse way of thinking, like Zora's, and that ones skin color should not act as a barrier. It is simply more about one's interests.
How hard will it be to create a society that sees around ones pigmentation? It is possible?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete“How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It’s beyond me.” Hurston is a very outspoken person and blunt with her opinions. Much like Janie, Hurston doesn’t care what others think about her or how they see her. They both have a deep sense of self and who they want to be in the world they live in. Even if Janie losses her voice for a little while, she still has that sense of self inside her. Hurston and Janie share the similar experience of living in an all black town and not experiencing the racism from the outside world. Hurston mentions the white people that traveled through her town, but they were always enchanted by her and gave her money. Which is a very different experience from that of the majority of the black population in the south during that time. Hurston writes, “...white people differed from colored to me only in that they rode through the town and never lived there.” Janie has very limited to no interactions with white people, much like Hurston before her 13th year. Hurston didn’t see the color of her skin until she was thrown into a very white world. She felt no burden for the color of her skin or the history of the people who had the same skin color as she. She looks ahead and not behind. Janie wants what she wants and looks forward in the future to see what it will hold for her. She does not want to be burdened by her mother’s choices and her grandmother’s coddling, she want to be her own person.
ReplyDeleteIt won’t be easy or a fast process, but our generation will be the one’s to pave the road. I don’t we can create a society, per say, but I think we can perfect and tweak the one will live in. National Geographic has predicted that by 2050 the average American will look so mixed race that it will be impossible to determine what ‘race’ they are.
Link to article: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/10/changing-faces/funderburg-text
How much do you think the fact that Hurston grew up in an all black town affected what topics she choose to write about?
One of the first similarities I noticed between “Their Eyes Were Watching God” and “How It Feels to be Colored Me” was the introduction, in which, Janie and Zora realize their heritage. For instance, Janie grew up with a white family and did not even know that she was black until she looked at a photograph. Zora Neale Hurston said that after she left Eatonville, “I was not Zora of Orange County any more. I was now a little colored girl.” She had previously never thought too much about her heritage, but once she left the predominately black community in Eatonville, she was exposed to the different social environment of a whiter community. While both Janie and Zora had different experiences in how they came to realize the differences between the black and white communities, neither one of them is resentful of their heritage. Zora Neale Hurston even says, “But I am not tragically colored.”, which further illustrates how she did not think negatively of the white community, despite the differences. Both Janie and Zora’s identities were not restricted to their heritage; they flourished in all the different environments they were in, regardless of what race was the majority.
ReplyDeleteAnother similarity is how both Janie and Zora do not try and limit themselves to their race, and instead, they try to represent themselves. They both can not be defined as simply their race, because their identity stretches far beyond that. Simply defining people by their race, is not really defining them at all.
How much do you think the fact that Hurston grew up in an all black town affected what topics she choose to write about?
I think it did influence her writing a lot. The culturally rich community that she grew up in, made her more curious about the nature of human beings. The interactions between people in her town, is one of the main influences of the language used in “Their Eyes Were Watching God”. Her hometown did influence the language she used in her writing, but the actual topics that she wrote about are less about her roots, and more about life. This is because any one can relate to the quest of love, but not everyone can relate to specific topics from her life in the south. I believe she wanted to make her book more universal, which is why she did not rely on topics she experienced from her hometown.
Question: What makes up someone’s identity? (ie. race, background, social class, economic class)
A person can shape their own identity through their actions and how they treat others. A person can choose what identifies them, whether it be their religion, race, talents, and qualities. Janie identifies herself by her looks. She knows that men are attracted to her and it is made clear to the reader in the very first chapter of the novel. Society of judges people based on their appearance as opposed to their personality. Zora Neale Hurston uses multiple techniques in developing her characters. Voice is the most prominent technique used as when listening to the audiobook it is always clear who is talking as everyone has a unique sound. The accent of many of the characters in the book have often times been criticized but it is what makes each character different.
ReplyDeleteI think its fair to say that Zora Hurston grew up in a fairly homogenous community, with limited exposure to issues that arise within diverse societies. It true Hurston explores the negative connotation of being black, and the endless comparison of black and whites, even when there are no whites to compare to. Hurston wants to bring emphasis and insight on how she sees herself only. The concept of Black was lately introduced to Zora, and thus so it gives her a unique perspective. Its evident Zora does not see herself as being black as a bad thing, although many of her characters seem to. I want to emphasize the fact that this book was set in a rural comunitee, and I wonder what it would be like if it was in an industrialized setting? Could their be an isolated racial comunitee in a big city? Would their be more issues or less? Do rural settings contribute to racial segregation?
ReplyDeleteIts clear Hurston expiereces surface in her writing. She’s painted many aspects of what it means to be a black women, linguistically, socially and internally. I don’t know if Hurston is right in saying that she cannot see color. Because as humans, we do, its nature. It doesn’t mean that with these images we have to also combine the stereotypes and ideas that often accompany them and are promoted by Americas rather embarrassing history and our media. I think curiosity is healthy. And I know it is hard to have curiosity without assumptions, just like its hard to make a hypothesis with out inferences.
I think Hurston takes us to the extreme,
with the language and culture in her book to make a point. She wants to show us how it really was, and she does a damn good job of creating an accurate history. And while remaining accurate to history, she touches on this mentality of white supremacy, which happened. It must have been hard to so accurately portray a theme that is so strongly tied to the authors own identity. I love how Huston creates the opportunity for dialogue, without making painfully obvious heroes and villains in her book. It much parallels with modern day life. Its hard to have a clear view of this, seeing as we live in the sheltered liberal north america.
But i do believe there is subliminal racism throughout our country. Hurston does an exceptional job of drawing attention to this issue. Even in modern day life.
I wonder how much the location contributes to the aspects of this story, what would it be like set in a city?