Zora Neale Hurston's Critics

When Zora Neale Hurston wrote The Eyes Were Watching God in 1937 she did not get as good as reviews as she does now. These harsh critics were surprisingly mainly black people. They thought that her book didn’t show the harsh reality of what being a black in the south was really like. Most of the blacks who read it thought that she was making their lives easier and better then what they really where and people should not hear this, they should be hearing all of the terrible times, struggles and punishments they had to go through just because of their skin color. Richard Wright, a prominent black writer and intellect of the 30's, said "Their Eyes was theme less and meaningless; he thought that by portraying her people as quaint, Hurston had exploited them."

Personally I agree with parts of those statements that people made about the book, but then I disagree with others. When Wright says that the book was theme less and meaning less, he couldn’t be more wrong. To me this shows exactly what black people of that time were thinking and some of the harsh cruelties that  they went through. It also gives it in a women perspective which, in that time, did not mean anything to men so, it is very interesting to see how far women have come. There are some parts that I do agree with though. Even though I obviously was not there I have learned about blacks being treated much worse then the way they are presented in Hurston's book.  At times it seems like an accurate representation of what it was like but then at others you are kind of left thinking that maybe there should have been more disrespect to the black people to make the story more realistic.


Their Eyes Were Watching God Background | GradeSaver." Study Guides & Essay Editing | GradeSaver. Web. 14 Apr. 2011. <http://www.gradesaver.com/their-eyes-were-watching-god/study-guide/about/>.

Into The Wild Project

For Into The Wild I made a quote chart using quotes from Christopher McCandless and they books he read there. I also added a picture of the woods to show where Chris went.

Zora Neale Hurston

• Zora was born in 1891 and died in 1960

• Zora was born in Notasulga, Alabama

• She was educated at Howard university, Barnard College and at Columbia University.

• She was an American writer and folklorist, whose anthropological study of her racial heritage influenced the Harlem renaissance writers of the 1930's.

• Hurston was a fiction wrote and was commonly known for her metaphorical language, her story telling abilities and her interest in and celebration of Southern black culture.
• Her best-known novel is Their eyes were Watching God, written in 1937.
•  Her other novels consist of Jonah's Gourd Vine and Seraph on the Suwane.

• Through out her career she addressed issue of race and gender, often relating them to the search for freedom.

• Hurston died before her literary works were not recognized.
• In 1970 Hurston's works were rediscovered by a new generation of black writers, and many of her works were republished.

1. "Zora Neale Hurston." Microsoft® Student 2009 [DVD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2008.

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2. http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http:
3. http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.usps.com/news/2002/