Essay On Zora Neale Hurston

Zora Neale Hurston was born in Notasulga, Alabama on January 7, 1891. Her father, John Hurston, was a minister and he had several years as a mayor for that town. Her mother, Lucy Hurston, seemed to only have her family as any worries. Her childhood seemed to be perfect, it was free from racism and poverty (Zora 1). Although, everything changed when her mother passed away and his father remarried and soon was sent to boarding school. She was then expelled a while after her father stopped paying for tuition so she worked in a theatrical company as a maid (Zora 1). Quitting that job, at

Setting her independence, Hurston at the age of 14 left her residence to work as a maid of a traveling Gilbert and Sullivan theatrical troupe. Given the opportunity Hurston was sent to Morgan Academy in Baltimore, Maryland by one of her employers. Finishing up her high school studies in Morgan Academy and graduating on June 1918, Hurston studied part-time at Howard University in the same year. While Hurston studied in college she decided to support herself as “a manicurist, a waitress, and a maid in order to support herself” (D. Kaplan 2). Hurston’s talent towards literature started to emerge while studying at Howard. She made such an impact in her first short story titled, “John Redding Goes to Sea" in 1921, that it was included in the university’s literary magazine named “Stylus”. Sociologist Charles S. Johnson, immediately caught the attention of such excellent work who also encouraged Hurston to move to New York City in the year of 1925 (Bomarito 89). Beside Johnson mentoring her to go to New York he also inspired her to enter the literary contest of his magazine entitled “Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life.”

     In the fall of 1919, Zora Neale Hurston became a freshman at Howard University. Hurston studied intermittently at Howard for the next five years; the institution she would proudly call “The capstone of the Negro education in the world.” Hurston enjoyed college life even though she was a decade older than other freshmen. With

Zora Neal Hurston was criticized by other African American writers for her use of dialect and folk speech. Richard Wright was one of her harshest critics and likened Hurston’s technique “to that of a minstrel show designed to appease a white audience” (www.pbs.org).Given the time frame, the Harlem Renaissance, it is understandable that Zora Neale Hurston may be criticized. The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement which redefined how America, and the world, viewed African Americans, so her folk speech could be seen as perpetuating main stream society’s view of African Americans as ignorant and incapable of speaking in complete sentences. However, others, such as philosopher and critic Alain Locke, praised her. He considered Hurston’s “gift for poetic phrase and rare dialect, a welcome replacement for so much faulty local color fiction about Negroes” (www.pbs.org).

Purpose- Hurston’s purpose is to demonstrate that she is proud of her color. She does not need the bragging rights of having Native American ancestry, nor does she ‘belong to the sobbing school of Negrohood who hold that nature somehow has given them a lowdown dirty deal and whose feelings are all hurt about it.’

Hurston was the daughter of two former slaves. Her father, John Hurston, was a pastor, and her mother, Lucy Hurston, was a teacher. Hurston was one of eight children. She was born on January 7, 1891 in Notasulga, Alabama, but she

Although Zora Neale Hurston and Jamaica Kincaid lived in different times, thematically their writing had similar themes. If they had been contemporaries, they most certainly would have discussed their common experiences as black women who faced financial challenges and the racial divide that they experienced in their daily lives. Without a doubt, their writing was personally cathartic. Although in Kincaid’s writing, she addresses her issues with her mother head on, I have no doubt that Hurston’s stories were also influenced by her early family life.

    Comparison of Hurston's life and work is ironic. Though Janie, having passed through dominance and loss, had a 2 story home and money in the bank to come home to, Hurston had none. Hurston's later life was that of the economically disadvantaged-- what Ellison, Wright, and other male black authors penned their novels in protest of. Brilliant, talented, she could not rise above the economic limits imposed on her and thus a talented anthropologist with two Guggenheims ended up buried in an unmarked grave.

In 1925, Hurston headed to New York, just as the Harlem Renaissance was at its crest. She enrolled in Barnard College to study under Franz Boas, the father of anthropology. While there, Hurston married an old Howard boyfriend named Herbert Sheen, but the marriage was short-lived. After graduation, Zora returned to her hometown of Eatonville to collect folklore as material for her blossoming writing career. The late 1920's marked a resurgence of her literary muse as Hurston published several works, and consequently gained financial sponsorship from wealthy New York patrons.

Both Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes were great writers but their attitudes towards their personal experience as an African American differed in many ways. These differences can be attributed to various reasons that range from gender to life experience but even though they had different perceptions regarding the African American experience, they both shared one common goal, racial equality through art. To accurately delve into the minds of the writers’ one must first consider authors background such as their childhood experience, education, as well their early adulthood to truly understand how it affected their writing in terms the similarities and

She always wanted to be more educated, she had an even though certain circumstances were not on her side. Hurston always wanted to consume more knowledge, and become more educated. In her early years her father relocated their family to Florida when they were very young. She later earned an associates degree from Howard University. In the 1920s Hurston later moved to Harlem, New york to pursue her career in writing. She became very popular, her apartment was in a great space for social events and gatherings. Hurston Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen launched a magazine together called “Fire!!” It was a short literary

Hurston's later life was that of the economically disadvantaged-- what Ellison, Wright, and other male black authors penned their novels in protest of. Brilliant, talented, she could not rise above the economic limits imposed on her and thus a talented anthropologist with two Guggenheims ended up buried in an unmarked grave.

In the short story “Drenched in Light” by Zora Neale Hurston, the author appeals to a broad audience by disguising ethnology and an underlying theme of gender, race, and oppression with an ambiguous tale of a young black girl and the appreciation she receives from white people. Often writing to a double audience, Hurston had a keen ability to appeal to white and black readers in a clever way. “[Hurston] knew her white folks well and performed her minstrel shows tongue in cheek” (Meisenhelder 2). Originally published in The Opportunity in 1924, “Drenched in Light” was Hurston’s first story to a national audience.

Zora Neale Hurston was so proud to be from the black community that she mentioned it in her writings; she even changed it to her birthplace. Eatonville, Florida, had a massive impact on Zora’s life. It shaped her life and writing style. Hurston explains: "Anyway, the force from somewhere in Space which commands you to write in the first place, gives you no choice. You take up the pen when you are told, and write what is commanded. There is no agony like bearing an untold story inside you."

The Harlem Renaissance was a time during the 1920s where there was a cultural explosion of African Americans. During the Harlem Renaissance there was a movement of literature by African-Americans. There were many great writers during the Harlem Renaissance like the Jamaican-born Claude McKay, the eloquent Langston Hughes, Jessie Redmon Fauset, and the anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston. Hurston was an influential force during the Harlem Renaissance. Zora Neale Hurston was born in Notasulga, Alabama, and was the fifth child out of eight children. Her parents were John Hurston, who was a Baptist preacher and carpenter, and Lucy Potts Hurston, who use to be a schoolteacher. When she was young Hurston and her family had moved to Eatonville, Florida. Hurston went to school until she was thirteen years old and in 1904 her mother died. After the death of her mother Hurston’s home life had become increasingly difficult. At the age of sixteen she joined a traveling theatrical company and ended up in New York City During the Harlem Renaissance. She finished her high school requirements in Morgan Academy in Baltimore. From 1921 to 1924 she attended Howard university and in 1921 she published her first story"John Redding Goes to Sea" in the campus literary society’s magazine. In 1925 she won a scholarship to Barnard College, where she studied anthropology. She graduated from Barnard College in 1928 and continued her studies in anthropology in Columbia University for two years. In 1934