Comparison of Hurstons Their Eyes Were Watching God and...

A Comparison of Their Eyes Were Watching God and The Color Purple Of Zora Neale Hurstons novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Alice Walker says it speaks to me as no novel, past or present, has ever done. Though 45 years separate Their Eyes Were Watching God and The Color Purple, the two novels embody many similar concerns and methods. Hurston and Walker write of the experience of uneducated rural southern black women. They find a wisdom that can transform our communal relations and our spiritual lives. As Celie in The Color Purple says, referring to God: If he ever listened to poor colored women the world would be a different place, I can tell you. Hurstons Their Eyes Were Watching God depicts the process of a womans†¦show more content†¦This problem is especially acute for black women, both writers seem to be saying, because the structures neither of society nor of formal religion provide this grounding. Janie finds it by being true to her own poetic, creative consciousness; in The Color Purple Walkers characters discover it through the strength and wisdom available in the community of women. The ways of the world are represented for Janie by the views of her grandmother, Nanny and her first two husbands, Logan Killicks and Joe Starks. Nanny sees society as a hierarchy, with black women at the bottom. As she tells Janie, Honey, de white man is de ruler of everything as fur as Ah been able tub find out. Maybe its some place off in de ocean where de black man is in power, but we dont know nothin but we see. So de white man throw down de load and tell de nigger man tuh pick it up. He pick it up because he have to, but he dont tote it. He hand it to his womenfolks. De nigger woman is de mule uh de world so far as Ah can see. Though born into slavery, Nanny had dreams of whut a woman oughta be and to do. She wanted to preach a great sermon about colored women sittin on high, but they wasnt no pulpit for [her]. She tries to fulfill her dreams first through her daughter and then through Janie. But slavery and years of dependence on a white family have warpedShow MoreRelatedAlice Walker And Zora Neale Hurston875 Words   |  4 Pagesliberation that is told through the story of survival. The comparison of the two authors expresses hardship among characters to discover their purpose. Also, Walker fines Hurston books intruding on into detail the heritage. Hurston narratives was not dull it was more upscale and interesting to talk about change to become reality. Walker and Hurston develop a comparison of the folk tale tradition in black culture. (Howard 200) Walker’s theme of writing is straight forward, she express throughRead MoreThe Black Womans Burden in Three Novels: Zora Neale Hurstons Their Eyes Were Watching God, Toni Mo1391 Words   |  6 Pagesfor black woman, as we see in the character of Janie in Zora Neale Hurstons Their Eyes Were Watching God. Others will focus on the maternal struggle faced by black woman in America as Sethe in Toni Morrisons Beloved embodies. The more traditional but equally valid perspective deals with racial tensions and how racism challenges the inner strength of black woman as seen in the character of Sofia in Alice Walkers The Color Purple. Each angle of discussion serves to further categorize and quantify