Research Question: How Does Zora Neale Hurston Develop Her Female Characters, and How Do

06/08

Word Count: 3, 307

English

Mr. Campbell

CT InternationalBaccalaureateAcademy

Research Question: How does Zora Neale Hurston develop her female characters, and how do they gather power and independence through their reactions to such things as social mores, love, and relationships?

Title: “Zora Neale Hurston’s development of her female characters, and how the grow to be powerful, individual, and independent women due to their response to the social mores around them, as well as their involvement with love, either discovered, or lost.”

Table of Contents

Abstract ------pages 3 - 4

Essay ------pages 5 – 15

“Zora Neale Hurston’s development of her female characters, and how the grow to be powerful, individual, and independent women due to their response to the social mores around them, as well as their involvement with love, either discovered, or lost.”

Works Cited ------page 16

Abstract

This essay examines how Zora Neale Hurston develops female characters within her literature. This examination focuses in on the use of love, relationships, and rebellion against social mores within the development of female characters created by Zora Neale Hurston. These specific aspects are the focus of this examination of development, because Zora Neale Hurston develops her female characters within societies much like those that she herself grew up in. Thus, this close interaction between characters and society creates a backdrop of women trying to break the mold of society and gather authority over their lives.

Also, Zora Neale Hurston utilizes relationships a great deal when developing her female characters. This can be seen in how she often uses a backdrop of love, either discovered or lost, in order to promote change within many of her characters. Some specific characters that show these patterns are specified and focused on within this examination. These characters include such main characters as Janie from Their Eyes Were Watching God, Missie May from “The Gilded Six Bits,” and Delia from “Sweat.” Some minor or bit characters are also mentioned as well in order to draw overall connections.

Throughout this examination, specific trends can be seen. Among these trends are the accomplishment of independence through the discovery of true love, the discovery of self-love through the abandonment of brutal relationships, and the power of women demonstrated by male love and requirement of them. Thus, through these specific points, the power of women can be seen, consequently demonstrating the significance of Zora Neale Hurston’s development of female characters.

Word Count: 261

Within her lifetime, Zora Neale Hurston has created numerous pieces of literature, many of which revolve around specific types of women. These women are developed in such a way that stresses their resistance towards the social mores of their time, their growth within themselves through their relationships, as well as their discovery or loss of love. Within such novels and short stories as Their Eyes Were Watching God and “Sweat,” a growth and development within the female characters becomes apparent. This growth often originates with an initial obedience to the social mores within their society, and ends with them starting to defy these mores. However, there are numerous examples, such as within the short story “The Gilded Six Bits,” demonstrating a different trend where the women actually coincide with the social mores, but instead demonstrate their significance through the love they have for the men in their lives, and the power that love gives them. Therefore, Zora Neale Hurston demonstrates how the female characters within her pieces of writing experience a significant change due to their corresponding male characters. Conversely, she also demonstrates how the male characters are affected due to their coinciding female characters. Thus, Zora Neale Hurston develops her female characters either in a way that broadcasts their struggle for a voice and independence, or in a way that demonstrates their affect on the men in their lives, but either way Hurston does this using a background of love, either discovered or lost, and relationships.

One way that Zora Neale Hurston develops the female characters within her pieces of literature involves a growth from obedience to rebellion. Thus, one common trend among her pieces of literature involves her female characters starting off as submissive women or girls obeying their societies’, families’, or partners’ commands. Thus, at first, the females obey the social mores within their societies and act as they are expected to. This soon begins to change due to a variety of reasons ranging from mistreatment by the men in their lives to a search for love on equal terms. However, in order to completely understand a character’s growth, a reader must first completely understand the character’s beginning.

In order to fully demonstrate this trend among feminine characters, examples of such characters that fit this pattern can be found and utilized. Two very prominent examples are the main characters Janie in Their Eyes Were Watching God and Delia in “Sweat.” Both characters initially attempt to be obedient and hard working to as well as for their husbands, Delia to Sykes and Janie to Logan Killicks along with Joe Starks. This can be seen in how Delia puts in hard work night and day in order to provide for Sykes, and constantly ignores his insults near the beginning of the story. This habit of providing for her husband and ignoring his flaws, displays how Delia tries to be a respectable wife to him. As well, Janie tries to be the loyal and complacent wife that Logan Killicks and Joe Starks desire her to be. In spite of this, as her relationships with both men progress, Janie starts to find it impossible to be the passive wife that they expect her to be.

Therefore, as both stories progress, these prominent female characters, in the absence of love, start to realize that they desire something more. Through this desire they begin to change and develop into strong, independent women who do not require husbands to make them happy. Some readers may not believe this to be true concerning Janie, because she leaves Logan Killicks in order to marry Joe Starks, and then finds Tea Cake shortly after Joe Starks passes away. However, Janie initially leaves with Joe Starks in hope of finding love and opportunity, not just another stifled marriage. Also, when Janie accepts and marries Tea Cake, she in actuality accepts love, not just another man to rule her life. Thus, Janie accepts Tea Cake on her own terms, not on the terms set forth by society.

A vast difference between Janie’s marriage to Tea Cake compared to those with Logan Killicks and Joe Starks can be seen in how Janie leaves Logan Killicks because she feels as if she could never love him, and that he clings too much to his present lifestyle to ever change. Thus, because Janie does not find herself capable of molding herself into the kind of wife that Logan demands, she runs off with Joe Starks due to his youth, and his drive to accomplish his dreams. Thus, it appears as if Janie runs off with Joe in hope of finding love, because she feels as if his youth and dreaming quality may open up the door for true acceptance and the ability to be loved for her true person. With Tea Cake, however, Janie does not focus on dreams and possibility, because she finds out more about him beforehand, and she solidifies his acceptance of her before she agrees to marry him.

This clear difference between Janie’s marriages to Logan Killicks and Joe Starks in comparison to her marriage to Tea Cake can be seen extremely well as shown by Shawn E. Miller who, in his essay, “Some Other Way to Try,” states:

Her first two marriages fail because Logan Killicks and Joe Starks insist too severely on Janie’s obedience to them and to conventional sex-role and class-role stereotypes. Janie heroically defies the roles imposed upon her, and eventually finds the love she had fist envisioned under the pear tree when she marries Tea Cake Woods. Their marriage, unlike her first two, is egalitarian and liberating. (Miller 75)

This quote confirms that Janie marries Tea Cake subsequent to going through a journey where she finds herself and her independence by fighting against the social mores, which were enforced by her first two husbands. In addition, when Janie marries Tea Cake she enters a marriage that is, “egalitarian and liberating,” as stated in the quote, which demonstrates how the marriage is equal between her and Tea Cake, which allows her to finally release herself completely from the boundaries given to her within the society.

This liberation from the restrictions put against women in society can be seen in how Janie and Tea Cake move away from Eatonville to Jacksonville. In Jacksonville, Janie gathers the ability to work alongside Tea Cake in the fields. This concept of Janie, as a woman, working the exact same job as her husband, a man, reveals how Janie fights the typical mold given to women, especially colored women, during this time period. Therefore, Janie establishes herself as an equal within a world in which men dominate over almost ever fraction of society. This, as a result, drapes her with a backdrop of disobedience, consequently pushing her into the role of a rebellious female.

This sort of liberation and rebellion through marriage can especially be seen in a quote from Tea Cake stating, “Nobody else on earth kin hold uh candle tuh you, baby. You got de keys to de kingdom,” (Hurston 109). By telling Janie that she has the, “keys to de kingdom,” Tea Cake somewhat places the power within the relationship into Janie’s hands, because she posses the key, and only she can unlock the potential of their relationship. Therefore, Janie completes her journey for independence through Tea Cake, and the equality he offers her.

Delia in “Sweat,” however, is not so much trying to find love for another person, as much as love for herself. Her husband, Sykes, constantly beats Delia and degrades her by saying such things as, “Yo’ rawbony laigs an’ arms is enough tuh cut uh man tuh death. You looks jes’ lak de devvul’s doll-baby tuh me,” (Hurston 36). As clearly seen, Sykes constantly insults and degrades Delia in a way that breaks down her self-confidence and paints an extremely unsightly picture of her. Also, the greatest harm to a wife’s self-esteem often concerns knowing that her husband no longer sees her or desires her as a woman. In the beginning of the novel, however, Delia fails to defend herself against this assault to her ego, and instead still tries to be the complacent wife as expected of her. Delia even continues to clean laundry for money in order to provide for Sykes, and still performs domestic chores on his behalf, such as cooking meals.

As the story goes on, however, Delia starts to fire back, and she begins to fight for her self-respect through insulting Sykes in return and telling him the things she has wanted to say for years. Thus, through releasing her anger, Delia starts to realize how wrong Syke’s statements always were, and she begins to respect and love herself again, instead of letting her husband bring her self-assurance down. As a result, Delia starts to find her independence, because she realizes that she does not require her husband, and has no reason to support him if he does not support her or give her the respect that she finally feels she deserves.

Therefore, both of these stories depict women searching for love, either for themselves or another person. Still, this theme could potentially be taken in other ways, as demonstrated by Carla Kaplan in an article called “That Oldest Human Longing,” which states, “Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God is a story of a young woman in search of an orgasm,” (Kaplan 115). This concept may appear ludicrous at first glance, but after deeper inspection and thought, it reveals a very vital concept of sexuality. This incorporation and search for an orgasm can be seen in a quote from Their Eyes Were Watching Godstating, “Oh to be a pear tree—any tree in bloom! With kissing bees singing of the beginning of the world! She was sixteen. She had glossy leaves and bursting buds and she wanted to struggle with life but it seemed to elude her,” (Hurston 11). This quote demonstrates how Janie has a desire to bloom as a female, and a desire for new beginnings, but she says it in a way that correlates with a completion with another being. This completion, however, seems to be beyond her grasp, which correlates with her search for an “orgasm,” which many see as completion.

On the other hand, this, “search of an orgasm,” also appears to be a small piece of a much larger puzzle. It seems more accurate to say that Janie is searching for true love throughout the novel, which she often associates with sexuality and the “orgasm.” This can be seen in how Janie and Stark’s sexuality dies as they begin to realize the falsehood concerning their supposed love for each other. This connection between love and sexuality can also be seen in the relationship between Delia and Sykes, and how their lack of love for each other can be seen in how they no longer feel any desire for each other. Therefore, any factor concerning sexuality, including the search for an “orgasm,” consequently has connotations with love and a search for true love.

A search for love, however, is not the only way that Zora Neale Hurston develops and creates changes within her characters. Hurston also uses the fight for love as a way of changing and developing characters. This coincides with how women do not just change themselves, but also the men in their lives. It also coincides with how men require and depend on women as well, thus giving the women a sort of power. An example of this can be seen in “The Gilded Six Bits,” through how Missie May cheats on her husband, and yet he refuses to completely leave her. Her husband, Joe, even returns to her after a span of time, once he knows that she has no prolonged connection to anyone but himself.

For example, at first, just after Missie May cheats on Joe, he starts to ignore her and simply treats her as somewhat of a servant. Thus, he avoids anything that involves emotion, but refuses to cut her out of his life altogether. This sort of “servant,” role given to the wife can easily be seen as a commonality during those days, and thus Joe pushes Missie May into the standard wife role as somewhat of a retaliation. Despite this, Joe eventually goes back to Missie May, but he only does this after his mothers tells him that Missie May’s baby resembles him, thus demonstrating his desire to be the only man involved in Missie May’s life. The fact that Joe then returns to Missie May demonstrates how he truly does love her, even if he finds it difficult, and that this love makes him need and require her, despite his attempts to ignore that fact.

Another way that Zora Neale Hurston helps develop her female characters outside of male influence is through their fellow female characters. For example, Nanny in Their Eyes Were Watching God, who is actually Janie’s grandmother, can be seen as a large supporter of feminine rights, and a hidden feminist deep inside. This can be seen in a quote from Their Eyes Were Watching God, stating:

Ah wanted to preach a great sermon about colored women sittin’ on high, but they wasn’t no pulpit for me….Ah said Ah’d save de text for you. Ah been waitin’ a long time, Janie, but nothin’ Ah been through ain’t too much if you just take a stand on high ground lak Ah dreamed. (Hurston 31-32)

Therefore, this quote is stating that Nanny wants to preach about black women gaining influence within society. However, Nanny talks about how the black women during her generation were too ignorant and, “sittin’ on high,” to listen to Nanny’s beliefs and fight for equality. This statement gains support by another writer, Carla Kaplan, who states, “She is not simply an accommodationist or conservative. In fact, more than anything else, Nanny wants to be an activist and spokeswoman for the rights of black women,” (Kaplan 125). Thus, Kaplan supports the idea that Nanny wants there to be equality between black women and everyone else within society, but other black women and the society as a whole during her lifetime were not ready to accept this kind of equality.