In American literature, Zora Neale Hurston is considered one of the most outstanding and memorable African American writers. While pursuing her work in the midst of the Harlem Renaissance, Hurston was acknowledged as the first modern African American to collect and publish folklore. Along with being a folklorist, she was also an anthropologist, novelist, and short story writer. In 1937, her most recognizable novel Their Eyes Were Watching God was published, and quickly became her greatest success. Hurston experienced hardships and criticism not many can say they overcame.
Yet, she continued to persevere, aspire, and grow. Unfortunately, by the time she died in 1960, all of her work was out of print and for many years she was forgotten. Despite this downfall, in the late 1970s her work was introduced to a new generation and from then on she has been a fixture in American literature. Hurston was notorious for her spunky, yet determined personality. She was the talk of the town and lit up every room she walked into. Although growing up in the all black community of Eatonville, she still experienced racial segregation and the hardships that came along with racism.
Instead of fighting against this segregation, Hurston was an advocate for it. She believed that African Americans had a lot to offer and was afraid their culture would be destroyed by the integration of races. In 1954, the supreme court issued an end to segregation in public schools. This not only infuriated the whites, but Hurston as well because she believed this was an insult to the black race, not an honor. Her strong affection for black culture shaped the way she wrote. Most importantly, her life experiences while in Eatonville played a role in many of the works she created.
Zora Neale Hurston was proud to be from an ll black community and believed no one could stop her from becoming successful. With this conviction, Hurston persevered and created numerous works to start off her career. Of Hurston’s four novels, numerous short stories and essays, she is most recognized by the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. Although the novel was published well after the Harlem Renaissance, Hurston was still considered an influential writer during that time. The Harlem Renaissance was a period where many African American writers thrived while it also “offered a new view of the experiences of Black Americans through their art and writing” (Boyd).
Along with Hurston being a prominent writer during the Harlem Renaissance, there was also African American writer, Langston Hughes. Many referred to these two as the “King and Queen of the Harlem Renaissance” (Shmoop). Together, they worked on a play called “Mule Bone” but unfortunately they could not come to a compromise while creating the play which caused their friendship to come to an end and the play to never become staged. It was only until 1991, where the play was brought back to life and had its first performance ever. The play was a comedy about negro life and the setting took place in the town Hurston grew up in, Eatonville.
Their initial purpose of this play was to bring to stage the genuine language, culture, and lives of African Americans. Critic Frank Rich explains that we will never know the details of the play and that it was “two competing voices trying to reach a compromise” (Cronin 230). This play is a pure example of how Hurston incorporated her own life experiences into the work she loved most. As an author, criticism is always expected. There will be those who appreciate and are proud of an author’s work, and then there will be those who will always think there is something wrong with it.
Hurston was a very independent woman who experienced a magnitude of criticism, especially for being an African American writer during the Harlem Renaissance. Her most fond critic was Richard Wright, after reading her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, he criticized that it did not address racial oppression and that “it was an interesting novel in the first half, but towards the conclusion, it grows embarrassingly sketchy and resolves nothing” (Cronin 75). Beside the negative criticism that Hurston faced, there were many others who were absolutely in love with her and her unique way of writing.
Unlike many authors, Hurston wrote with “black slang,” a sort of accent that African Americans used throughout their everyday lives. Many argued that her style of writing was confusing and difficult to read, but others simply admired it. Although these critics tried to tear apart her work, Hurston only acknowledged it by proceeding to create more. Collecting folklore was something Hurston loved doing. In the early 1920s she attended Barnard College, being the first African American to ever attend and graduate from there.
While at the institute, she studied under Franz Boas, a significant figure in the field of anthropology who “encouraged her interest in African American folklore” (AFA). Hurston was an outstanding folklorist and anthropologist whose aim was to record the stories and tales of many cultures including her own. She was a gifted writer and “her intense interest in black folk history invited mentorship, patronage, and fellowship opportunities for Hurston” (Kronzek). In 1935, Hurston published Mules and Men as her first work of folklore.
It was a clear representation of the work she had done in Eatonville while serving as an anthropologist. She recorded stories, fables, and songs that precisely focused on the pure voices of the southern African American people. Hurston’s affection for African American culture was intriguing and had a magnificent impact on the folklore she created. After much hard work and determination, the year of 1940 marked the height of Hurston’s career. Five of her books were published in just six years and her famous autobiography Dust Tracks on The Road caught the eyes of many.
This was a time of gratitude and excitement for Hurston, with this being a highlight in her career, she was eager to continue writing about what she loved most: African American culture. Miserably, in the later years of 1940, Hurston’s career began to falter and she “lost her enthusiasm for writing about black folk culture” (Kaplan). She was falsely accused for molesting a young boy and was arrested. Devastated and even contemplating suicide, Hurston knew the incident would destroy her reputation. The case went on for six months, but after proving that she was out of the country at the time of the incident, the case was dismissed.
Although she was acquitted of charges, the scars to her image remained permanent. The incident caused much frenzy in the African American literature world, and many began to view Hurston in different ways. Her once known vibrant, joyous personality was destroyed and never again brought to life. After the devastating incident, Hurston’s first instinct was to leave New York, drop out of the public eye, and go back to Eatonville, Florida. While trying her best to maintain a professional front, she continued to create more work and move on with her life.
In 1948, she published her very last novel Seraph on the Suwanee, a work that was not related to her usual black folk culture, but instead focused on whites. Unfortunately, after this novel the only writing that she could get published was in the local newspaper and some magazines. No one was interested in her books or novels anymore, and this is when Hurston realized she was in a financial crisis. At the age of 61, she began to take on a variety of small jobs such as a maid, substitute teacher, and librarian. While working as a maid, her house owners began to recognize who she was and immediately went to the press.
Ashamed and already disc welfare home at Fort Pierce, Florida” (Ayorinde). After some time spent there, Hurston’s health problems began to take over and sadly, she died at the age of 69 on January 28, 1960. She was buried in the town of Fort Pierce, Florida in an unmarked grave and soon became a forgotten work of art and literature. Although Hurston’s work had been long gone before the time of her death, she still put tremendous effort into building her career again and prevented it from perishing. Unfortunately, nature took it’s toll and cut her short of pursuing that goal.
Thankfully, in the mid 1970s “Hurston was rediscovered by a new generation of African Americans” (Ayorinde). A very significant individual who plays an important role in the reappearance of Zora Neale Hurston is Alice Walker. Walker was also an African American writer and published an essay named In Search of Zora Neale Hurston. “This work helped reintroduce Hurston to a new generation of readers” (Boyd). Today, Hurston is known all over the world, her achievements, tragedies, and basically her life story is equally focused on compared to many other famous, successful writers.
While being so fond of Hurston, “in 1973, the writer Alice Walker placed a granite tombstone in the cemetery in the vicinity of Hurston’s unmarked grave” (Ayorinde). Walker decided to take it upon herself to bring Hurston’s work back to life, and felt that “unless I came out with everything I had supporting her, there was every chance that she would slip back into obscurity. ” Many would say that Hurston is profoundly grateful for what Walker had done, and would have certainly argued that she deserved no less.
In today’s generation of readers, it almost comes as a surprise if a high school student in an English literature class did not read Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God. Her novel introduces a whole new style of writing to this new generation and Hurston is given much recognition and praise for all the work that she has completed. Most would agree that the high praise should be given to Alice Walker and her essay on finding Hurston, without her Hurston would not be recognizable by anyone who has entered the world of American literature.
Like many authors, there comes a time in their lives where the fame, success, and money begins to fade. Not many can say they have gone through the field of writing without any difficult experiences. Zora Neale Hurston was never a well-off individual with much material possessions, she grew up in a small African American town with a relatively large family. When Hurston’s mother passed away, she was forced into adulthood at the age of 13. Despite the fact that she had no money and no foundation of support for so many years, she went on to become one of the most successful writers of her time.
Like everything else in this life, her success was bound to come to an end. Regardless of the work she created and the little money she earned from them, it was never enough to live a comfortable life. Although Hurston died poor and demoralized, she lived a life full of success. She was the first ever black woman to publish as many books as she did, she is considered one of the most important African American writers in American history, and although she faced many difficulties in her lifetime, she will always be remembered for her perseverance and dedication to the African American culture. uraged, Hurston quit her job as a maid. Newspapers and magazines started publishing articles on Hurston on how she was a “washed up professional writer working as a maid. ” This demoralization of Hurston’s character took a toll on her self-esteem and it came to a point where she stopped taking care of herself and developed many health problems. In 1959, Zora Neale Hurston suffered a stroke and “too proud to ask her relatives for help, she entered the county
