The story took place in a small town in central Florida near Orlando. The events took place in the spring and snakes are known to be prevalent in the area during that time.…
In the short story Sweat by Zora Neal Hurston, the narrator begins the story with an insouciant tone that transforms into a form, assertive tone. This short story, similar to others, shows the characters growth throughout the story with narration, diction, imagery, and language. Through the conflict Delia Jones faces throughout the short story, she begins to development a stronger, assertive attitude. Because of Delia’s abusive husband, Sykes, he inadvertently helped her to gain strength to stand up to him.…
Zora Neale Hurston’s use of language in her short story Spunk allows the reader to become part of the community in which this story takes place. The story is told from the point of view of the characters, and Hurston writes the dialogue in their broken English dialect. Although the language is somewhat difficult to understand initially, it adds to the mystique of the story. Spunk is a story about a man that steals another man’s wife, kills the woman’s husband and then he ends up dying from an accident at the saw mill. Spunk believed that it was Lena’s husband, Joe Kanty, who shoved him into the circular saw, and the people in the village agreed that Joe Kanty had come back to get revenge. The language used by the characters helps to establish the setting of the story and gives the reader an understanding of why voodoo is a plausible explanation for the outcome.…
“ Sweat” ‘Zora Neale Hurston’ In this story “Sweat” it's a fictional town is based on a real place called Eatonville, Florida, where author Zora Neale Hurston grew up. This real-life connection makes the descriptions in the story come to life. The hot weather referenced in the setting also supports the story's title, Sweat. The conflict in this story is is mainly between the protagonist, Delia, and her husband, Sykes, who is horribly mean and cruel to her.…
In the book Night the reader learns what dreadful and devastating things happened in the Holocaust. The holocaust was and still is one of the worst things known to mankind. Hope is what not only helps people get through those devastating times, but as well as lets them know to not give up.…
In “Finding Haiti, Finding History in Zora Neale Hurtson’s Their Eyes Were Watching God” , Stuelke examines damaging affects of imperialism on the black population in Haiti and how it directly correlates with mistreatment and institutionalized regression of African Americans in the United States. This article is relevant to Their Eyes Are watching God because it portrays the dual control that the U.S government holds over both Haitians and African Americans, which Hurston depicts through the various encounters that , the main character, Janie faces. Historically, Haiti was an island conquered by the French that was used for the production of sugar cane , which of course involved slave labor. The slaves eventually gained their freedom when they…
In "Spunk" by Zora Neale Hurston, you can definitely form a strong opinion of how Spunk was killed by the following sentences, "If spirits kin fight, there's a powerful tussle goin' on somewhere ova Jordan, cause ah b'leeve Joe's ready for Spunk an' aint skeered any good. Karma or the thought of what goes around, comes around seems to be the theme. This is also the central and dominant element. Karma was the illusion that Joe came back and killed Spunk in the spirit form. I personally see how, Spunk's guilt led to his…
Zora Neale Hurston was an African American writer during the Harlem Renaissance who wrote Their Eyes Were Watching God. She was a very ambitious woman and did many things in her lifetime. In one article an author wrote, “Hurston realized many of her dreams during her lifetime and wrote prolifically, publishing short stories, essays, plays, historical narratives, ethnographies, an autobiography, and several novels” (“Zora”). Not only was she an author she was also an anthropologist. However Hurston’s life wasn’t all perfect at times. At a young age she lost her mother, which ended her childhood abruptly, much like the main character Janie in Their Eyes Were Watching God. After her mother’s death, she also began working odd jobs and traveling,…
In his autobiography, Night, Elie Wiesel relates how the atrocities committed during the holocaust deeply effect his belief in God and his relationship with his father. In the beginning of the book, Elie's relationships with his father is not so intimate. At the same time, his relationship to God is extremely close. By the end of the book these relationships change, leaving Elie closer to his father than to God.…
People have individual strengths, weaknesses, and individual capabilities, all of which are dependent upon human nature. While these characteristics are often difficult to alter and influence, humans, nevertheless, wish to change them. They are never satisfied with their appearance, never content with their lives, forever attempting to change, but in the end, always find themselves at the starting point, realizing that they, in fact, have not changed at all, for they have not accepted what they want. The citizens in David Wagoner’s narrative poem, “The Man Who Spilled Light” are no different. How do they face change which they cannot accept?…
During the post-civil war era, most “colored people did not know how to be free” (Houston Hartsfield Holloway). The abolishment of slavery was a major event that led blacks to desire fulfillment in life. Zora Neale Hurston demonstrates this through Janie’s life and the people she encounters. Each character provides a different outlook on life and their values are distinct from Janie’s. The novel questions what true happiness is via Janie’s influences and her quest to find love.…
In Zora Neale Hurston`s “How It Feels to Be Colored Me,” the author expresses how she is proud to be unique. (21)…
Do you believe in Karma? Many people do. Karma is the believe that what you give out is what you will get back in life. In Zora Neale Hurston’s “Sweat,” the main character, Delia is beaten and mistreated her entire life by her husband. This is an ironic piece of literature and although Delia has dealt with this suffering for so long, she remains kind and generous toward her hateful husband, Sykes. Throughout this short story, irony, foreshadowing and diction help to show that good always overcomes evil.…
“Spunk” a story by Zora Neale Hurston (1924) is about an ongoing affair between a Lenna (Wife), Joe (Husband), and Spunk a masculine man who is not afraid of anything prove to be rather tragic. With Joe being a coward he would not confront Spunk for what’s his. After hearing from the group of people gossiping that Spunk and Lenna had appeared at the place before him joe became aggravated slowly approaching spunk from behind trying to blindside him. Ending in Joe getting shot from with one bullet leading to Lenna becoming with Spunk. The story has shown the downside too revenge ending up in karma which is being killed. With story that show ambitious action, vengeance, and love which never dies leads to many problem later on.…
In her essay, “How It Feels to Be Colored Me”, Zora Neale Hurston writes about how she found her identity and became proud of who she is. Hurston recognizes the discrimination against African Americans, and sees it as “the price I paid for civilization, and the choice was not with me”. Hurston does not attempt to distance herself from her race; rather she openly accepts it. She only feels different from other races when the views of others are forced upon her. Using bags of miscellaneous objects as a metaphor, Hurston points out that we are all the same on the inside, despite our physical appearance. God created us all equal, and it is merely the views of society which divide us. Hurston’s capability to find her true identity and take pride…