Zora Neale Hurston vs Langston Hughes on the African American Experience 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 differences of the voice and themes used with the works “How it Feels to be Colored Me” by Hurston and Hughes’ “The Negro Mother”. The importance of these factors directly correlate to how each author came to find their literary inspiration and voice that attributed to their works. In the case of Zora Neale Hurston even though she was born in Alabama on January 7, 1891 she always referred to the rural community of Eatonville, Florida where she moved with her family as a toddler as her hometown. Coincidently Eatonville was the nation’s first incorporated black township which was probably a contributing factor to Hurston’s lack of feeling of inferiority during a time in which racism was rampant. During her years growing up in Eatonville she was able to see the world from a totally different perspective than most African Americans during that period. Instead of segregation, inequality, and poverty she witnessed her elders as being productive and revered members of society. She lived a happy childhood until... ... middle of paper ... ...rst and foremost she was a proud woman. Hughes on the other hand chose to revel in his heritage, his main focus was African American history and the many tribulations associated with his race. Both had the same goal, racial equality through art but chose to go in completely different directions to achieve it. Works Cited Abcarian, Richard. Literature: the Human Experience : Reading and Writing. : Bedford/Saint Martin's, 2012. Print. Hughes, Langston. The Negro mother, and other dramatic recitations. Freeport, N.Y.: Books for Libraries Press, 1971. Print. McLeod, Laura. "Zora Neale Hurston: Overview." Feminist Writers. Ed. Pamela Kester-Shelton. Detroit: St. James Press, 1996. Literature Resource Center. Web. 18 Apr. 2014. Wasley, Aidan. "An overview of “Mother to Son”." Poetry for Students. Detroit: Gale. Literature Resource Center. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.
Langston Hughes wrote during a very critical time in American History, the Harlem Renaissance. Hughes wrote many poems, but most of his most captivating works centered around women and power that they hold. They also targeted light and darkness and strength. The Negro Speaks of Rivers and Mother to Son, both explain the importance of the woman, light and darkness and strength in the African-American community. They both go about it in different ways.
Zora Neale Hurston was born in Notasulga Alabama on, January 7, 1891. When she was a little girl her family moved to the now iconic town of Eatonville Florida. She was fifth child of eight of John Hurston and Lucy Ann Hurston. Eatonville was one of the first all-black towns to be established in the United States. Zora’s interest in literature was piqued when a couple of northern teachers, came to Eatonville and gave her books of folklore and fantasy. After her mother died, her father and new stepmother sent her to a boarding school. In 1918 Hurston began her undergraduate studies at Howard...
This paper examines the drastic differences in literary themes and styles of Richard Wright and Zora Neale Hurston, two African--American writers from the early 1900's. The portrayals of African-American women by each author are contrasted based on specific examples from their two most prominent novels, Native Son by Wright, and Their Eyes Were Watching God by Hurston. With the intent to explain this divergence, the autobiographies of both authors (Black Boy and Dust Tracks on a Road) are also analyzed. Particular examples from the lives of each author are cited to demonstrate the contrasting lifestyles and experiences that created these disparities, drawing parallels between the authors’ lives and creative endeavors. It becomes apparent that Wright's traumatic experiences involving females and Hurston's identity as a strong, independent and successful Black artist contributed significantly to the ways in which they chose to depict African-American women and what goals they adhered to in reaching and touching a specific audience with the messages contained in their writing.
In ‘How it feels to be colored me’ Neale Hurston opens up to her pride and identity as an African-American. Hurston uses a wide variety of imagery, diction using figurative language freely with metaphors. Her tone is bordering controversial using local lingo.
Hurston, Zora Neale. “How It Feels to Be Colored Me.” Writer’s Presence: A Pool of Readings. 5th ed. Ed. Robert Atawan and Donald McQuade. Boston:Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2006. 166-170. Print
From slavery to the Harlem Renaissance, a revolutionary change in the African American community, lead by poets, musicians and artists of all style. People where expressing their feeling by writing the poem, playing on instruments and many more. According to the poem “ I, Too” by Langston Hughes and article “How it feels to be Colored Me” by Zora Neale Hurtson, the poem and article connects to each other. The poem is about how a African Man, who sits in the dinning café and says that, one day nobody would be able to ask him to move anywhere, and the in the article written by Zora Neale Hurtson, she describes how her life was different from others, she was not afraid of going anywhere. They both have very similar thoughts,
During times when racial tensions were high, many African American authors and poets began to rise and give consciousness to racial inequality and injustice. Famous poets like Maya Angelou and Langston Hughes began to give a voice to African Americans. For example, in Maya Angelou’s, “Still, I Rise,” she speaks of overcoming her oppressors as a woman and expresses a great amount of self-love and self-worth. In Hughes’s poem, “I, Too,” he states that he is an equal and emphasizes that being black does not degrade your beauty which allows the readers to feel empowered. Angelou and Hughes used similar means to raise awareness and fight for their rights through literature, even though, Maya Angelou’s poem, “Still I Rise,” also states the issue of sexism and Hughes’s poem, “I, Too,” just focuses more on equality.
Compare and contrast Mina Loy “Feminist Manifesto” and Langston Hughes “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain”
The four poems by Langston Hughes, “Negro,” “Harlem,” “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” and “Theme for English B” are all powerful poems and moving poems! Taken all together they speak to the very founding of relations of whites and blacks all the way down through history. The speaker in the poem the, “Negro” and also, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” tells the tale of freedom and enslavement that his people have endured, and it heralds their wisdom and strength. The poems “Harlem” and “Theme for English B” speaks to the continuous unfair treatment that the blacks have received at the hands of white people throughout the years.
Zora Neale Hurston survived many of life’s bumps: failed marriages, professional rollercoasters, sickness, and financial issues (Patterson). Despite the difficulties she faced in life, she became known as one the most influential colored writers in the Harlem Renaissance. Hurston served as an influential figure during the Harlem Renaissance (“Zora Neale Hurston and the Harlem Renaissance”). She was a free-spirited woman who expressed herself without any limitations. Zora Neale Hurston was a well-rounded writer that held contradicting views and controversy; the early stages of her career was great, but slowly it began to plummet all the way to her last days.
Form and meaning are what readers need to analyze to understand the poem that they are evaluating. In “Mother to Son”, his form of writing that is used frequently, is free verse. There is no set “form”, but he gets his point across in a very dramatic way. The poem is told by a mother who is trying to let her son know that in her life, she too has gone through many frustrations just like what her son is going through. The tone of this poem is very dramatic and tense because she illustrates the hardships that she had to go through in order to get where she is today. She explains that the hardships that she has gone through in her life have helped her become the person that she has come to be. Instead of Hughes being ironic, like he does in some of his poems, he is giving the reader true background on the mother’s life. By introducing the background, this helps get his point across to the reader in a very effective way. In this poem there are many key words which help portray the struggles that the mother is trying to express to her son. The poem is conveyed in a very “down to earth” manner. An example of this is, “Life for me ain’t been a crystal stair (462).” This quote shows the reader that the mom is trying to teach the son a lesson with out sugar coating it. She wants her son to know that throughout her life has had many obstacles to overcome, and that he too is going to have to get through his own obstacles no matter how frustrating it is. Her tone throughout the poem is stern telling the boy, “So boy, don’t turn your back (462).” The poems tone almost makes the reader believe that the mother is talking to them, almost as if I am being taught a valuable lesson.
"How it Feels to Be Colored Me", by the brave Zora Neale Hurston, expresses the author's vanity in her individuality. Instead of writing an essay of discussing racial inequality, Hurston creates a moving story that displays how different she.
Zora Neale Hurston’s writing embodies the modernism themes of alienation and the reaffirmation of racial and social identity. She has a subjective style of writing in which comes from the inside of the character’s mind and heart, rather than from an external point of view. Hurston addresses the themes of race relations, discrimination, and racial and social identity. At a time when it is not considered beneficial to be “colored,” Hurston steps out of the norm and embraces her racial identity.
Alice Walker and Zora Neale Hurston are similar to having the same concept about black women to have a voice. Both are political, controversial, and talented experiencing negative and positive reviews in their own communities. These two influential African-American female authors describe the southern hospitality roots. Hurston was an influential writer in the Harlem Renaissance, who died from mysterious death in the sixties. Walker who is an activist and author in the early seventies confronts sexually progression in the south through the Great Depression period (Howard 200). Their theories point out feminism of encountering survival through fiction stories. As a result, Walker embraced the values of Hurston’s work that allowed a larger
The contribution that African Americans had with their culture and art in society combined with the racial issues of that were apparent in the 1920s to the 1930s contributed to the beginning of the Harlem Renaissance. From the encyclopedia, the Harlem Renaissance was the establishment of the pride in African Americans because they had such a large effect on society during this era. Between the poems, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” by Langston Hughes, and “How It Feels to Be Colored Me by Zora Neale Hurston, both poems depict the matter of racial politics however, they each use different methods to exhibit their perspective on the racial politics during their period. In fact, both works has a connection to the Harlem Renaissance, whether it is