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Their eyes were watching god essay zora neal hurston
Zora neale hurston eyes were watching god janie's journey for liberation
Zora neale hurston eyes were watching god janie's journey for liberation
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Recommended: Their eyes were watching god essay zora neal hurston
Oprah took a classic literary work and butchered it beyond recognition to where not even Zora Neale Hurston’s main purpose in writing was evident. She altered the story line changing the role of characters which later affected their relationships. She removed scenes and significant symbols changing the meaning of the story all together. The reason behind the novel was very explicit but Oprah managed to annihilate the purpose.
Throughout the story there are multiple key symbols that portray a substantial meaning. The gate represented a momentous modification in Janie’s life but it was not even mentioned in Oprah’s rendition. Instead, Oprah used water to symbolize the alteration in Janie’s life. When Janie first kissed Johnny Taylor over the gate in the book, it signified a significant change for Janie’s life in that her childhood was taken from her. She was officially a woman in Nanny’s eyes. “Yeah, Janie, youse got yo’ womanhood on yuh… Ah wants to see you married right away” (Hurston 15). She was then forced to marry Logan Killicks and from there on the gate played yet another important part in the story. She met Joe Starks by the gate in the book and this meeting placed yet another side to Janie’s life; A life that was better than the present one. The omission of the gate in the movie caused Janie kissing Johnny Taylor, Janie marrying Logan killicks, Janie meeting Joe and other important scenes, to lose their symbolic meaning. When recreating a story from a book to a movie, symbolism is a must keep item or the overall meaning and purpose of the story is no longer indistinguishable. With that being said, Oprah withdrew the most significant sign of every important event that occurred in Janie’s life from the story and to...
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...rah changed the overall theme of the story and also modified the importance of the title altering the meaning of the novel.
Oprah’s version of the story was not what Zora Neale Hurston had intended her readers to interpret. She made many modifications to the story that changed the overall purpose of the story.
Works Cited
Ceptus, Barbara. "Our Eyes Were Watching God, Halle or Oprah." La Prensa San Diego. Applied Research Center, 1 Apr. 2005. Web. 20 Nov. 2013. .
Hurston, Zora N. Their Eyes Were Watching God. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2000. print.
Miller, JDove."Movie vs Book: Their Eyes Were Watching God. Web. 20 Nov. 2013. .
Their Eyes Were Watching God. Dir. Darnell Martin. Perf. Halle Berry. Harpo, 2001. DVD.
1) The major theme of the book is respectability. In the 1950 's Rosa Parks became the symbol for black female resistance in the
Over time Janie begins to develop her own ideas and ideals. In Their Eyes Watching God. Each principle character has their own perceptions. towards the end of marriage. & nbsp;
Oprah Winfrey has twisted the whole book Their Eyes Were Watching God and made a movie which consists of some major changes. Janie’s character changed completely in the book than in the movie, also her relationship with friends and her companions. Oprah reiterates some major parts which also concluded how the hurricane happened which did not last long as it did in the book, symbolism also differed in the movie and some major symbols remained as noticeable as it was in the book. Winfrey changed the whole meaning of the title even though she did not change the title Winfrey made the meaning different when everybody watched God instead of just Janie. Zora Neale Hurston would have been disappointed if she still lived due to the fact that Oprah has remade her book and made it her own version which differed from Zora’s novel.
...lives. It gives readers the chance to emphasize with these women and their families. It let readers experience the trials and tribulations these women underwent firsthand. A nonfiction novel would not have had that impact and ability to draw readers that close.
Anne Moody's story is one of success filled with setbacks and depression. Her life had a great importance because without her, and many others, involvement in the civil rights movement it would have not occurred with such power and force. An issue that is suppressing so many people needs to be addressed with strength, dedication, and determination, all qualities that Anne Moody strived in. With her exhaustion illustrated at the end of her book, the reader understands her doubt of all of her hard work. Yet the reader has an outside perspective and knows that Anne tells a story of success. It is all her struggles and depression that makes her story that much more powerful and ending with the greatest results of Civil Rights and Voting Rights for her and all African Americans.
Alice Walker’s love of Zora Neale Hurston is well known. She was the only one who went looking for Hurston’s grave. She describes her journey to get to the unmarked grave in her book, In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens. During that journey, Walker started to feel as if Hurston is family to her, an aunt. “By this time, I am, of course, completely into being Zora’s niece… Besides, as far as I’m concerned, she is my aunt – and that of all black people as well” (Ong). Walker’s book, The Color Purple, was influenced by Hurston and her works. Walker was greatly influenced by Hurston and her book The Color Purple has similarities to Hurston’s book Their Eyes Were Watching God.
historical struggles, daily struggles, and should have been more sensitive in the depiction of her characters.
Wall, Cheryl A. "Zora Neale Hurston: Changing Her Own Words." Zora Neale Hurston: Critical Perspectives Past and Present. Eds. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and K. A. Appiah. New York: Amistad, 1993.
Zora Hurston was an African American proto-feminist author who lived during a time when both African Americans and women were not treated equally. Hurston channeled her thirst for women’s dependence from men into her book Their Eyes Were Watching God. One of the many underlying themes in her book is feminism. Zora Hurston, the author of the book, uses Janie to represent aspects of feminism in her book as well as each relationship Janie had to represent her moving closer towards her independence.
In the beginning of the story, Janie is stifled and does not truly reveal her identity. When caught kissing Johnny Taylor, a local boy, her nanny marries her off to Logan Killicks. While with Killicks, the reader never learns who the real Janie is. Janie does not make any decisions for herself and displays no personality. Janie takes a brave leap by leaving Killicks for Jody Starks. Starks is a smooth talking power hungry man who never allows Janie express her real self. The Eatonville community views Janie as the typical woman who tends to her husband and their house. Janie does not want to be accepted into the society as the average wife. Before Jody dies, Janie is able to let her suppressed anger out.
...James Robert Saunders, "Womanism as the Key to Understanding Zora Neale Hurston's `Their Eyes Were Watching God' and Alice Walker's `The Color Purple'," in The Hollins Critic, Vol. XXV, No. 4, October, 1988, pp. 1-11. Reproduced by permission.
Appiah, K.A. and Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. eds. Zora Neale Hurston: Critical Perspectives Past and Present. New York: Amistad Press, Inc., 1993.
With both of her parents gone at the age of 14 this reality hit her hard she had nobody to help her through it and this played a huge role in her writing but also developing as a person. Most of her work date back to Eatonville where she keeps African American culture super real and this is what most people gave her hate for. They thought she was illiterate, “Hurston received a lot of criticism in her time by other writers, some of whom were also involved in the Harlem Renaissance.” Throughout her writing career, she was constantly being told that what she was doing was not right even by fellow writers of the Harlem Renaissance. This reveals a lot about Hurston's life in that most were against her and not just
Throughout the years, the image of the African American culture has been portrayed in in a negative light. Many people look to African, and African American literature to gain knowledge about the African American culture. The true culture and image often goes unseen, or is tarnished because writers who have no true insight or experience, have proceeded to write about things in which they are uneducated.. For years the world has seen writers attempt to taint and damage the image of the African American. Through strength and determination, several African American writers have been able to portray the true image and struggle of the Negro through various writings and narratives. This has helped give a factual insight about the African and the African American. Three particular authors helped give detailed insight about the African and The African American. African American themes of tribal belief, slavery, and The black family were displayed in the works of Chinua Achebe, Fredrick Douglass, and Ann Petry.
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