The Zora Neale Conflict

The book Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is now considered a classic story by most, but when it was written, the book was heavily criticized by other black writers of the Harlem Renaissance. These writers criticized her on the basis of her portrayal of African-American men and women, saying that it reinforced the stereotype that they had been labeled with by the whites and that the book portrayed African-American life as too idyllic. However, most white authors praised her story and writing style.

One of the most famous critics of Hurston and her book was Richard Wright. About Their Eyes Were Watching God, Wright says, "Miss Hurston voluntarily continues in her novel the tradition that was forced upon the Negro." He also spoke about how Hurston wrote about negro life in a way that was meant to appeal to the white audience, who could read the story with a "piteous smile on the lips of the 'superior' race." Another critic was found in black author Alain Locke. He wrote a criticism almost as negative about the book as Wrights. Though Locke highly praises Hurston's writing ability, he too says that Their Eyes is guilty of, "...oversimplification!"

In my opinion, Their Eyes Were Watching God does not deserve this harsh criticism. Even though I am not even halfway through the book, Zora Neale Hurston has developed her characters very well already and I almost feel like I know Janie. The portrayal of her life is very realistic and added to by the fact that it is written with the southern dialect. For the most part, I also do not agree with the claims that her life is portrayed too idyllically. Janie's story is told with the harsh realities of her husbands' abuse--physical and verbal--and the struggle for the black people of Eatonville to build their own town.  However, I do agree that the book can be oversimplified at some points and very confusing at others. Overall, I think that this story deserves the praise that it is recieving now, not the harsh criticisms that it gained while Hurston was still living.

Sources:
Alain Locke Review : Opportunity, 1 June 1938.
Richard Wright Review : New Masses, 5 October 1937: 22-23

About the Author: Their Eyes Were Watching God

Zora Neale Hurston

1. Zora Neale Hurston was born in Notasulga, Alabama in 1891.
2. Hurston grew up in Eatonville, Florida -- the first incorporated all-black town in the US -- and returned there after college to do a field study in anthropology that influenced her writings.
3. She attended Howard University, Barnard College, and Columbia University where she was taught by anthropologist Franz Boas.
4. She was interested in and collected folklor of Jamaica, Haiti, Bermda, and Honduras. Some of her folklore and folk custom collections are Tell My Horse and Mules and Men.
5. Many of her writings addressed issues such as race and gender and related them to searching for freedom.
6. Their Eyes Were Watching God, published in 1937, is Zora Neale Hurston's best-known novel.
7. She was a prolific writer and some of her other fiction and nonfiction works include Jonah's Gourd Vine, Seraph on the Suwanee, Dust Tracks on a Road, and some short stories, plays, and journal articles.
8. Though the subjects of her writing were not political, Hurston's work created conflict in the black community because of her "...character's use of dialect, her manner of portraying black culture, and her conservatism..."
9. Hurston is noted for her, "...metaphorical language, story-telling abilities, and interest in and celebraiton of Southern black culture in the United States."
10. Zora Neale Hurston died of several health problems in 1960 impoverished and without recognition from the literary community.
11. However, in the 1970s, her works were rediscovered and republished by a new generation of black writers and she went on to inspire great authors including Ralph Ellison, Alice Walker, and Toni Morrison.

Sources:

Zora Neale Hurston Picture: http://www.literaryhistory.com/20thC/Hurston.htm

Their Eyes Were Watching God Picture: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37415.Their_Eyes_Were_Watching_God

Information: "Zora Neale Hurston." Microsoft® Student 2009 [DVD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2008.

Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Their Eyes Were Watching the Harlem Renaissance

1. The Harlem Renaissance was and African American cultural movement that was centered around Harlem in New York City.
2. This event took place in the 1920's and early 1930's
3. It marked the first time that mainstream publishers and critics took African American literature and arts seriously and even put it in the public eye.
4. The Harlem Renaissance was primarily a literary movement, but also related to developments in African-American music, theater, art, and politics.
5. In the early 1920s, three works--Harlem Shadows, a volume of poetry by McKay; Cane, a novel in poetry and prose by Jean Toomer; and There is Confusion, a novel by writer and editor Jessie Fauset--laid the groundwork for the beginning of the Harlem Renaissance.
6. There were three events that really launched the Harlem Renaissance: Charles S. Johnson's dinner to recognize young, black writers and introduce them to the white literary establishment of New York; the publication of a book by Carl Van Vechten that covered the elite and baser side of Harlem; and the production by a group of young black writers their own literary magazine, Fire!!.
7. Some common themes in the Harlem Renaissance were an interest in the roots of the 20th-century African American experience in Africa and the American South, a strong sense of racial pride, a desire for social and political equality, and diversity of expression.
8. The literature and music of this Renaissance appealed to the African American middle class, the white people seeking out Harliem nightlife, and the book-buying white public.
9. The Harlem Renaissance's decline was caused by many factors, including the Great Depression, the switching of organizations' (such as the NAACP and Urban League) from the Renaissance to economic and social issues, the fact that many key black writers and literary promoters left New York City, and finally a riot in Harlem in 1935.
10. The writers and literature of the Harlem Renaissance inspired many great writers even after it ended, as well as providing upcoming African American authors and artists with publishers and public who were more open to their works.

Important People of the Harlem Renaissance


Claude McKay

• Claude McKay was a Jamaican-born American author who lived from 1890 to 1948.
• He wrote novels and poems depicting black life.
• McKay was one of the first black authors to attract a large white audience.
• His poetry and prose used traditional forms to express unfamiliar ideas and themes.
• McKay's novels include Home to Harlem, Banjo, and Banana Bottom. Some of his other works are an autobiography called A Long Way from Home and a sociological study titled Harlem: Negro Metropolis.

Josephine Baker

• Josephine Baker was a singer and dancer in the Harlem Renaissance.
• In the mid-1920's, she moved to Paris, France.
• While in France, she helped introduce European audiences to African American dances and music.
• Baker was married and divorced three times and never depended on a man for financial support.
• After becoming a well-known celebrity in France, she returned to America to fight segregation in the states.
• Josephine Baker singing "Paris, Paris, Paris" : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyuMNkgyyvA&feature=player_embedded

Countee Cullen

• Countee Cullen was an American poet, novelist, playwright, and educator.
• Not many details are known about his early life, other than that he was raised mostly by Elizabeth Porter (possibly his grandmother) and the by the Reverend Frederick Cullen.
• His poems were very traditional and influenced by John Keats, sonnets, ballads, and other traditional forms.
• Cullen attended De Witt Clinton High School and earned a bachelor's degree from New York University.
• Cullen's poems and compilations include Color, The Caroling Dusk: An Anthology of Verse by Negro Poets, The Black Christ and Other Poems, and On These I Stand: An Anthology of the Best Poems of Countee Cullen. His one novel is titled One Way to Heaven, though he wrote two children's books: The Lost Zoo and My Lives and How I Lost Them. Countee collaborated with Arna Bontemps in his only play, St. Louis Woman.

Sources

Claude McKay Picture: http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/m_r/mckay/mckay.htm

Josephine Baker Information and Picture: http://musiclinernotes.wordpress.com/2010/06/03/josephine-baker/

Countee Cullen Picture: http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/cullen/life.htm

All Other Information: Wintz, Cary DeCordova. "Harlem Renaissance." Microsoft® Student 2009 [DVD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2008.

Out of the Wild

We have just finished up Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer! Instead of a test, our class did creative projects and I chose to do a travel poster on Fairbanks, Alaska. Rather than just a regular poster with images and information, I drew a postcard and wrote a note to the Purples English class. The note read:

Dear Purples,
GREETINGS FROM FAIRBANKS, ALASKA! I hope you all are enjoying the beginnings of spring weather in Maryland, but here it is still about 25 degrees and there is still snow on the ground! So far, I have taken a tour of the museum at the University and explored some of the old gold mining sites. My best adventure since arriving by plane three days ago, though, was the wildlife viewing tour near the city. On the tour, I saw caribou, moose, a grizzle bear, bald eagles, and a pack of wolves! As for plants, I saw mostly spruce forests with some aspen, birch, and willow mixed in. Every way you turn here, there is absolutely stunning scenery!
See you all when I get back,
Margaret

Character Trait Chart

Chapter and Page #	Description/ Quote	Impression of Chris
Chapter 1: Pg.4	"He didn't appear to be very old: eighteen, maybe nineteen at most"	Very young
Chapter 1: Pg.  6	"'But he wouldn't give an inch. He had an answer for everything I threw at him.'" (Jim Gallien)	Determined and sometimes downright obstinate
Chapter 1: Pg. 6	"'He was determined. Real gung ho. The word that comes to mind is excited. He couldn't wait to head out there and get started.'" (Jim Gallien)	Instead of being scared, he was excited to go into the wilderness
Chapter 2: Pg. 12	"S.O.S. I NEED YOUR HELP. I AM INJURED, NEAR DEATH, AND TOO WEAK TO HIKE OUT OF HERE. I AM ALL ALONE, THIS IS NO JOKE."	Though he was undaunted at first, McCandless did become desperate in the last days of his life
Ch. 3: Pg. 18	"He was the hardest worker I've ever seen. Didn't matter what it was, he'd do it: hard physical labor,...jobs where you'd get so … dirty you couldn't even tell what you looked like at the end of the day." (Wayne Westerberg)	He was a hard worker and didn't care how messy or disgusting the job was
Ch. 3: Pg. 18 & 20	"He read a lot. Used a lot of big words. I think maybe part of what got him into trouble was that he did too much thinking. Sometimes, he tried to hard to make sense of the world…" (Wayne Westerberg) "In May 1990, Chris graduated from Emory University in Atlanta...with a 3.72 grade-point average."	Chris was smart, but tended to over-think things
Ch. 3: Pg. 22	" At long last he was unencumbered, emancipated from the stifling world of his parents and peers, a world of abstraction and security and material excess, a world in which he felt grievously cut off from the raw throb of existence."	In the modern and civilized world, Chris felt kind of stifled and cut off from what he felt life was meant to be like.
Ch. 4: Pg. 29	"McCandless tramped around the West for the next two months, spellbound by the scale and power of the landscape, thrilled by minor brushes with the law, savoring the intermittent company of other vagabonds he met along the way."	Chris genuinely enjoyed and appreciated every moment and event of his long road trip.
Ch. 5: Pg. 40	"He could do the job--he cooked in the back--but he always worked at the same slow pace, even during the lunch rush, no matter how much you'd get on him to hurry...He just didn't make the connection. It was like he was off in his own universe." (Lori Zarza)	Chris was very capable of doing things, but he often was in his own world and did things his way.
Ch. 5: Pg. 46	"He was smart. He'd figured out how to paddle a canoe down to Mexico, how to hop freight trains, how to score a bed at inner-city missions. He figured all of that out on his own, and I felt sure he'd figure out Alaska too." (Jan Burres)	Chris wasn't just book smart. He could figure out how to do things in the wild and get through things on his own.
Ch. 6: Pg.  52	"Not infrequently during their visits, Franz recalls, McCandless's face would darken with anger and he'd fulminate about his parents or politicians or the endemic mainstream American life."	Chris had a lot of pent up anger against the world and it came out in angry mood swings.
Ch. 6: Pg. 55	"McCandless was thrilled to be on his way north, and he was relieved as well--relieved that he had again evaded the impeding threat of human intimacy, of friendship, and all the messy emotional baggage that comes with it."	Chris may not have minded being around people, but he didn't want any close or lasting relationships.
Ch. 7: Pg. 63	"Alex had been using it [the microwave] to cook chicken, and it never occurred to him that the grease had to drain somewhere. It wasn't that he was too lazy to clean it up...it was just that he hadn't noticed the grease." (Wayne Westerberg)	"Alex" was smart, but lacked some common sense.
Ch. 7: Pg. 66	"McCandless seems to have been driven by a variety of lust that supplanted sexual desire...McCandless may have been tempted by the succor offered by women, but it paled beside the prospect of rough congress with nature, with the cosmos itself."	Chris's passion for nature overshadowed his desire for women, and he might have thought himself above relationships.
Ch. 8: Pg. 85	"Like Rosellini and Waterman, McCandless was a seeker and had an impractical fascination with the harsh side of nature. Like Waterman and McCunn, he displayed a staggering paucity of common sense. But unlike Waterman, McCandless wasn't mentally ill. And unlike McCunn, he didn't go into the bush assuming someone would automatically appear to save his bacon before he came to grief."	Chris may have had an almost unhealthy fascination with wild nature and a lack of common sense, but he was not crazy and fully realized that he could die.
Ch. 9: Pg. 96	"...it sounds like this McCandless kid was like that: We like companionship, but we can't stand to be around people for very long. So we go get ourselves lost, come back for a while, then get the hell out again." (Ken Sleight)	Chris didn't mind human company for a certain amount of time, but eventually he wanted to be on his own.
Ch. 10: Pg.  102	"Chris almost always had short hair and was clean shaven." (Sam McCandless)	When he was at home, Chris looked more clean-cut than when he was traveling.
Ch. 11: Pg.  107	"Even when we were little… he was very to himself. He wasn't antisocial -- he always had friends, and everybody liked him -- but he could go off and entertain himself for hours. He didn't seem to need toys or friends. He could be alone without being lonely." (Carine McCandless)	Chris had friends, but he didn't really seem to need them and often preferred to spend time by himself.
Ch. 11: Pg. 109	"Chris was fearless even when he was little...he didn't think the odds applied to him. We were always trying to pull him back from the edge." (Walt McCandless)	From an early age, Chris was willing to take risks.
Ch. 11: Pg. 115	"He was intensely private but could be convivial and gregarious in the extreme. And despite his overdeveloped social conscience, he was no tight-lipped, perpetually grim do-gooder who frowned on fun. To the contrary, he enjoyed tipping a glass now and then and was an incorrigible ham."	McCandless' personality contradicted itself and was very puzzling.
Ch. 12: Pg. 118	"Chris was good at almost everything he ever tried...which made him supremely overconfident. If you attempted to talk him out of something, he wouldn't argue. He'd just not politely and then do exactly what he wanted." (Walt McCandless)	Chris thought that he could do anything he wanted, and did not take other people's cautions seriously.
Ch. 12: Pg. 120	"He would be generous and caring to a fault, but he had a darker side as well, characterized by monomania, impatience, and unwavering self-absorption, qualities that seemed to intensify through his college years."	Chris's personality could change drastically from kindness to his "darker side"
Ch. 12: Pg. 122	"If something bothered him, he wouldn't come right out and say it. He'd keep it to himself, harboring his resentment, letting the bad feelings build and build." (Carine McCandless)	When Chris was bothered, he kept his feelings inside, where they grew into something much bigger.
Ch. 13: Pg. 131	"His name was printed wrong. The label said CHRISTOPHER R. MCCANDLESS. His middle initial is really J. It ticked me off that they didn't get it right. I was mad. Then I thought, 'Chris wouldn't care. He'd think it was funny.'	McCandless didn't dwell on little things like a mistake in a name. Instead, he laughed them off.
Ch. 14: Pg. 134	"When the adventure did indeed prove fatal, this melodramatic declaration fueled considerable speculation that the boy had been bent on suicide from the beginning, that when he walked into the bush, he had not intention of ever walking out again. I'm not so sure, however."	Chris may have known that the Alaskan wilderness might claim him, but he did not intend to kill himself.
Ch. 16: Pg. 159	"He was a dandy kid. Real courteous, and he didn't cuss or use a lot of that there slang. You could tell he came from a nice family." (Gaylord Stuckey)	McCandless may not have wanted any close relationships with people, but he was perfectly pleasant.
Ch. 17: Pg. 184	"His life hummed with meaning and purpose. But the meaning he wrested from existence lay beyond the comfortable path: McCandless distrusted the value of things that came easily. He demanded much of himself--more, in the end, than he could deliver."	Chris's life had a purpose, but he demanded a lot of himself and did not want comfort. The journey for his purpose is eventually what killed him.
Ch. 17: Pg. 183	"McCandless went into the wilderness not primarily to ponder nature or the world at large but rather, to explore the inner country of his own soul."	McCandless did not set off in to the wild with the intent of seeing the landscape, but instead to discover himself.
Ch. 18: Pg. 198	"Recognizing the gravity of his predicament, he had abandoned the cocky moniker he had been using for years, Alexander Supertramp, in favor of the name given to him at birth by his parents."	Chris knew that his condition towards the end of his life was deteriorating fast and that there was no guarantee he would survive.
Ch. 18: Pg. 198	"Chris would never, ever, intentionally burn down a forest, not even to save his life. Anybody who would suggest otherwise doesn't understand the first thing about my brother. " (Carine McCandless)	Chris would not harm the wilderness, even to save himself.
Ch. 18: Pg. 199	"He is smiling in the picture, and there is no mistaking the look in his eyes: Chris McCandless was at peace, serene as a monk gone to God."	Chris seems to have come to grips with the fact that he was dying and was at peace in the last few days of his life.

Reaction

In my opinion, Chris McCandless was overly obsessed with the harsh side of nature, and in that way was a little crazy. He did have some noble ideas and goals, but the ways that he tried to achieve them showed that he lacked respect for nature and some common sense. Chris was smart and could figure many things out on his own, but he was over-confident in his own abilities and thought that he didn't need the things that other people do to survive the wild. Chris did seem to truly enjoy his travels in the wilderness and, in general, seemed like a kind person who simply had a darker side and tended to over-think things. Ultimately, though, it was his pride, over-confidence, and lack of common sense that killed him.

Famous and Favorite Quotations

In Into the Wild, there are several excerpts from famous authors and those who are not as well known, but interesting nonetheless.

One of my favorite quotations is found on page nine and is an excerpt from The Call of the Wild by Jack London. This quotation describes and personifies the harsher side of nature, which is the side of nature that Chris was so fascinated with. It is also the side of nature that claimed his life. My favorite line from this quotation is, "It was the masterful and incommunicable wisdom of eternity laughing at the futility of life and the effort of life. It was the Wild, the savage, frozen-hearted Northern Wild."

Another interesting quotation from a well-known author is the excerpt from Walden, or Life in the Woods by Henry David Thoreau on page forty-seven. This quotation speaks about the true meaning of success, which is intangible and indescribable, but when it is there, we will know all the same. My favorite line from this quotations is, "If the day and night are such that you greet them with joy, and life emits a fragrance like flowers and sweet-scented herbs, is more elastic, more starry, more immortal,--that is your success."

On page two hundred is a quotation from Annie Dillard, a less well-known author. This quotation from Holy the Firm talks about tossing earthly things away as one crosses over into death. It also speaks about simplifying life, as Chris wanted to do. My favorite part of thes quotation is the line, "There are no events but thoughts and the heart's hard turning, the heart's slow learning where to love and whom. The rest is merely gossip, and tales for other times."

My favorite quotation is probably one spoken by Marianne Williamson (picture). This quotation talks about being our true selves and the benefits of striving to reach our full potential. The quotation reads: "Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate, but that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, handsome, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us. It is not just in some; it is in everyone. And, as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

Picture Source: http://www.bodhitree.com/lectures/Marianne.Williamson.html

A Journey That Would Change My Life

One journey that I would really like to take is one to New Zealand. I'd like to go to New Zealand with my Mom because she lived there for a few years before I was born and I would like to visit the places that she remembers. I think that this trip would be incredible, especially because I would be able to go away from all of the regular tourist attractions on the islands and see what it would be like to live in New Zealand. Even without going off the "beaten trail," I know that New Zealand is a stunning landscape with lots of things to do and see.

This journey would change my life because the people in New Zealand, especially in the places where my Mom went, live very differently from us. Their entire life revolved around a sheep station and the landscape meant that there were much greater distances between stations and towns. For instance, they cannot just run to a grocery store to get supplies or food, so it is shipped in once a week. Though this life style is certainly not the harshest in the world, it is very different from my life here and I think it would give me a fresh perspective on all of my blessings.

Picture Source: http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/01/08/f2/0b/new-zealand.jpg