Black History Month // Zora Neale Hurston

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Zora Neale Hurston

“There is no agony like bearing an untold story inside you.” 

“Those that don't got it, can't show it. 

Those that got it, can't hide it. ” 

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I remember first being introduced to the writing of 

Zora Neale Hurston back in Honors English class in high school.  I really enjoyed my Honors English classes to explore so many rich depths of literature, to appreciate literature in all forms, and really dissecting the beauty of words beyond the story.

Zora Neale Hurston was a famous black author who was associated with the Harlem Renaissance.  

You can read more about that here.

My first read, 

"Their Eyes Were Watching God", 

She opened eyes to an entirely new world of writing.

Her use of such unique use of language, imagery, symbolism, and particularly her mastery of rural Southern black dialect...

pure talent. 

"Their Eyes Were Watching God" is a beautiful story of finding a voice, with language as an instrument of injury and salvation, of selfhood and empowerment.  Also, topics of race, racism, religion, love, and relationships weave heavy throughout the book. The main character, Janie, achieves a strong sense of self, enlightenment, and comes to appreciate her independence. 

Some of my favorite reads from the book are...

"The sun was gone…It was the time to hear things and talk. These sitters had been tongueless, earless, eyeless conveniences all day long. Mules and other brutes had occupied their skins. But now, the sun and the bossman were gone, so the skins felt powerful and human. They became lords of sounds and lesser things. They passed nations through their mouths. They sat in judgment."

"Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men.
Now, women forget all those things they don’t want to remember and remember everything they don’t want to forget. The dream is the truth. Then they act and do things accordingly."

"Janie saw her life like a great tree in leaf with the things suffered, things enjoyed, things done and undone. Dawn and doom was in the branches."

"They huddled closer and stared at the door.  They just didn't use another part of their bodies, and they didn't look at anything but the door.  The time was past for asking the white folks what to for through that door.  Six eyes were questioning God."

"Here was peace.  She pulled in her horizon like a great fish net.  Pulled it from around the waist of the world and draped it over her shoulder.  So much of life in its meshes!  She called in her soul to come and see."

“Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It’s beyond me.” 

“Love is like the sea. It's a moving thing, but still and all, it takes its shape from the shore it meets, and it's different with every shore. ” 

“Her old thoughts were going to come in handy now, but new words would have to be made and said to fit them.”