Similarities between Alice Walker and Zora Neale Hurston Alice Walker discovered Zora Neale Hurston when she needed some authentic material on voodoo practiced by blacks in the South in the 1930 s. ‘The Revenge of Hannah Kemhuff’ had so much impact on Walker, she wrote about it repeatedly. The Color Purple has many parallels to Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God. Walker highly valued the works of Hurston.
Walker says about Hurston:’ [Hurston] was exposing not simply an adequate culture but a superior one.’ Both authors have extremely similar themes, main characters, and attitudes toward women, especially the black women. They also share a common appreciation for language. Common Themes Uncovering the soul of the black woman The rise above sexual and racial oppression for relative peace and independence The breakaway from a suffocating, loveless marriage in search for ‘one’s own self.’ The unity of women Salvation leads to power Similarities between C elie and Janie Seen as ‘mules of the world’ Unwillingly forced into a marriage involving little compassion and intellect, but involving physical as well as mental abuse Seeking for control of their lives Searching for independence in a culture that imposes many limitations Yearning to create, dream, grow, love, and to be free Alice Walker even wrote a poem on Janie. Click here to view it. Hurston and Walker’s similar attitudes on women and men WOMEN Searching for their own voice Formed intimate relationships with each other women to help them survive struggles In the end, they are very strong and courageous MEN In most cases, they are very controlling Instead of treating their marriages as an equal partnership, they smother their wives Failure to see the beauty of life, including relationships with others click here for summary of Walker’s ‘Looking for Zora’.
The Essay on Neale Hurston Zora Mother Children
In the passage, Dust Tracks on a Road, the author describes her childhood not only through her own eyes, but also through the eyes of her mother and father. She uses different devices to depict the overall feeling of her youth, and although there are several conflicts that keep the author's adolescence from being perfect, she has an overall happy and rewarding life at home. Through diction and ...
