Their Eyes Were Watching God is TERRIBLE!

Spend a few years teaching school in the deep south and pay attention to the fierce conditions under which many of your students live. A fifth grade boys that lives in a house with five women and he's not sure which one is his mama. A tenth grade boy that would rather stay in after school for punishment rather than face life on the street. I lived the first 53 years of my life in relative comfort, isolated from the problems of ghettos, then I moved south. It's an eye-opening experience, I'll tell you. Zora is right on the money with her book... It's not the usual kind of narrative... It's pure poetry.

Blackadder...a couple of months??..wow..is Roots really that long...
I would like to know more about the author Zora, though i don't know the first name..or is that the first name...From what everyone says she sounds like a good author (Is that an understatement?) Oh and just a quick note...Not naming names..though it's obvious...it's really disappointing to see all that hate and ignorance posted by some of you just on this topic...

<ahem> Well I hope you didn't take my `pity' comment to be ignorant or hateful... <makes note to ask Admin for `humour' section>

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Nevolia

Oh and just a quick note...Not naming names..though it's obvious...it's really disappointing to see all that hate and ignorance posted by some of you just on this topic...

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by hlivermo

Spend a few years teaching school in the deep south and pay attention to the fierce conditions under which many of your students live. A fifth grade boys that lives in a house with five women and he's not sure which one is his mama. A tenth grade boy that would rather stay in after school for punishment rather than face life on the street. I lived the first 53 years of my life in relative comfort, isolated from the problems of ghettos, then I moved south. It's an eye-opening experience, I'll tell you.

---

Spend a few years in Detroit, guy, it ranks #1 in the US for racial segregation and #3 for worst ghetto (the top seven aren't even in the south). On 8-mile road you will literally see two sides that are entirely opposed: the south side is black, the north side is white. Michigan also ranks #1 in unemployment (that's why Bush came to Livonia a few weeks ago to try and pursuade us small folks that the sources who sold him that crock of ****e 'trickle down' theory finally pulled their heads out of their asses). Anyway, I like Detroit . . . it's got character. I'm a believer that we must be absolutely modern, but the south just seems like it is holding on to a lot of dead and outdated traditions ; and moreover, the accent is atrocious.

I'm back from vacation and tired, so I'll be concise: The book sucked.

The ending was so absolutely disgusting. After Jaynie tells her story the author subtly implies that Pheobe rushes upstairs to f--- her husband. Nice moral: Physically take advantage of the fact that your lover/husband is alive to make love to him. Wow, that's deep.

I disagree that "Their Eyes Were Watching God" is a terrible book, I personally really enjoyed the book. In fact, it is one of my favorite books that I have read. I read it a few years ago for my AP English class too, and it was one of the few books that I actually enjoyed that year. Right now I am taking a Postmodern class and am planning on re-reading "Their Eyes..." sometime soon, I think that I will be able to appreciate it even more now that I have been exposed to other works of postmodern literature. If you didn't like "Their Eyes were watching God" then I probably wouldn't recommend other works of Postmodernism, although I have to say that you are definately missing out on some amazing works of literature!

I agree with vanessa's earlier post--Hurston's book is a reflection of both the time and the woman writing it. Wright didn't like the book because it didn't have a more political agenda, which is absolutely true. Hurston's book is good because it presents the reality of life for a black woman in the swamps of Florida in the early part of the 20th century. The events portrayed in the book are things that Hurston herself experienced or that people she knew experienced. To me, this is why it is such a great book.

As a side note, Alice Walker was responsible in the late 1970s for buying a headstone for Hurston's grave and for bringing notice to Hurston's works, which had largely been forgotten.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by KLO

As a side note, Alice Walker was responsible in the late 1970s for buying a headstone for Hurston's grave and for bringing notice to Hurston's works, which had largely been forgotten.

---

Yes. Walker freely admits that The Color Purple was directly inspired by Hurston's work, and that she, Walker, owes ZNH a great, great debt.

Personally I think this a case of the son surpassing the father. (Or the daughter surpassing the mother as the case may be.) IMO Walker's novel is far superior to Hurston's. The story is richer because AW is examining spiritual ideas that ZNH doesn't approach, and the epistolary format is a nice change of pace (and allows her to do some interesting things with character development). The plots of both are fine, but I'll take Walker's dialogue and prose every day and twice on Sunday over Hurston's.

i didn't realize this thread was here. i read that essay by Walker, and found it riveting. i know a lot of people who love the book. one day i will read it. when the time is right. i started it and was on a jag about something, so didn't finish it because i wanted to savor it.



that first paragraph by e. lee was the single most insulting thing i've read in this forum, though i'm unsurprised by it. i would have been much happier not having known this thread was here. we black people aren't "them." we are people.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by amuse

that first paragraph by e. lee was the single most insulting thing i've read in this forum, though i'm unsurprised by it. i would have been much happier not having known this thread was here. we black people aren't "them." we are people.

---

Happily the thread seemed to have moved beyond bigotry and petty insults, which is why I didn't bother to comment on those things myself.

But seeing this thread makes me wonder again why a politics forum is taboo. I have to say that the statements made here seem far more likely to turn people off to this site than someone writing that George Bush is a lying, cowardly, dunderhead.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by trismegistus

Happily the thread seemed to have moved beyond bigotry and petty insults, which is why I didn't bother to comment on those things myself..

---

yes indeedy. :)

Quote:

---

But seeing this thread makes me wonder again why a politics forum is taboo. I have to say that the statements made here seem far more likely to turn people off to this site than someone writing that George Bush is a lying, cowardly, dunderhead.

---

i wondered that too, after logging off. as well as why e. lee was never censored by admin. admin?

btw, not to sidetrack too far from znh's book but has anyone read the essay walker wrote after visiting kingstown, jamaica (to pay her respects to mr. marley)?

Well, I might be the only one who missed the point of Hurstons Eyes . It always seemed to me that Hurston was writing less as an African American and more as a woman. Besides that, Hurston always seemed to me a particularly proud person. I don't think she would have lobbied for 'pity' for the 'black man' anywhere. I think she was a strong woman far ahead of most woman from her demographic at the time, and more she can stands as a good writer of her time, regaurdless of sex and race. She wrote a damn fine story that some people may not like - hell, I didn't like Ulysses. I didn't like Anna Karrena. As matter of fact, I didn't even like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Who would say these writers couldn't write or wrote poorly? If you were to ask me about tom's african american pal in Huck Finn, he's not exactly the deepest charecter I've come across. Oh, and writing completely aside I think Hurston contributed to many areas during her lifetime and writing as something she did on occasion. That's my take anyway, cheers, happy reading everyone.

This topic was started before I was around and it's possible Admin missed it at that time. But since it's been `bumped' up again, there is some worthy discussion going on. Or, does someone want to start a new topic about it?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by amuse

i wondered that too, after logging off. as well as why e. lee was never censored by admin. admin?

btw, not to sidetrack too far from znh's book but has anyone read the essay walker wrote after visiting kingstown, jamaica (to pay her respects to mr. marley)?

---

I loved the novel, personally (her short stories are better), and Hurston seems a very respectable author, though, I feel, she appears misunderstood. Being African-American and female during her era required much bravery and strength, and that she could produce such literary genius with the low potential her contemporaries expected of her seems amazing.
We all have our differing opinions - no problem.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mono

Being African-American and female during her era required much bravery and strength, and that she could produce such literary genius with the low potential her contemporaries expected of her seems amazing.

---

I wouldn't want to detract from ZNH's accolades, but it's worth noting that she comes out of the Harlem Renaissance. I don't think I agree about the "low potential her contemporaries expected of her." I suspect that Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen would punch you in the snoot for suggesting their expectations for her (or any African American woman) were low.

(And who woulda thought this old thread would be resurrected?)