Comparative Literature 60AC
How It Feels to Be Colored Me by Zora Neale Hurston
Zora Neale Hurston
(the best version I could find was from a PDF of a textbook, just ignore the rest of what's there)
How It Feels to Be Colored Me is a personal essay by Zora Neale Hurston exploring and celebrating her identity as a black woman, and her status as a human being.
Hurston was the most prominent female writer of the Harlem Renaissance, but was distinct from other members of the Harlem Renaissance movement in that she was trained as a cultural anthropologist at Barnard College; this heavily influenced her work, particularly her focus on ‘the folk’ and cultural affirmation for black people (Miller).
(video)
In How It Feels to Be Colored Me, Hurston initially recounts her childhood interactions with white people, particularly tourists passing through Eatonville from the North. She describes how she loved to dance and sing for them, unaware that she was conforming herself to the racial stereotype of the “happy darkey,” a notoriously uncomfortable character in America’s racial history (Walker). She isn’t made into this caricature because of the way she sees herself (someone full of “joyful tendencies”), but rather because of these white people’s perception of her.
The incident with the white tourists in Eatonville really illustrates the fluidity of identity that Hurston ultimately capitalizes on in this work and the rest of her oeuvre. Hurston concludes that her blackness and her history are not things that hold her back, instead they are parts of an identity that includes and is enriched by culture but extends even beyond it and is not defined by it solely. She refuses to let anybody tell her that life itself is not cause enough for jubilation, in spite of and because of the fact that she is black. At the end of How It Feels to Be Colored Me Hurston returns full circle to a jubilant celebration of her “cosmic self,” seizing the power to create her own reality (NPR).
This circles back to the current of modernist thought that permeated American arts and culture at the time that Hurston was writing; one prominent aspect of modernism is the idea of facing the possibility that objectivism is a fallacy, and reality and morality aren’t as clear-cut as people once thought. While many white writers and artists of this period seemed to bemoan this and adopt a bleak outlook on the future, Zora fully embraced the opportunity for herself and for other black people to create and define their own identity and reality. It is a much more hopeful and even celebratory take on this modernist idea, I think, than we have seen anywhere else in our study of modernism.
Works Cited
Miller, Monica. "Archaeology of a Classic." Barnard Magazine 17 Dec. 2012: n. pag. Web.
Grosvenor, Vertamae. "Intersections: Crafting a Voice for Black Culture." NPR. NPR, 26 Apr. 2004. Web. 29 Sept. 2016.
Walker, Alice. "Looking for Zora." Ms. Magazine 1975: n. pag. Web.
Boyd, Valerie. "About Zora Neale Hurston." Zora Neale Hurston: The Official Website of Zora Neale Hurston. N.p., n.d. Web.
American Masters: Zora Neale Hurston. PBS, n.d. Web.
I find this topic to be pretty intriguing. I had no idea that Hurston had such an incident in her childhood, and it's great to see her positive reaction to it after some time had passed. It also makes me wonder if our main character, Janie, will also experience similar situations in her future.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate you bring up the point of how the leading writers during the Harlem Renaissance were trying to positively depict the future of African Americans and not let anything passive from the outside to frustrate their aspirations. As we read in this week's passage by Alan Locke, I think it's a prominent theme during this period of time of how the African Americans were trying to redefine themselves in the society.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting post. We also talked in class about how Hurston was excluded in some ways by other prominent writers of the Harlem Renaissance and it would be interesting to trace this line of thought to her ideas which other writers may have found uncongenial
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite parts of the modernist movement is the rejection of one clear-cut reality or the realization that each person's narrative has its own perspective and highlights that. Hurston, as a black woman, was under layers of scrutiny but she did well to show her view.
ReplyDeleteI had a thought similar to Leonel's - I think Hurston's conclusion that she and other black people should be free to create and define their own realities is ironic, especially since from what we know of her milieu, she was criticized by other Harlem Renaissance writers for not being authentic enough to the movement.
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ReplyDeleteI think it is very interesting to put Zora Neale Hurston in contrast with author modernist authors (the majority of which happening to be white, and, more often than not, males), thus letting us appreciate the difference in Hurston works due to the very different reality she is living. Yet, it is also fascinating to note that despite her pride in her identity as a black woman, the rest of the members of the Harlem Renaissance movement shunned her for being too "white".
ReplyDeleteI think it is very interesting to put Zora Neale Hurston in contrast with author modernist authors (the majority of which happening to be white, and, more often than not, males), thus letting us appreciate the difference in Hurston works due to the very different reality she is living. Yet, it is also fascinating to note that despite her pride in her identity as a black woman, the rest of the members of the Harlem Renaissance movement shunned her for being too "white".
ReplyDeleteI thought your comment about the difference in approach between writers of different races was very interesting to note. It seems to me that the instability of the time represented different things to different people; for white writers, it might have been an unwelcome upheaval, but for black writers like Hurston it was a chance to change the status quo. Like the other commenters, I think that view becomes more interesting when looking at how Hurston was received by the rest of the writing community at the time.
ReplyDeleteI really like that Hurston speaks so much on the issue of identity and embracing one's reality and interpreting it however they wish to. I think this actually goes perfectly well with the criticism she received by other participants in the Harlem Renaissance movement. It simply does not matter. There is no right or wrong; she identifies herself as a person, she can interpret the movement as she wishes and express it the way she thinks is best based on her identity, her experiences (which were very different from most of the other authors of the movement) and her values.
ReplyDeleteI think that examining Zora Neale Hurston's early life lends more perspective to readings of Their Eyes Were Watching God. The level of optimism that she felt towards modernism doesn't manifest itself in the first few chapters of the novel. It will be interesting to read the rest of the novel with this perspective though.
ReplyDeleteI like how you included the part about her childhood and her being seen as conforming to the "happy darkey" stereotype. I think it brings up the interesting idea that history doesn't see someone as who they were so to speak, but more so as what other people perceived of them and their impact on society.
ReplyDeleteI love that you distinguished Zora's optimism from the more cynical perspective of many other modernist writers, but I wish you had given a few examples. We haven't really talked about cynicism of the modernist movement in class, especially in affiliation with white authors. Regardless I think this is a good point to make and a very dynamic aspect of Zora as a person and artist.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy seeing a side of the author that is kind of a window into what could mindset could have written Janey's story. It will be interesting to see how her childhood and the stereotype created within is potentially pushed.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with Claire though, I wish more examples had been used within this writing but I am sure you will delve deeper into it with your presentation.