Christain Brown

5-22-18
2nd Hour ELA H

In the text, Feminist Fantasies: Zora Neale Hursons Their Eyes Were Watching

God, Jennifer Jordan argues that Their Eyes Were Watching God symbolized in a text, many

aspects that black feminists struggled to voice through literature. Jennifer notes that The novel

is seen as a vehicle of feminist protest through its condemnation of the restrictiveness of burgeois

marriage and through its exploration of intraracial sexism and male violence. Jennifer

summarizes the story of the main protagonist in the novel and how the novel was one of the first

to voice the struggles that females have gone through for years. Many writers of her time period

were male and did not care about feminists and their ideas. She relates Hurstons work to Alice

Walkers The Color Purple and how Walker brought Hurston to popularity. The style that

Hurston had, a style that veered away from acceptable or correct forms of writing, made her

stand out. Jordan speaks about the many ways that Hurstons novel could be considered a

feminist text, while also addressing many counter arguments. Jordan speaks on both sides, such

as how feminists believe in certain things versus how the novel depicted the main character and

how she goes against many feminist beliefs. In summary, Jordans article talks about the many

points of view towards the novel being a feminist text.

Although I do believe that this is a feminist text, I also agree with Jordan when she

mentions that this doesnt have all of the aspects of a feminist text. The novel starts off with a

woman who says that love does not come from your liking of a person, but growing to like them

because of the security they provide. This directly goes against many feminist beliefs. The text

does not have many concrete defining moments that proves that it is a feminist text. Many
feminist beliefs include going against double standards set for women in comparison to men in

terms of partners, which Hurston does somewhat address in the story but it is not a moment in

the story where it directly confronts this issue. I agree with this article, on many arguments that

Jordan mentioned. I believe that Hurston could be related to Alice Walker, not only how she

came to popularity through Walker but also in terms of writing feminist texts. The marginal

differences that Hurston has in terms of diction and syntax played a huge role of others not liking

her, but it gives her a unique identity in the writing world that deserves to be appreciated. I found

myself identifying many symbols that have underlying meanings other than the started reasons in

the novel, but not all of them directly related to feminism. This article closely relates to my

beliefs and opinions towards the novel by Hurston, and in conclusion, although Their Eyes

Were Watching God can be considered a feminist text, it also can be considered a regular novel.