Zora Neale Hurston is the brightest representative of American feminist writers, whose novels explore themes of feminine power, race, and identity. The protagonists of the stories are like the writer herself – they are forced to survive in similar circumstances and have the same character. These are strong women who know their worth and see the path in front of them. This paper aims to present an annotated bibliography dedicated to the works by Zora Neale Hurston.
Jones, Jill C. “Taking the Axe to Babylon: Zora Neale Hurston’s” Lost” Caroline Stories, Gender, Place, and Power.” The Mississippi Quarterly, vol. 69, no. 4, 2016, pp. 481-500.
For a long time, Zora Neale Hurston remained in the shadows, despite the highest quality of her prose. However, in 1975, Alice Walker, another well-known feminist writer who considered Hurston to be her inspiration, stumbled upon her grave. Only the age and name were indicated on the tombstone – Zora Neale Hurston, 1901-1960 (Jones, 2016). Therefore, Alice Walker added the following caption: “A Genius of the South, Novelist Folklorist, and Anthropologist” (Jones, 2016). Alice Walker later admitted that she was overwhelmed by such a blatant lack of attention to her beloved writer and subsequently wrote a series of articles about her heritage.
In the introduction, the author of the article presents the story associated with the first visit to Zora Neale Hurston’s grave by Alice Walker. The following is an analysis of four novels by Zora Neale Hurston, featuring Caroline and her cheating husband Mitchell (or Oscar in the “She Rock”). These are “Pants and Cal’line” (1926), “The Eatonville Anthology” (1926), “The Country in the Woman” (1927), and the “She Rock” (1933). These stories depict the relationships between Caroline and her husband, who is cheating on her. The author of the article says that, despite minor plot variations, Caroline reflects the writer who copied this character from her aunt.
Further, the author of the article presents a detailed analysis of each story, highlighting the characteristic features. For example, in “Pants and Cal’line,” events unfold in a village in the south of the country, and Huston acts more like an anthropologist, describing familiar realities, introducing harsh rural humor and slang speech into the narrative canvas. Further, in “The Eatonville Anthology,” the plot is distinguished by adding the narrator, who describes the villagers from a further distance. The plot is based on the fact that Mitchell bought his “side gal,” a gift-wrapped shoebox. Caroline finds the package, and this becomes the last straw for her. She takes the ax and goes to the meeting place of Mitchell and Delphine, to give them a lesson. Passing villagers sitting on the steps by the store, she causes gossip: men place bets on who will win – husband or wife. The story ends with Caroline returning victoriously with Mitchell’s clothes hanging from an ax.
According to the author of the article, the plot of the first story differs from the second since, in the second version, Caroline says, “Good evening, gentlemen!” passing by neighbors. However, this trait is characteristic, since, in this way, Hurston makes her character ‘speaking,’ in contrast to the first version, where Caroline carries out all her adventures in silence. Therefore, Hurston demonstrates how the strength of the heroine’s character bursts out. It is also noteworthy that in the stories “The Country in the Woman” and “She Rock,” the events unfold in New York City, and Caroline’s character is also a speaker.
She loudly scolds her husband for dishonesty while walking home with him down the street, and threatens to wrap Delphine’s clothes around her neck if she accidentally meets her. However, these two alternative plots also differ in the general atmosphere and reaction of Harlem folks. In the first two stories, the neighbors perceive the relationship of the main characters with interest and laughter, and here Mitchell’s friend feels “cold fear” when he sees Caroline walking down the street with an ax. Therefore, the author of the article summarizes that Caroline, who confronts her husband, has become a role model for black women of the south and north.
Faktorovich, A. “A Stunning New Release from the Timeless Zora Neale Hurston.” Pennsylvania Literary Journal, vol. 10, no. 4, 2018, pp. 79-80.
In this review, the author discusses a new non-fiction story by Zora Neale Hurston, “Barracoon.” The story is about a folk named Cudjo Lewis, who survived the Atlantic slave trade. The writer worked on the story while traveling to Plateau, Alabama, in 1927 (Faktorovich, 2018). There she met and interviewed Cudjo Lewis, formerly Oluale Kossola, born in a Yoruba family in West Africa. Olle told Hurston how he was captured when the slave trade had already been banned in the United States.
The writer had to leave for a while, but on her return in 1931, she continued meetings with Oluale for three months, and then wrote the story “Barracoon.” The ‘barracoon’ is a kind of enclosure, where the slaves were placed for selection. The plot tells how Cudjo was captured by Dahoma warriors, survived a dangerous journey across the Atlantic, spent five years in slavery before the outbreak of the Civil War, and fought on the side of Jim Crow. The author of the article notes that this story probably served as the basis for “Their Eyes,” capturing the author’s imagination and giving her subsequent stories tremendous emotional power. It is also noted that interviewing was carried out with the financial support of Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of Blacks.
Works Cited
Faktorovich, A. “A Stunning New Release from the Timeless Zora Neale Hurston.” Pennsylvania Literary Journal, vol. 10 no. 4, 2018, pp. 79-80.
Jones, Jill C. “Taking the Axe to Babylon: Zora Neale Hurston’s” Lost” Caroline Stories, Gender, Place, and Power.” The Mississippi Quarterly, vol. 69, no. 4, 2016, pp. 481-500.