Native Son's Eyes Watching God

Just recently in class, we discussed Richard Wright's criticism of Zora-Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God and in turn, brought up some key differences between that novel and Wright's Native Son. Today, I want to discuss these points and break down each novel's message. On one hand, we have someone who makes their protest clear using Bigger Thomas' experiences in the "white world". On the other hand, we have a romance novel describing Janie Crawford's navigation through love and ending with a touch of female empowerment. The way I see it, there are two overarching differences in these works. The role of racism and message each protagonist carries.

Wright wrote a work that is obviously thrusting the effect of racism at its reader. Bigger feels like he's in a cage, can't get out, etc. Hurston, on the other hand, is much more reserved in her expression of racism, but she does present the theme. Mrs. Turner for example. She gets a lot of backlash for this because her novel isn't 'protest' enough as, at the time, Wright's work was the end all be all of African-American literature.

Another key difference is the message. What the reader supposed to take away from the main character's experiences. Wright says 'racism is bad, look at what it's done to Bigger' while Hurston says 'Janie's a girl who knows what she wants and won't stop until she gets it'. Two very different morals. Hurston got backlash for this because to some it looked like a bunch of black people frolicking in nature under the Bossman, reminiscent of the racist plays of the time where white people would pain their face black, representing slaves and depict enjoyment in the fields.

What do you guys think? Are these criticisms fair? What other differences did you spot between the two texts' themes? Comment below!

Comments

  1. Lucas WoodNovember 6, 2019 at 10:25 AM

    I think that both Wright and Hurston's styles are important and interesting in their own way. I think Wright's criticism is largely misguided and he fails to see the love in Hurston's book. I did not get the impression that Hurston pandered towards white people, and I thoroughly enjoyed both novels.

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  2. DanbiNovember 11, 2019 at 2:45 PM

    I agree with you that while it is much more subtle, Zora Neale Hurston still presents racial issues and a theme of racism in Their Eyes Were Watching God, contrary to Wright's criticism. As you mentioned, Wright and Hurston both present the theme of racism but portray it in different ways, with Wright using more violent and upfront shows of racism and Zora Neale Hurston using more subtle and everyday shows of racism. Like Lucas said, I think that Hurston and Wright's techniques are both unique and interesting in their own way, and neither is superior to the other. While Wright's writing style kind of forces the reader to see the racial discrimination within society, Hurston's show of discrimination kind of blends in with everyday life. In that way, I think Hurston's writing style is pretty powerful because it shows how these racial issues exist in society but are sometimes hidden and ignored. I think this kind of separates Hurston and Wright's novels because Wright's protest novel does not apply to present society as well as Hurston's. In present day, while that "upfront" racism definitely still exists, I think it is much less common and Hurston's show of subtle racism is more prevalent, allowing TEWWG to be more relatable to readers.

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  3. JoshuaNovember 12, 2019 at 11:21 AM

    I think that the notion that all works written by an African American author need to discuss racism isn't fair. Wright isn't justified saying that since racism isn't as prominent in Hurston's novel, it takes away from it. With that being said, characters like Mrs. Turner show how Hurston still incorporated race into her novel, as you mentioned. Though it's more subtle than in Native Son, it's not like Native Son has to be used as the blueprint for all African American writers

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