International Journal of English Literature and Culture
 

International Journal of English Literature and Culture

Vol. 3(4), pp. 116-121, April, 2015

 ISSN: 2360-7831

DOI: 10.14662/IJELC2015.039

Review Paper

Folk Pride as Reflected in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God

Dr. R.Sheela Banu

Assistant Professor of English Govt. Arts College, Salem-7, Tamil Nadu, India. Mobile: 094434 37094

E mail: rsheelabanu@gmail.com

Accepted 19 April 2015

Zora Neale Hurston is the first to explore and define the wisdom and language buried in the black folklore of black culture. She shows a great regard for her Black folk culture. She uses her knowledge of her folklore to liberate women from racial and gender oppression and instill a sense of ethnic pride in her people. In Their Eyes, Hurston infuses the empowering aspects of traditional African and African American culture. This novel reveals the priceless moral wisdom inherent in the experiences of uneducated rural southern women. A keen reading of Their Eyes offers an insight into the dynamics of black folk communities, their spiritual and oral traditions through which the members of the community express themselves. African American culture is the product of adaptation and combination, there is no single African heritage to be found in African American folkways. The objective of this paper is to bring out the function of folk pride as reflected in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes, in empowering oppressed people.

Keywords: black folklore, black culture, moral wisdom, folk pride, humour, lies, music and dance, voodoo, sermons, African rituals.

Cite This Article As: Banu RS (2015). Folk Pride as Reflected in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God. Inter. J. Eng. Lit. Cult. 3(4): 116-121

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