On September eighteenth, nineteen thirty-seven, Their Eyes Were Watching God, one of the greatest novels of this century, was published. It was met with mixed reviews. The major (white) periodicals found it enjoyable and simple, while black literary circles said it “carries no theme, no message” (Wright,1937). These evaluations are not mutually exclusive, but rather demonstrate the conception of Hurston’s work as telling whites what they want to hear and not dealing with racism. While Hurston did receive recognition during her life, she died forgotten and wasn’t considered one of America’s greatest writers until recently. Why did luminaries such as Richard Wright and Langston Hughes deny her worth? And how do we know they were wrong?
Hurston once told Nick Ford “I have ceased to think in terms of race; I think only in terms of individuals. I am interested in you now not as a Negro man but as a man. I am not interested in the race problem, but I am interested in the problems of individuals, white ones and black ones.” Ford’s response was “If the Negro is to rise in the estimation of the world, he must be continuously presented in a more favorable light, even in fiction… Negro authors owe such loyalty to their people” (Ford,1936). This response reflects much of her criticisms. There are three important assumptions here: The perception of African-Americans can be improved by writing about racial inequality, Hurston does not do this, and she has accrued some debt to do so.
Literature can probably change the world’s thoughts on many things, and racial inequality may be one of them. For this to work, a book needs whites as an audience. But not just any whites- rac…
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…rk: Chelsea House, 1986. 13-14.
* Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. Philadelphia: J.B.Lippincott, 1937. New York: Harper
The Use of Mirrors in The Scarlet Letter
The Use of Mirrors in The Scarlet Letter
“Life is for each man,” states Eugene O’Neill, “a solitary cell whose walls are mirrors.” In other words, one can fool himself, but a mirror reflects only the truth. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, mirrors are used as a literary device to convey a message. Dimmesdale, Chillingworth, Hester, and Pearl each judge themselves with mirrors. Through the use of mirrors, The Scarlet Letter provides an insight into the faults, or lack thereof, of the four main characters.
Arthur Dimmesdale’s mirror acts as a window into his sin-obsessed mind. Dimmesdale practices secret vigils, such as whipping himself in front of a mirror, as an act of penance. After Hester’s humiliation on the scaffold, Dimmesdale becomes obsessed with absolving himself of the sin, while not admitting the sin to others. Thus, he begins a cycle of grief and sorrow. Much to the satisfaction of Roger Chillingworth, Dimmesdale could “torture, but could not purify, himself.” To everyone else, from his fellow priests to the church-going citizens, he could lead a false life. Yet, when he looks into a mirror, Dimmesdale sees only the sin he committed with Hester. In fact, as the reader learns at the end of the book, Dimmesdale takes the guilt of his ignominy to the point where he carves an A into himself. His mirror punishment becomes a ritual with a bloody scourge kept under lock and key in a secret closet. The only one to gain satisfaction from the self-inflicted wounds is Chillingworth. When Dimmesdale views the reflection of himself in a parallel universe, his saint-like ways cause his own self-tormented downfall. Dimmesdale could have looked into a mirror without magnifyin…
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…what one wants to see, but a reflection of what actually is there. A man can fool anyone, including himself, until, through his own eyes, he finds a reflection of his true self.
Proffesors Comments: You composed a fine paper, so most of my effort has been spent in suggesting style improvements. The opening is strong, the development logical and consistent, the examples well chosen.
The ending is the weakest part of the paper. You didn’t need the title; “Hawthorne uses…” would start the paragraph just fine. You didn’t need the second sentence, since your entire paper did just that, and convincingly. A comment about Pearl here is welcome, since your paper pointed toward her. The last two sentences are quite wonderful. Think of a garden — pull any weeds and the flowers look even more beautiful. I would weed your closing paragraph.