Zora Neale Hurston was an African American author and anthropologist who wrote in the 1930s during the Harlem Renaissance Born in 1891 in Notasulga, Alabama, Hurston grew up in Eatonville, Florida, and eventually moved to New York City to pursue her studies and writing career. Hurston's most famous work is the 1937 novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, which explores the life of an African American woman in the American South. Hurston is also widely known for her shorter fiction stories and plays, including Mule Bone, Sweat, and The Gilded Six-Bits, as well as her anthropological publications. Hurston's writing style was influenced by her own experiences as an African American woman living in the Jim Crow South, and her works often explore the themes of race, gender, and class.
Essay topics inspired by Zora Neale Hurston can explore a variety of themes and topics. Here are five examples of essay topics inspired by Hurston:
1. Examining the Complexities of Race: In Their Eyes Were Watching God, explore how Hurston uses the complexities of race to explore the individual identities of her characters and the broader themes of the novel.
2. Cultural Syncretism in Zora Neale Hurston’s Short Stories: Analyze how Hurston incorporates elements of the African American and European American cultures in her short stories, and examine how this fusion of cultural influences impacts the characters and themes of the stories.
3. Exploring the Symbolic Significance of Language in Their Eyes Were Watching God: Examine how language is used as a symbolic device in Hurston’s novel, and examine how this symbolism affects the novel’s characters, plot, and themes.
4. Feminism in Zora Neale Hurston’s Work: Analyze how feminism is represented in Hurston’s work, and explore how she uses her writing to advance the feminist cause.
5. Representations of Social Inequality in Their Eyes Were Watching God: Investigate how Hurston uses her novel to explore the social inequalities experienced by African American women living in the Jim Crow South, and examine the effects of these inequalities on the novel’s characters and themes.