The Conveyance of Emotion in the Writing of Zora Neale...

The Conveyance of Emotion in the Writing of Zora Neale Hurston Sharpening Her Oyster Knife: I am not tragically colored. There is no great sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes. I do not mind at all. I do not belong to the sobbing school of Negrohood who hold that nature somehow has given them a lowdown dirty deal and whose feelings are all hurt about it....No, I do not weep at the world -- I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife. ___Zora Neale Hurston Zora Neale Hurston kept busy sharpening her oyster knife not to prepare for any violent confrontations with white society but quite the opposite, to extract the raw materials from her own culture†¦show more content†¦Nannys explanation to Janie about her inheritance in life as a young black woman expresses a theme that Hurston returns to again and again in many of her stories, the harsh realities of black womens lives in a racist, sexist society: ...De nigger woman is de mule uh de world so fur as Ah can see. Nanny tells her that the white man dumps on the black man and he, in turn, dumps on the black woman. Nanny also enlightens Janie to the unpleasant realities of married life for black women-- the domestic and sexual violence, part of their lives that Hurston depicts honestly in her writing. Yet the humor that she employs to depict these painful situations truly does allow the protagonist here, as well as in the short stories and autobiographical writings, to go on fighting -- strong and alive. In Jump at the Sun, John Lowe reveals three ways in which this humor is utilized in Zora Neale Hurstons work: Humor is a way to convey spirit and sense of community. Laughter can be due to a strong point being made in the story. And comedy conceals the cosmic universal truths embedded in the stories (68, 77-78). Several of Hurstons pieces of writing employ these techniques most beautifully; The characters, particularly the female protagonists, are allowed to go on fighting -- sometimes scarred-- but