Reality: 'Their Eyes Were Watching God' by More Neale Hurston in comparison to 'Malgudi Schooldays' by R.K. Narayan
'Their Eyes Were Watching God' is a 1937 novel written by Zora Neale Hurston. It is considered one of the Harlem Renaissance classics and is one of Hurston's best-known works. The Harlem Renaissance witnessed an unparalleled explosion of African American arts and reflected black people's future in America. Language and the power it holds is a significant symbol of Modernism. The novel's unique way of including two voices, one in Standard Written English and the other in Black Vernacular English, and how this style of narration frames the story that unfolds, makes it a prominent feature in the Modernism literary era. The novel explores the journey of Janie Crawford, an African-American woman in her forties, from a voiceless, bright teenager to a woman who is in control of her life and voice. Using colloquial language spoken in the characters' dialect, Hurston weaves a tale of situations and experiences that readers can easily place themselves in, creating a unique yet real and intimate reading experience.
What I understand by real is highly dependent on the connection felt between the two entities. The realness of a piece of literature is contingent on the emotions that it evokes within me and how vividly I feel them. The most significant power literature holds is to create a whole new world. To dismiss this created universe as a place of imagination is an extreme discourtesy to the writer, the creator themself. By evoking emotions, regardless of which emotion that may be, the fantastic world makes itself real to me. Emotions are what is real to me. The minute a text or an aspect of the text has managed to resonate within me (this isn't a conscious action either) to demand me to feel a certain way about it, it becomes real. In this case, then, real is the connection between my emotions and the text.
It would not be a great Modernist text if its critical defining feature were not the novel's language. Hurston has created a fascinating narrative wherein there are two extremely bold and distinctive voices that each narrate their own story. The narrator's voice gives us an overview of the proceedings of the story. Since this voice is not directly involved in the story, it is laced with literary and intellectual phrases that may have come off as impersonal if it weren't telling such a personal story. Although occupying large parts of this story's telling, the narrator's voice is distinctive from Janie's voice due to its blatant absence when Janie's voice takes over the story. One voice, laden with metaphors and figurative language, and the other voice, laden with a well-defined dialect, colloquial language, and folksy references, are two completely different perspectives and structures that Hurston has managed to blend to narrate one story in continuity.
The story revolves around Janie Crawford's journey with acquiring control over her language and voice and how she let that establish her place in her life. Hurston's distinctive approach with the narrative has built on the novel's central theme: the importance of language itself.
Even with the division between the two narrative styles, Hurston has dissolved any barriers between them. The most noticeable difference between the two narrative styles is that it has taken upon itself the telling of one story from two different perspectives. Despite that, the narrator's voice includes many of Janie's experiences and references to important personages in Janie's world and gave us brief glimpses into their minds in what is otherwise considered Janie's story through her voice solely. These instances make the narrator's voice seem much more than a "different perspective" and more than a parallel to Janie's voice but a narrative that is independent in its storytelling.
This aspect of the novel fits in perfectly with my definition of what is real. The language places me in Janie's world, and the conversations can flow freely around me, which further evokes emotions within me. My feelings change according to the situations Hurston manages to put me in. That's when her powerful use and control of language are so prominent, which makes it more compelling to me. Since we established how much of a defining factor of the text language is, it is apparent that I found "Their Eyes Were Watching God" more compelling than "Malgudi Schooldays" concerning the language used in both texts.
It was interesting to observe how both authors have used the split style narrative, but only one of them managed to pull it off successfully. R.K. Narayan attempted to incorporate a third-person narrator who was separate from the third-person characters' voices. In making both these voices in the third person and by making it strangely eloquent while passing it off with colloquialisms, Narayan has managed to make me feel a massive disconnect from the text. Considering the "Malgudi Schooldays" is set in South India and is about a child's experiences with school and his friends, I imagined a more significant relation to this text since it included instances I have already experienced in my childhood. Yet, I found myself feeling connected and moved by a text about a woman in her forties struggling to find her voice, which I have not experienced and should not be able to relate to. It is evident that the narration style and the use of language in both these texts have made one text more appealing and real to me than the other.
"Their Eyes Were Watching God" has an important symbol in the second chapter, which helped me understand what real means to me. We are introduced to Janie under a blossoming pear tree, a symbol that is a defining moment for her and is referenced throughout the book. By bringing in the pear tree, Hurston has included Janie's first instance with sexuality, especially in the springtime. The pear tree is representative of the standard of sexual and emotional fulfilment of an individual that persists. Although the tree, and the depiction of the bee in relation to it, represent traditional gender stereotypes, Hurston's immaculate use of language combats the stereotypical notions of a female in society. Rather than conforming to any society-enforced role, Janie is simply gaining security within her feminity.
An extension of this symbol can be seen when Janie and Tea Cake move to the Everglades. The rich, abundant fields imply that she is closer than ever to the ideal of the pear tree, leading a satisfying life. The real in this for me was the progression of her realizations and acceptance in the development of her sexuality with the growth within herself. When she was with Logan and Jody, her voice was suppressed, and she was not given space to grow. Consequently, she was unable to indulge in her desires and explore her sexuality. When Janie was with Tea Cake, we see a drastic progression in how she perceives herself and her sexuality because she is finally given the opportunity to control her voice and consequently any desires she may have.
Making the pear tree a symbol of sexuality makes this novel a mature text and hence, more real to me. The same cannot be said for R.K. Narayan's "Malgudi Schooldays." By depicting the life of a young boy in South India with the use of simple language, Narayan has prevented himself the opportunity to introduce topics that can connect with and thus evoke emotions from my now relatively mature self.
The last symbol I would like to look upon is Janie's hair. Her hair was a particularly crucial aspect of her identity. Throughout her life with Jody, she had to suppress her identity, keep her hair hidden behind head rags so that she could conform to Jody's image of his ideal woman, someone who cannot surpass her husband. Even though she had great desires going into her marriage with Jody, she compromises them for a more stable life than she had with Logan. This shows the strength of her person, serving as a building point to her identity. Upon Jody's death, we see a brief moment of liberation, where she sets her hair free. Later, she puts her hair back in the head rag since she cannot be seen as "not grieving for long enough." We get to see another tiny glimpse of Janie's very human emotion that further strengthens her essence as a character in the universe that Hurston has created and we are experiencing. We see how performative grief is and how Janie quickly realizes that and conforms to societal values. We know that she has been liberated to use her voice, but she is slowly learning to exercise her control over it when choosing to use it.
As I state one of the last core symbols that made this text so compelling to me, I have realized a pattern in my chosen references. For me, a real instance in a text is one that solidifies or helps define one's identity. Once the writer builds upon the character's essence over the novel's progression, the character becomes more humane to the reader, capable of real emotions and real development, thus evoking real emotions in the reader. Again, this is an aspect of novel-writing where Zora Neale Hurston succeeded beautifully while R.K. Narayan could not hit the mark.
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