Research Paper on:
Zora Neale Hurston's and Langston Hughes' Black Perspectives

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
be said. In the works of both Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, the characters depth of soul coupled with the undeniable angst of an inherited legacy of slavery serve  to color their attitudes and perspectives toward nearly every facet in their lives. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston weaves the tale of a young girl becoming a  woman in the deep South. Not only is it a coming of age tale, but it is more importantly an awakening of a person to their own worth. This parallels  what was beginning to happen in Harlem during this time as well. The civil rights movements were beginning to move into full swing, but in the South that movement churned  slower than in the North. Nonetheless, it can be said, that the story of Janine in Their Eyes Were Watching God is in many ways a parallel of the growth  and route that the black American took in realizing and regaining pride in themselves as a people. For example, in the beginning of the book, Janine is married off by  her well intentioned Grandmother to a man that is twice her age and a man that treats her badly. In many ways he enslaves her and she feels helpless to  leave him. Finally, Janie shares that when her grandmother passes away she seeks her own freedom and runs away from Logan. Many do not stop to consider what a double  strike was against the woman of color prior to the Civil War and how even after freedom had been granted, most black women did not enjoy those freedoms as the  black men did. Zora Neale Hurstons story, Sweat, doesnt further the cause of the black man, either. In Sweat, Hurston states that some black men, especially Skyes, treat women as