Identity-Building through Speech and Storytelling: Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God

Abstract

En la novela Their Eyes Were Watching God, la escritora y antropóloga Zora Neale Hurston examina y retrata el lenguaje folklorico y las costumbres de la sociedad Afroamericana. Este trabajo analiza el uso de las palabras y del storytelling como recursos para crear y ejercer la identidad propia. La protagonista de la novela, Janie Crawford, encuentra la enmancipacion a través de la participación activa de la tradicion oral. Tras tres matrimonios, Janie es capaz de expresar y ejecutar su identidad. Además, al contar su historia tanto al jurado como a su amiga Pheoby, Janie asume el control sobre la narrativa de su vida y logra la total integración en la comunidad. A través de los diálogos entre los ciudadanos, Hurston representa el stortelling como una característica tradicional capaz de incorporar metáforas naturales y elementos figurativos.

In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God writer and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston portrays and examines African American folkloric language and customs. This paper analyses the use of words and storytelling as a means to create and perform identity. The novel’s protagonist, Janie Crawford, finds emancipation through the active participation in the oral tradition. After her three marriages, Janie is able to express herself and perform identity. Furthermore, by recounting her own story to both the jury and her friend Pheoby, Janie assumes control over her life’s narrative and achieves integration into the community. Through the townspeople's dialogues, Hurston depicts storytelling as a traditional characteristic that incorporates natural metaphors and figurative elements.