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English 2300 Their Eyes Were Watching God: Home

A research and topic guide to Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

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There Eyes Were Watching God Formats

Instruction/ Public Services Librarian

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Lian Warner
Contact:
lian.warner@ngu.edu
(864) 977-7090
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Sample Key Words

Hurston's Use of Dialect and Local Color:

  • African American Vernacular English (AAVE) in literature
  • Local color movement in American literature
  • Language preservation vs. stereotyping concerns
  • Linguistic anthropology and literature
  • Regional speech patterns in Florida
  • Critical reception of dialect in Hurston's work

The Okeechobee Hurricane of 1928:

  • 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane historical accounts
  • Florida agricultural communities in the 1920s
  • Migrant farm workers and the Great Depression
  • Natural disasters in American literature
  • Environmental racism and disaster response
  • Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades history
  • Hurricane impact on African American communities

Feminist Approaches to the Novel:

  • Black feminist literary criticism
  • Womanism vs. feminism
  • Female agency and autonomy in literature
  • Marriage and domestic violence themes
  • Women's economic independence in the 1930s
  • Male gaze vs. female perspective
  • Sexual autonomy and women's choices

Zora Neale Hurston's fieldwork methodology

  • Folklore collection in the American South
  • Caribbean anthropological studies
  • Anthropology and creative writing intersection
  • Harlem Renaissance and social science
  • Haiti and Jamaica research expeditions