Timeline of Zora Neale Hurston

[Megan Carazolez]

Janelle,

Ha, nice observation, I agree with you completely with the commitment issues. I feel as if her position as a substitute teacher fits her perfectly, seeing as she cant stay in a long term relationship, she really isn't one to stick to commitments, so being a substitute would be something right up her alley, no long term commitment

[Megan Carazolez]

Janelle,

Ha, nice observation, I agree with you completely with the commitment issues. I feel as if her position as a substitute teacher fits her perfectly, seeing as she cant stay in a long term relationship, she really isn't one to stick to commitments, so being a substitute would be something right up her alley, no long term commitment

[Juan Jaimez]

@janelle

Great point, that does make a lot of sense. She did have a notion to educate, but due to her instability as depicted through her marriage history, she could not commit to a full-time teacher. Superb observation (:

[jmahurien]

September - November 1926: Publishes the "Eatonville Anthology" in Johnson's Ebony and Topaz

The Eatonville Anthology was basically a set of comical events that Hurston believed would best describe her hometown. The first of these events was called "The Pleading Woman". It is about a woman who begged a shop keeper for food for her children. The shopkeeper doesn't want to do it though because he knows that her husband provides greatly for her. Sound familiar? That's because that was one of the events that is also one of the events that happened in "Their Eyes Were Watching God". This, to me, shows a consistent negativity towards a, what could possibly be to her, a deceitful and far more than country bumpkin hometown. The reason why this event is repeated may be that this was an actual conversation or porch event that she took part in or witnessed, which would leave a lasting impression on her.

[jmahurien]

@megan
I completely understand where you're coming from. Her life seems so great before publishing "Their Eyes Were Watching God". She came from a seemingly good background, was able to attends universities, acadamies, and colleges and as an African American Female in the deep south in the early 1900s, with a seemingly successful career as a writer. With all this prominence, it does beg the question "Where did all this come negativity come from?" To me she comes off as a little spoiled.

[Carina Felix]

"Summer 1918: Works as a waitress in a nightclub & a manicurist in a black-owned barbershop that serves only whites."

First of all, that statement in its own is already sounding kind of sketchy... a black barbershop owner only wants to cater to the hands of whites... but anyways..
The fact that Hurston worked there either tells us that she doesn't mind the racial discrimination that she is partaking in as a manicurist at that barbershop or that she was in dire need of a job so she took it.
Right away that point on the timeline made me think of one person in the book, Mrs. Turner. Maybe Mrs. Turner was the product of some feelings of white elitism that Hurston encounters while serving the whites in the barbershop; or maybe Turner represented the feelings that Hurston felt, after all, she wasn't serving the blacks, she was pampering the whites..

[Carina Felix]

Whoa Josh! Someone did their research!
But anyways, it's awesome that you looked that up and found out that she practically plagiarized a story ;P
I totally agree with your thought about it maybe have a lasting impact on her in some way, wonder why..

[isaiah cortez]

summer 1918
this part of the time line tells us hurston's early careers, i found it interesting when it tells that she was a manicurist in a black barbershop that only served whites, this seemed kinda parallel to me. i dont know if whites payed better or smelled better, but i doubt they had good attitudes towered them, it must have been the money.

[isaiah cortez]

@zack
i never noticed this before, and the location of the story never crossed my mind. very insightful thanks