Black Boy

Although we have talked about the different points of view both in writing and in politcal views of Zora Neale Hurston and Richard Wright in class, I don't think I fully realized how opposite the writers are in many ways. For instance, while Hurston touches very little on the idea of violence and fear as part of black heritage in Their Eyes Were Watching God, this is the main driving force in the thinking and actions of Wright in his early years, which he writes about in Black Boy. For instance, Wright depicts the troubles of living in a poverty stricken Memphis as a young black boy and having to beat his peers in order to gain the "right" to the Memphis streets. Perhaps Hurston's picture of life is a better depiction for the black woman in the 1930's than Wright's would be for a woman, but I find myself considering Janie's life rather fictionalized when reading Wright's depiction of hunger and fear. Although Janie struggles withing herself throughout the novel, her deepest struggles are those of loneliness and loss, never being physically hungry or in want of anything but love. Then again, I could almost consider my life as untroubled and unsuffering as Janie in comparison to many other white people who have lived through poverty, hunger, and fear. There is a broad spectrum of people and situations out there, especially in the U.S., and I suppose it's very hard to make generalizations about one race or culture strictly by those guidelines alone.