One of the reasons myths have aged well is because of their relatability; people today can read a myth and incorporate it into their own lives. That is a large reason why writers choose to incorporate them into their novels: to make them more relatable and intricate to the readers. Zora Neale Hurston is no exception. Because she was basically one of the main figures of black culture during the Harlem Renaissance, she advocated for the relevance of black identity and things of that relevance during a time period where it was hard to come by, or rather, just starting to be known. She wanted to make people appreciate her culture for what it was, and one of the way she did this, though not as obvious as some of her other revolutionary techniques, was by alluding to mythology in her writing. She references many myths from many different pantheons in her novel Their Eyes Watching God to represent the ideologies of black identity and black culture, including Greek and Egyptian.
For starters, the story ofJanie Crawford parallels greatly to the Greek myth of Odysseus. In both stories, both central characters go on a grand quest: Janie’s figurative quest to find herself and who she truly is as a person, and Odysseus’ literal quest to get home to the Greek’s after the Trojan War ended. On the outside, these two characters seem very different: Janie is a poor bi-racial woman from the South, and Odysseus is a rich white man who is hailed King of Ithaca. However, their similar situations bring them in the same boat. When it comes down to it, both tales are about survival. Both characters have to grapple with powerful forces, both physical and mental, in order to come out as more developed versions of themselves (Williams) At the end of the novel when Janie is back in Eatonville and is retelling her tale to Pheoby, she is described as being “full of the oldest human longing-»self»revelati0n.”
Because of the trials she faced throughout her theoretical quest for love, she came back a changed person who had a greater understanding of who she was individual as a person. This correlates to the ideology of black identity because that was one of the main things they were striving for during the Harlem Renaissance: self- identity. They wanted to have their own individual voices and be a part of the change from a white-dominant society to an equal-race society. Before the Harlem Renaissance, blacks were still looked upon as weak, useless human beings who gave no valuable input to American society. During the Harlem Renaissance, however, blacks were much more focused on finding a true identity for themselves, for embracing their own unique culture away from the whites. Hurston found a way to emulate that through mythology. She thought that comparing her race to great gods and figures of mythology was emulating what she was known for: debunking stereotypes.
Although she is well remembered after her death for debunking certain stereotypes retaining to women, she also vanquished some of the stereotypes surrounding her own culture as well. Because she compared her people to these great beings of old, she helped them be perceived as great beings themselves, not as the slaves they once were. Even though it was a decade or so after the Civil War ended, whites obviously still had some animosity against black people and their culture. In white people’s eyes, black people weren’t really thought of as important enough to have their own culture and to be their own race with their own sets of ideals, as the whites were. Though this is frowned upon in current times, the use of blackface, a style of theatrical makeup in which a white person blackens the face in order to represent a Negro, was still common in its usage (Boundless). It is something like this that made black people want to alienate themselves from, to help forge a new identity and create a positive reputation for themselves.
They didn’t want to be known as the circus clowns and mules that were only used for the white man‘s entertainment anymore. Over was a time where they would let themselves be treated with disrespect. Another pantheon of myths I noticed in the novel were the ones centering on Egyptian mythology. Early on in the first chapter, when Janie is coming back to Eatonville, the narrator takes note that “The men noticed her firm buttocks like she had grape fruits in her hip pockets, and; the great rope of black hair swinging to her waist and unraveling in the wind like a plume,” (Hurston l). The use of the word plume is rather interesting because of its significance pertaining to the goddess Isis, the Egyptian patron of fertility and motherhood. A plume is defined as a long and soft feather, which is usually associated with birds, which are lsis’ sacred animal (Starks) This use of mythology pertains to black culture because of the simple fact that a black woman is made comparable to a goddess.
In almost all myths, gods and goddess are looked at as colored beings, especially in Egyptian mythology, due to their non-European origin. Although a lot of people do forget, Egyptians are considered of African descent, due to the country of Egypt actually being settled in the continent of Africa. This connection brings another element of pride to the black community, which was desperately sought out for during the Harlem Renaissance era. In the early 19m century, during the times of the Harlem Renaissance, Zora Neale Hurston was known for challenging the norm with her use of distinct dialect and upstart female characters, but people don’t often take into consideration what she did that was considered part of the status quo.
She realistically portrayed black culture and identity, which was something the people of Harlem pushed for; being in a world that seemingly revolved around white people and their culture, black people wanted to make people of the world more aware of what they had to offer in terms of culture and identity. Hurston only strengthened this due to taking a lot of her writing from her own experiences. For instance, she was a resident of Eatonville, Florida. and, like Janie, was “color blind” when it came to distinguishing blacks and whites as separate races. (Biography) These experiences only heightened her writing skills and enhanced the way people view her legacy, and even black culture today. Like many writers, she made a decision to use myths from many different pantheons in her writing, to help her readers better connect with the material and learn to look at it with a more critical eye towards the changes that were taking place in the world around them.
