The liberation of black consciousness and freedom of expression that occurred in Harlem during the 1920s and 1930s is known as the Harlem Renaissance. During this period, an unprecedented flourishing of the arts occurred among African American writers, musicians, and artists. Common themes of art during the Harlem Renaissance were those of alienation, marginality, the blues, and racial consciousness. Zora Neale Hurston is generally considered one of the most significant literary figures of the Harlem Renaissance. HurstonÆs writing often encompassed an attempt to deal with the duality of being black and expressing an authentic voice in a white, racist society. As one historian says of HurstonÆs novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, ôWhile not overtly a protest or proletarian novel, [Eyes] contains incidents that reveal that Hurston does not avoid criticism of racism in the United Statesö (Cutter 657). The main character in Their Eyes Were Watching God embodies one of the central struggles expressed during the artistic flourishing known as the Harlem Renaissance, the struggle to find and express an authentic voice as a marginalized black woman in a predominantly white and racist society.
In Their Eyes Were Watching God the main character, Janie, struggles to find her voice, express her sexuality, and discover her self in the context of three marriages. Whether it is racist society, politics of the era or the abuse from the men in her life, Janie must struggle against such forces to discover and grow as her authentic self. Janie cannot express her true self because of the forces around her that define for her the role of a black female and black wife. Either her relatives or the men in her life oppress her true expression of self. Also victims of a white racist society, these individuals offer alternatives that, for Janie, are unfulfilling. JanieÆs will to actualize is stronger than such forces. JanieÆs capacity to b...