The Souls of Black Folk & Their Eyes Were Watching God

In William Edgar BurghardtÆs (W.E.B.) Du BoisÆ The Souls of Black Folk we are presented with a collection of fragmented essays that primarily espouse education and racial consciousness as a means to freedom. In Zora Neale HurstonÆs Their Eyes Were Watching God, we see that the author provides the route to freedom for Janie in retaking language, naming and meaning for oneÆs self. Both of these authors were highly influential in promoting freedom for African Americans. This analysis will explore both of these works and demonstrate each authorÆs views on how best African Americans or oppressed peoples can achieve freedom.

In W. E. B. DuboisÆ The Souls of Black Folk, the author maintains ôThe problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color lineö (v). We will see later in an analysis of HurstonÆs work that her main character Janie must come to view herself from her own constructed identity and meaning. In a similar manner, Du Bois maintains that African Americans suffer from a dual consciousness, one that is African and one that is American. However, African Americans are only able to view themselves through the eyes of oppressors who rob them of their own identity, meaning or freedom. As Du Bois writes, ôIt is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at oneÆs self through the eyes of others, of measuring oneÆs soul by the tape of a world t

. . .
be able to combine their African identity and their American identity into one that is whole, meaningful and free. This is the ôspiritual strivingö that Du Bois refers to in his title of the first essay in The Souls of Black Folk. Zora Neale HurstonÆs Their Eyes Were Watching God focuses on the character of Janie and her quest for freedom, which finally leads her to a place where she defines and names herself, despite a society which wants to deny her power because she is a Black woman. The theme of the story is that JanieÆs search is for a name or identity of her own and an effort to overcome the oppressive power of those would impose a name and an identity upon her. This theme is reinforced through the power of language and the symbol of a name itself. In many ways, we see in the upcoming analysis of JanieÆs struggle to rename herself and become free that she is achieving the process Du Bois finds necessary to reconcile the dual-consciousness that plagues the African American striving and struggle for freedom. At the very outset of the novel, Janie has no name when she returns to Eatonville. Hurston (9) describes Janie as ôso the beginning of this was a womanö and places Janie within the larger context of the women men
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
African Americans, Du Bois, Tea CakeÆs, Tea Cake, Watching God, Janie Nanny, African American, Eatonville Hurston, Starksö Hurston, Logan Jody, du bois, african americans, tea cake, souls black folk, black folk, souls black, watching god, eyes watching, own identity, eyes watching god, identity own, african identity, 16 du bois, du bois maintains, du bois 16,
Approximate Word count = 2577
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)