Comprehending Coming of Age and Afro/Coloured Feminism in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God

S. Steffi Irene Pushpa

Research Scholar (Reg. No.: 22221284012015)

PG & Research Department of English, V. O. Chidambaram College, Thoothukudi,

Affiliated to Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Abishekapatti, Tirunelveli – 627012. 

Email: irenesip94@gmail.com

Dr. V. Rani Priyadharshini

Assistant Professor, PG & Research Department of English, V. O. Chidambaram College, Thoothukudi, 

Affiliated to Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Abishekapatti, Tirunelveli – 627012. 

Email: ranipriyadharshini@gmail.com

Abstract
The researcher focuses on the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, a classic of the Harlem Renaissance, written by Zora Neale Hurston, an African American writer, in the year 1937. The author picturises the struggles of a coloured woman in various aspects during the era of Jim Crow laws, that enforced racial segregation. She explores the postcolonial politics and edifies the readers on African American cultures and the struggles they faced in finding their identity in the society. The cores focused in this research paper are Female Bildungsroman and Feminism or Black Feminism to be exact. These themes are explained through the protagonist, Janie Crawford, a voiceless young African-American woman, who explores love through several marriages and finally matures as a person both mentally and physically at the end of the plot. Black Feminism is elucidated by the character named Leafy, the mother of Janie Crawford. The acceptance that can be seen in Janie’s life and the struggles faced by her mother Leafy stand as proofs to the main themes, Female Bildungsroman and Black Feminism.

Keywords: Gender crisis, Racism, Female Bildungsroman, Black Feminism, and Discrimination.