Zora Neale Hurstons Other

Eatonville by Gorman
Beauchamp
L I T C R I T P R E S E N TAT I O N BY JA M E S
ANDERSON
Where is Eatonville?
This small town in Florida has an historical claim as the
oldest black incorporated town I the united states since
1886, but the name evokes greater recognition as the
home of Zora Neale Hurston and the setting for her most
famous work Their Eyes Were Watching God.
How does Zora Hurston present her home
town into Their Eyes Were Watching God?
In Zora Neale Hurstons Other Eatonville by Gorman Beauchamp
the title tells me by reading it that its a some type of fiction
between the two.
Hurston provided her Eatonville with a purely fictive history, the
towns actual founding father, Joe Clarke, replaced by her
invented counterpart, Joe Starks.
In the novel, her Joe finds Eatonville (already so named, else, no
doubt, hed have called it Starksville) a scant dozen shame-
faced houses without organization or direction: A whole heap
uh talk and nobody doin nothing.
He goes single-handedly transforming this raw place in the
woods into a real town.
How is Joe Stark and Joe Clarke
similar in Eatonville?
Joe Stark gets elected mayor Eatonville also was a
petitions for a post office and , acts as post master
becomes the principal landlord and real estate broker,
builds a general store that becomes the towns gathering
place and social center, and operates as a one man
chamber of commerce just as Joe Clarkes was in the real
Eatonville.
How the Other Eatonville
emerges?
The image of Eatonville emerges more clearly in the relationship of
Janie Starks to the town that Joe built and her reaction to it. Janie is,
of course , the protagonist of Their Eyes Were Watching God, the
story of her personal growth the arc of the novels development.
From the Starks arrival in Eatonville until Joe death, recounts
Janies increasing alienation from her husband and isolation from
the community. This latter development stems from Joes express
desire to class off from the rest of the town, to conspicuously
display superior status.
Take for instance his new house . It had two stories with porches,
with banisters and such things that made it look better from the
surrounding houses. Making the rest of the town look like servants
quarters. Also the way it was painted a gloaty, sparkly white.
How the Other Eatonville
emerges?
Janie becomes a victim of Joes ambition, socially and psychologically.
The test comes after Joes death , when Janie at last is free of his domination.
Janies full participation in communal black life must, I fact, await her
abandoning Eatonville with Tea Cake, her young lover, to work as a migrant
stoop-laborer in the Everglades.
The framing narrative of Their Eyes occurs, chronologically, at the end of
Janies story , after the year and a half she spent away from Eatonville , with
Tea Cake. The townfolk havent heard anything from him or her.
One evening of the novel as she return to the town dressed in shabby
overalls and hair down, her former neighbors react with a combination of
curiosity and spite. As she walked proudly home nobody moved, nobody
spoke, nobodywonderful touch! even thought to swallow spit until after
her gate slammed behind her. then the gossipfest begins.
The other Eatonville summary
Janie was a beautiful lady that attracted a lot of attention
that was unwanted and came from nosey neighbors in a
nosey town.
She lived under the shadow of Joe Starks and wasnt able
to do what she wanted because he was so strict on her.
Freedom came along once her husband died and then she
meets a young lover named Tea Cake who at first had a
hard time getting close to Janie.
Tea Cake help her develop her self as a person along with
the town and the nosey people that stayed there.
Activity
What if you lived in Eatonville and notice the gossip of Janie
,Tea Cake and Joe Starks , what would be your input on all
the commotion?