Eve's African American Literature Blog Fall 2021

      In the first three chapters of Zora Neale Hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God," Hurston introduces two different frame narratives. The first frame narrative comes with Janie recounting her life to her friend Pheoby. The second comes from within Janie's life story, when she remembers a story from her grandmother's life. To call these "frame narratives" is a little bit unfeeling, because they are actually stories. This oral tradition adds. depth to the characters and the novel.      When the novel begins, Janie seems guarded and reluctant to talk about her life. We later learn that this is because she has been gone from town and has experienced a lot of hardship since, including losing a partner. However, her willingness to open up to Pheoby about her life and past shows the reader that their relationship is a lot deeper than their conversations would suggest. The reader also gets to learn more about Janie through her story, which helps to...

     Chapter 21 of Invisible Man  follows the narrator organizing and then speaking at the funeral of Tod Clifton, who was killed by a police officer in chapter 20. The killing and funeral mark (what I think will be) the last straw for the narrator and his departure from the Brotherhood.  This also foretells a big change in the novel, and probably one of the last steps toward the narrator becoming "invisible."      Tod Clifton represents so much for the narrator within the Brotherhood. For the readers, Clifton is one of the first real organizers that we see, who has a stronger and more tangible connection to social change. He also acts as a role model for the narrator when he first starts out. For me personally reading Invisible Man, the introduction of Tod Clifton made me question if the Brotherhood was really so useless, or if maybe the narrator had only met the wrong people (or it made me realize something more insidious: there are people worki...