Author's biographical info

As I was reading chapter one I noticed many similarities between Hurston and the main character Janie Starks. The most obvious similarity is the individualism of both Hurston and her character. Hurston was a woman who did not care about what others thought of her. She unabashedly smoked cigarettes in public; she wore men's clothes; she appeared at rough districts that respectable women of the time would not have gone. She was unafraid of appearing unlady-like in a time when there was racial discrimination and when women were treated unequally. The criticisms of readers (especially African American intellectuals who thought her stories were too heavily dependent on folk lores) did not faze her. She continued to write stories that portrayed what she wanted, instead of pleasing the crowds. Meanwhile, the character Janie Starks is unaffected by the blatant scorn and opinions of the gossipers of her community. Since they do not have entertainment, they spend their time criticizing others such as Janie. In the first chapter their aptitude for hurting others verbally is summarized on page two: "They made burning statements with questions, and killing tools out of laughs. It was mass cruelty - A mood come alive. Words walking without masters; walking altogether like harmony in a song." As soon as they spotted Janie walking towards them, they started making false claims and conjectures. On the first page, Hurston also wrote about how intolerant they are by writing about "judgment". In paragraph three, she says "...their eyes flung wide open in their judgment" and i the next paragraph, "...They passed nations through their mouths. They sat in judgment." Hurston set the tone of the first paragraph (and maybe of the book?) of negativity and the disapproval of the majority. This shows that the story will rely heavily on the judgment of others. Instead of being intimidated by the accusing judgment of her neighbors, Janie appears impervious. She is too proud to tell them about what befell her when she was away. She does not care if they misunderstand her. She won't explain and give them more things to gossip about. She expresses this when she tells her friend Pheoby, "'Ah don't mean to bother wid tellin' 'em nothin', Pheoby. 'Tain't worth de trouble. You can tell 'em what Ah say if you wants to. Dat's just de same as me 'cause mah tongue is in muh friend's mouf.'" This also shows that she is very firm and confident about her ideas. This pride is like Hurston's pride and firmness for her beliefs. An example of this was her idea of desegregation. Even though most people thought that desegregation in places like schools was a progressive step towards racial equality, Hurston was unafraid of expressing her opinions. She thought that desegregation was demeaning for African Americans and she strongly denounced it.