Author's Biographical Information

"Ah couldn't recognize dat dark chile as me. So Ah ast, 'where is me? Ah don't see me'...Ah looked at de picture a long time and seen it was mah dress and mah hair so Ah said: 'Aw, aw! Ah'm colored!'" (9)

In class today, we discussed how racism does not play a large role in Their Eyes Were Watching God. This is reflected at the beginning of chapter two when Janie describes her childhood. In the quotation above, Janie discusses the first time she realized she was black. She often played with white children, and she had not realized she was different from them until she had seen a photograph of herself and her playmates all together. Even after this instance, she never talks about race getting in her way, or being an issue (so far anyways). She doesn't let it stop her from being friends with white children.
This quotation reminded me of Zora Neale Hurston's childhood. As a child, she paid very little attention to differences in race. She grew up in Eatonville, Florida, which was the first town founded and run by blacks alone. In this all- black town, she rarely saw instances of racism. This resulted in her confidence, demonstrated when she often asked white people if she could ride with them. She wanted to get to know people, and gain more knowledge about the world, something we discussed in-depth in class today. She never let race stop her from doing this. Even as an adult, she did not let her race inhibit her from pursuing her writing. This is perhaps why race is not an issue in her writing, as she never seemed to find it a large issue herself.