ESSAY CEMETERY

Walker describes Jean Toomer's exploration of the Reconstruction South. Toomer found women sexually abused and lost, but who he saw to hold power, spirituality and beauty of which they were not aware. They were waiting for these unknowns to be made known. In the meantime they did not appreciate any aspects of life. These black women were artists whose creative forces were abandoned to the hardships of life. Black women who were able to create such as Phillis Wheatley and Zora Hurston had divided loyalties, between black and white cultures. They were raised in both and their art is not genuinely hers but confused due to this. Many have criticized Wheatley's poetry for glorifying white people but Walker understands that art for Phyllis was a soulful practice and it sustained her. This is not the end of the story, for the next generation of black women has survived. There is now the quest for black female identity. Society is not understanding of this strife. The quest...

Themes ·        Living in an all-black town ·        Whites as tourists ·        Realization that she is colored ·        Fine with being black ·        Delight with white scrutiny ·        Black ancestors fought for equality and she reaps the fruit ·        Delight with whites' scrutiny of blacks ·        Blacks are at the center of American cultural attention ·        Relishing jazz music ·        Difference between black and white music appreciation ·        Identities: colored vs. no race ·        Nostalgia ·         Everyone is the same when it boils down to it Style and dev...

Up to the age of thirteen Hurston lives in the exclusively Negro town Eatonville, Florida. The only whites she encounters are people passing through to Orlando. Hurston likes to sit on the front porch and greet them and converse with them. She dances and they give her money. Blacks "deplored any joyful tendencies" she has but love her nevertheless. At thirteen she is sent to school in Jacksonville. She is no longer Zora, but a little colored girl. However she does not find this tragic, unlike others who think being colored is a curse. She considers slavery to be in the past and feels that she is well on the way to becoming an American out of a potential slave. Blacks went from Africa to civilization at the cost of Slavery and it was worth it. Hurston does not feel intimidated by the status of Blacks in America. She is thrilled to know that due to her inferior status everything she does will be scrutinized particularly strongly, for better and worse. She thinks the wh...