Analysis of Zora Neale Hurston’s Spunk Essay

Zora Neale Hurstons use of language in her short bosh eye allows the indorser to become part of the community in which this bosh takes place. The fib is told from the point of discern of the characters, and Hurston writes the dialogue in their broken incline dialect. Although the language is mostwhat difficult to understand initially, it adds to the mystique of the story. hoodlum is a story ab fall out a man that steals an early(a) mans wife, kills the muliebritys husband and then he ends up dying from an fortuity at the adage mill. Spunk believed that it was Lenas husband, Joe Kanty, who shoved him into the circular saw, and the good deal in the village agreed that Joe Kanty had come venture to get revenge. The language utilize by the characters helps to establish the setting of the story and gives the reader an rationality of wherefore voodoo is a plausible explanation for the outcome. Looka theah folkses is what Elijah Mosley states to the former(a)s in the store. T his is the first interpretation that the characters in this short story be not the most educated, and are probably from some small backwoods town.We quickly get tick of this when we learn that he is alerting them that Spunk Banks, a giant, brown-skinned man, who aint skeered of nothin on theologys green footstool, is sauntering up the one street in the village, with a small pretty woman clinging lovingly to his arm. Clearly, the store is where people hang out, and everyone knows that the woman with Spunk is Lena Kanty, Joes wife. Coming from a big(p) city, I would not expect everyone to know each other, so visual perception a couple walking down the street would not be significant to me. In this context however, I understand that something is not accountability and trouble is coming. When Joe walked in to the store, the talking ceased the men looked at each other and winked. Say, Joe, hows everything up yo way? Hows yo wife? asked Elijah. Spoken similar a friend, but it is cl ear that he is trying to start some mess. Aw Lige, you oughtnt to do nothin like that Walter grumbled. This dialogue makes the conflict between Spunk and Joe very clear. Not only does Joe know that his wife is going out with Spunk, but everybody in the town knows.This is a brilliant way to commit the reader into the story we feel bad for Joe. His pride is at run a risk and he has no alternative but to take some natural process over against Spunk. Joe knows that his razor is no match for Spunks gun, but his back is against the wall. He is the laughing stock of the town because Spunk has made a fool of him. Well, Spunk announced calmly, Joe come out there wida meatax an made me kill him. The men glared at Elijah, accusingly. His words had pushed Joe to do something and Spunk had killed him. Now that Joe was dead, the expectation would be for Spunk and Lena to move forward with their relationship. Joes death was a clear case of self defense, the trial was a short one, and Spunk wal ked out of the court house to freedom again. Spunk was free, but now the excitement begins. Zora Neale Hurston uses symbolism to introduce the reader to the world of voodoo. Hurston had visited Haiti and Jamaica in the 1930s and had become very interested in the practice of voodoo. Elijah tells us in the story that Spunk sees a opprobrious bob-cat that looked him in the eye, an howled right at him.The thing got Spunk so nervoused up he couldnt shoot. Spunk says it was Joe done sneaked back from Hell subsequently in the story, Elijah tells us that Spunk dies from being cut by the saw and Spunk believed that Joe had pushed him in the back. Elijah believed it too. Revenge is a powerful emotion and in this story, it is the best explanation for Spunks death. Based on the kinetics of the town, everyone believed it to be possible that Joe caused Spunks death. Because they believed it, I believed it. It is their world. Zora Neal Hurston was criticized by other African American writers fo r her use of dialect and folk legal transfer. Richard Wright was one of her harshest critics and likened Hurstons technique to that of a minstrel show designed to appease a white audience (www.pbs.org).Given the time frame, the Harlem metempsychosis, it is understandable that Zora Neale Hurston may be criticized.The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement which redefined how America, and the world, viewed African Americans, so her folk speech could be seen as perpetuating main stream societys view of African Americans as ignorant and incapable of speaking in bring about sentences. However, others, such as philosopher and critic Alain Locke, praised her. He considered Hurstons gift for poetical phrase and rare dialect, a welcome replacement for so often faulty local color fiction about Negroes (www.pbs.org). The language in this short story allowed the reader to enter this community and gain an understanding of their world.