Black Masculinity In Their Eyes Were Watching God

Zora Neale Hurston is a legendary black female writer,who is a bright literary figure during the Harlem Renaissance.Hurston has published four novels,including the most well-known work Their Eyes Were Watching God.The thesis studies the black masculinity of the three male characters in Their Eyes Were Watching God,on the basis of R.W.Connell's theory about the social construction of black masculinity and Judith Butler's theory of gender performance.The thesis first focuses on the masculine performance of the three male characters.Logan's wealth,Joe's power and Tea Cake's body,are used respectively by the three men to assert their male dominant position over women,represented by Janie in the novel.Secondly,the thesis discusses the construction of the black masculinity in the novel.Historically,black masculinity is closely connected with the animal side of the black body,being hypersexual and hyper-aggressive.But such a social construction is not only incomplete but based on bias.By exploring black masculinity in Their Eyes Were Watching God,the thesis finds that Hurston offers the readers a different version of the black masculinity.The three male characters are either hypersexual or hyper-aggressive.They are almost the same as the white men in the United States.On the other hand,the three male characters are fully aware of the shaping power of the community they live in.This is to prove,again,that the black masculinity is socially constructed.The thesis concludes that,Their Eyes Wfere Watching God is a good effort from Hurston's side to construct the black masculinity in a different way from the historically biased ones.Such an effort of presenting the black men as men,instead of dramatically different from white men,is ahead of its time and is still holding weight today.