| Searching for their own "voice," the female characters in Their Eyes Were Watching God, Jonah's Gourd Vine, and the folktale collection Mules and Men all seem at odds with the normal social order. Each is searching for her own sense of self and a "voice" in her community that has been and is totally male-centered. Hurston shows the struggle and the pain of going beyond the boundaries of accepted behavior in society and how this action can change not only the individual who gains the "voice" but also the community that hears and witnesses the story. |
