A Comparison of Community in Hurstons Their Eyes Were...

Importance of Community in Their Eyes Were Watching God and Sula Community is an important concern in both black and womens literature. The racist and patriarchal nature of American society, what Morrison refers to as the master narrative of our culture, places blacks and women and especially black women in a position of powerlessness and vulnerability. Communities serve as a protective buffer within which black women must function in order to survive. However both Hurston and Morrison identify and criticize how the patriarchal nature of the master narrative is present in black communities. The male-female hierarchy in the black community mirrors not only the patriarchy of the dominant white culture, but also the white-black†¦show more content†¦As setting, the community is a place of origin. It is the starting point by which the horizon is defined as well as the location and steward of the past, providing the context for the future. Community is a cultural and social structure which provides the economic freedom for Janie and Sula to go out into the world. Janie is left with her husbands wealth, which allows her to go to the horizon while maintaining her house in Eatonville. Sulas inheritance of Evas house leaves her with a place to call home no matter how far she travels or what she does. Through these social structures, the community creates, illustrates and embodies the values and expectations which shape the circumstances of the novels. Part of the contextual role of community is the enforcement of models of conformity. There are roles for black women and transgressing these roles can result in isolation. These community expectations represent a threat to the empowerment of black women. Sula powerfully identifies the negative impact of conformity on black women in her final conversation with Nel: I know what every colored woman in this country is doing. Whats that? Dying. Just like me. But the difference is they dying like a stump. Me, Im going down like one of those redwoods. I sure did live in this world (143). Morrison shows the