Both writers share an interest in women, what they are, what
they can be, and what they need; and in the role of the community
as a moral evaluator. Both Toni Morrison and Zora Neale
Hurston had unprecedented achievement for black American women
writers.
In two short novels, Zora Neale Hurston and Toni Morrison have
sensitively examined a full range of women's emotions and needs.
Portrayed in Sula and in Their Eyes Were Watching God are women who
fear for their children and grandchildren, women who need strong
friendships with other women, women who explore relationships with
men, and women who are determined to seize whatever personal
freedom and satisfaction they can.
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.
Feminist theory and its elements play a significant role in
Hurston’s and Morrison’s novels. The authors portray the lives of
two African American women as well as their position within the
black community and American society in general.
The novels are particularly concerned with patriarchal, sexual
dominance of black men over women.In Their Eyes Janie’s husbands
seem to be threatened by her body and her selfconfidence and,
therefore, they exhibit some form of violent behavior to remind her
that they are superior; whereas in Beloved Sethe is abandoned by
every man because of their inability to dominate her and their lack
of manliness. Both novels convey the message that black men are
mentally handicapped by their incapacity to fulfill the
phallocentric ideal of masculinity.
The issues of black femininity and masculinity are implemented
throughout both novels, yet the authors use different approaches.
Hurston addresses these issues through the description of men’s
violent outbursts and misogyny, while Morrison portrays her men as
cowards and emotional cripples who feel threatened by women and
their independence.