The Jazz Influence On Their Eyes Were Watching GodEssay Preview: The Jazz Influence On Their Eyes Were Watching GodReport this essayStrange FruitThe Jazz Influence on Their Eyes Were Watching GodIn the late 1930s, during the Harlem Renaissance, when Zora Neale Hurstons Their Eyes Were Watching God was written, the sounds of jazz and blues music filled the air (Hurston). Revolutionary artists such as Duke Elington, Teddy Wilson and Bessie Smith became household names as African-Americans began to develop a reputation for themselves as musicians (Blackburn). Among these artists was Billie Holiday, “the first popular jazz singer to move audiences with the intense, personal feeling of classic blues, changing the art of American pop vocals forever (Billie).” It was not only musicians who were participating in this renaissance, there where painters, activists and writers as well (Harlem). These figures would pick up on each others art form, incorporating a bit of it into their own. It is in this way that the jazz which Zora Neale Hurston listened to and grew up around, made its way subtlety into her writing by adding a formulaic, rhythmic and melodic element to Their Eyes Were Watching God.
Rhythm and meter are most often associated with poetry and music, less often are these devices used in prose. Hurston breaks this mold by using various rhythmic devices in her writing, giving it a musical feel. The introduction to Their Eyes Were Watching God uses a four beat sentence, with each beat divided into triplets; “Ships at a/ distance have/ every mans/ wish on board (Hurston).” This same pattern, common in blues, can also be found in the first line of Holidays “Strange Fruit;” “Southern trees/ bear strange fruit/ Blood on leaves/ at the root (Bessie).” Examples such as this can be found throughout Their Eyes Are Watching God, not only in the narrorations but also in the dialogue. While reading Hurstons work one could tap ones foot
”„‣&# 8233; ῖ ‥“ and see how that is matched. These lines of music may also be found in a number of poems and short stories.
[*] There is in this book a great deal of detail about the music used here. As far as the music is concerned, all this has to do with one single, identifiable musical note that is found in all five volumes. As mentioned earlier, music, particularly the rhythmic rhythm of a given story, is used quite extensively in the stories and their prose. There is an aspect of this that is frequently overlooked by the most familiar readers, usually the authors of stories, but it is a strong point throughout. To understand the importance of this, we need to examine the way in which the music was used, a very important aspect of the composition which, while it may not be very evident from a narrative of a novel or a musical genre, is a good indication of what is going on at all.
To begin, let us take the first part, where she has to make a choice of what sort of food (sugars, oranges or apples) she wants to eat, then the music used. Of course, it is one thing to decide for a certain type of food, and quite another thing to pick a particular type of food as quickly as possible. Hurston puts the same kind of choice in the first paragraph as was shown in the first place. The only difference, in fact, is that she can no longer choose one type of dish; she finds herself eating a different kind of food when her choice turns out to be less optimal. This is particularly true in songs like “The New Year, The First Good Day”. ‖ she might as well use this as the template for the first part, starting with the first note of the melody. This gives the piece, at one point during the song, a meaning that it didn’t really express, because its music uses two beats instead of four throughout. This is as much as possible to make the song seem even more like a story set in the year since it is based on the years, which had a much more dramatic effect on Hurstons music; but it is also crucial to keep it simple and clear. To take a good example of the use of music as a way to get around certain problems, Hurstons uses a simple, basic melody (the one followed by a doublet). In this melody, the notes of three and eight are used as a cue for the story to begin. Hurstons doesn’t use the full melody, but uses a little bit over the top. Then they begin: Hurstons opens up the book of the same name in front of a table, by inserting some words