Similarities between TEWWG and documentary

Similarly to Ellison's documentary, I was surprised at the similarities between Hurston's life and the narrative of Their Eyes Were Watching God. However, this time I know that the book was supposed to be based off of events in Hurston's life. It does a pretty good job of it too, the town scene well depicts Hurston's upbringing in Eatonville, the three husbands match in both the book and her life, and her "floating-ness," (being in the muck with Tea Cake and being on her own in life) also seem to match up fairly well.

I was not under the impression that TEWWG would be based on historical events. It seemed too surreal to function that way. The whole idea that one person can come to a town and literally rule over it in a week and many scenes or coincidences with Tea Cake (just so happens to be walking by Jaine right after her husband died, god-like dice ability, and his passing in the end of the book), just don't seem like they could occur in reality. Although I liked the book, I would rather not analyse it in the context of historical semi-autobiography. It is a fun book to read and I want to appreciate it as a work of fiction.

Hurston Tells a Story

One of the things that struck me about Their Eyes were Watching God was its very story like quality. Unlike Native Son and Invisible Man, Hurston isn't trying to prove a point about society; she is trying to tell a story. There is no great moral dilemma or despicable depiction of white society, rather it is a story of a woman, her lovers, and her stories. There are scant references to white people and the novel seems more focused on the life of African-Americans only, rather than interactions between the two races.

Part of the lack of protest probably comes from the fact that there were few white people in the novel. During Jaine's and Joey's time in Eatonsville, there isn't a single white person mentioned in the narrative. This lack of difference means that there is very little possibility for Hurston to talk about oppression. When Jaine and Tea Cake are working in the Muck, there are also very few references to white people. The owner of the bean farm was probably white, but he/she only comes up once in the story. The only parts of the novel that could be racially charged are in the very beginning, where the Jaine talks about her upbringing and grandmother, and towards the end, when the whole ordeal with the cleanup and the court scene goes down.

I enjoyed reading this book. It felt like it could be part of any English course offerec at Uni (maybe not creative writing, though). Hurston's narrative voice made the book feel more like a book that you want to read than Native Son. Her multidimensional characters also made the book more realistic than Invisible Man (which I also liked, but not as much).

Documentary About Ellison or Summary of "Invisible Man?"

I was almost confused while watching the first part of the documentary on Ralph Ellison. The documentary opened with Ellison's childhood, about how he got to college, and eventually to New York. Yet the part that I found creepy was how closely it paralleled the adolescence of the narrator in Invisible Man. Both Ellison and the narrator were given a scholarship, but only after hard work and events essentially out of their hands. It appeared to be a struggle for both to physically get to college, Ellison had to freighthop and, although not stated in the novel, the narrator probably had to go through some similar hardship to arrive at college. Their time at college was also similar, the documentary practically quoted the novel when it said Ellison had to travel north after his junior year and work to pay for the rest of college. Neither of them returned to college, although for different reasons. Both men continued on somewhat similar paths when they were in New York. Both met important people (or their secretaries in the narrator's case) and eventually end up becoming fairly prominent figures in NYC.
Well, at this point their paths split. Ellison went on writing, traveling around, married, and eventually taught. However, the narrator worked with Liberty Paints, then the Brotherhood, and finally went on a soul searching mission only to discover his invisibility and that he has been played all his life. There is very little doubt in my mind that this crossing of paths was a coincidence. Knowing all of the references Ellison made in Invisible Man leads me to assume that this was planned (although I don't remember the documentary talking about this parallel.)

The end

I really enjoyed reading Invisible Man, it was thought provoking, but also had some sense of plot and action. The ending, however, did not live up to my expectations. Perhaps the prologue set my expectations too high. Maybe I was too enticed by learning how the narrator set up 1369 light bulbs to realize that this book isn't a work of science fiction and that this setup wouldn't be explained. What ever the cause was, I do not think that Ellison could logically position the prologue at the end of Invisible Man and maintain coherency.
The first problem of the connection is about the narrator's self image. The narrator seems happy of his invisibility in the prologue. It appears that he is in complete control of it and can use it to his advantage. However, in the end of the book, the narrator seems to just have realized his invisibility and is not to sure of it. He definitely doesn't know if it's a good thing. All that he can do with it is to impersonate very different people, while hardly altering his physical appearance (as if he is invisible). I think that in order for the prologue to match up with the conclusion, Ellison should include an event where the narrator is consciously using his invisibility to accomplish a goal (his last work with the Brotherhood doesn't count, he accomplished something with his invisibility, but it was not what he intended).
Another problem with the connection is about the narrator's personality. In the prologue, he wants to have five phonographs to surround himself with music. Where is this love of music in the main text of the novel? The only time I remember music being mentioned is at the party in the Chthonian when Brother Jack get enraged at a man for requesting the narrator to sing spirituals. For me, the biggest issue in this category is disconnect with the power company issue. Not once during the novel does the narrator complain about the power company's exorbitant rates. I don't even recollect the narrator talking about money after he pays Mary back. I just assumed that the Brotherhood took care of everything financial, yet here he is, complaining that he was swindled out of lots of money.