Is “There Eyes Were Watching God” Stereotypical African-American Fiction?
No, I do not think that “Their Eyes Were Watching God” is a stereotypical work of African-American fiction. There are two major reasons for my position. The first is biographical: Hurston was influenced by anthropology, and traveled widely. This gave her fiction a philosophical distance from American culture that keeps it from stereotypes. The second reason is artistic: the book is simply lovely, and Hurston has a strong hand and her own style. These two fit together. The style fits with the anthropological perspectives, fitting the novel’s structure together with its imagery almost mythically.
