People are often placed in adverse situations and are left to settle their problems in one way or another. Certain African-American women authors construct novels that feature their protagonists struggling to overcome various hardships. In particular, Zora Neale Hurston‘s Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) shows Janie Crawford prevailing over the authority of her husbands to find self-love. Gwendolyn Brook‘s character Maud Martha Brown struggles with issues of self-esteem and self-perception as she lives under the shadow of her sister.
Similarly, lower-class African Americans immersed in the hip hop culture during the early 1970s faced many hardships living in the South Bronx of New York City. While these African Americans adopted hip hop culture as a means for defeating the struggles of ghetto life, Janie Crawford and Maud Martha both overcome adversity in their own lives using their own methods.
Like those originally involved in the hip hop movement, these particular literary characters strive to defeat their individual difficulties to ultimately discover a better life. Hence, all people overcome adversity during their lifetime, but each resolves their problems separately in order to pursue happiness.
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston’s protagonist, Janie Crawford, has to overcome crippled relationships with Logan Killicks, Joe Starks and even her beloved Tea Cake before she can ultimately discover happiness and pursue a better life for the future.
In her first marriage to Logan Killicks, Janie tells herself that she will love her husband; she believed that husbands and wives always loved each other, for that was what marriage represented to her. She expects that her marriage to Logan will offer her the same passion and love that she has with the young Johnny Taylor-the image of the pear tree continues to dictate her own perception of love.
However, shortly after her marriage, she realizes that she can not come to love her husband.
Hurston confirms this disappointment that Janie experiences: “The familiar people and things had failed her so she hung over the gate and looked up the road towards way off. She knew now that marriage did not make love. Janie’s first dream was dead, so she became a woman.”
Janie overcomes her disappointment by rejecting her failed marriage and standing up for herself as a woman.
Before Janie runs away, she responds to Logan with harsh, degrading words: “You ain’t done me no favor by marryin’ me. And if dat’s what you call yo’self doin’, Ah don’t thank yuh for it. Youse mad ’cause Ah’m tellin’ yuh whut you already knowed.”
Miserable with her marriage and the life that Logan has given her, Janie becomes an independent woman and leaves to discover happiness through her new love for Joe Starks. Thus, Janie overcomes displeasure and dissatisfaction from her first marriage to attain a more desirable and fulfilling life.
After marrying Joe Starks, Janie continues to face other hardships yet overcomes them in order to attain genuine love and happiness in her life. While she believes that her search for self-love and happiness will be accomplished with Jody, she soon encounters several problems in her relationship. Placed in the submissive role as storekeeper, Janie is expected to follow the orders of her husband. Joe Starks does not respect Janie as a woman-he does not offer her the freedom to make decisions for herself, and he imposes physically punishment on her when she disobeys his orders.
However, Janie no longer tolerates her husband’s criticism and embarrasses him in front of several town members.
She insults her husband to demonstrate her unwillingness to succumb to his authority: “‘You big-bellies round here and put out a lot of brag, but ’tain’t nothin’ to it but yo’ big voice. Humph! Talkin’ ’bout me lookin’ old! When you pull down yo’ britches, you look lak de change uh life.'”
As she becomes disgruntled with the life that she is leading, Janie begins to resist her husband’s supremacy in order to secure her own desire for self-love and happiness.
Again, before Joe Stark’s death, Janie’s verbal retaliation against her husband triggers an apparent transformation in her identity: “But Ah ain’t goin’ outa here and Ah ain’t gointuh hush. Naw, you gointuh listen tuh me one time befo’ you die […] Listen, Jody, you ain’t de Jody ah run off down de wid. You’se whut’s left after he died. Ah run off tuh keep house wid you in uh wonderful way. But you wasn’t satisfied wid me de way Ah was. Naw! Mah own mind had tuh be squeezed and crowded out tuh make room for yours in me.”
Unlike her marriage to Logan Killicks, Janie resolves her problems with Joe Starks in a slightly different manner. Rather than running away from Jody, she remains by his bedside until his death.
But Janie does not allow him to ridicule her anymore and instead stands up for herself. Her defiance allows her to overcome her husband’s authority and abuse in order to discover her own path toward self-love and happiness.
Janie experiences new and difficult hardships in her relationship with Tea Cake but overcomes them to find happiness and self-love at the end of the novel. While her marriage to Tea Cake initially proves to be a pleasing and fulfilling experience, Janie begins to question her decision to marry Tea Cake when he suddenly leaves home for long periods of time.
For example, Janie is placed in a difficult situation when Tea Cake steals two hundred dollars from her, gambles the money away, and finally returns a week later. Instead of overcoming this obstacle by taking action against Tea Cake, Janie falls deeper into love with her husband after she accepts his apologies and explanations. At this moment, Janie believes that she has found love and happiness with Tea Cake-this is why she does not run away or scold him as she does in her previous two marriages.
However, when Tea Cake becomes severely ill from rabies and tries to kill his wife, Janie does have to take action against her husband. Even so, Janie does not choose to violently take Tea Cake’s life but does so only to defend herself and put him out of his own misery. Therefore, Janie kills Tea Cake not out of unhappiness but rather for her husband’s own good.
Hurston describes the sorrow as well as the gratitude that Janie feels after killing Tea Cake, “She had wanted him to live so much and he was dead […] Janie held his head tightly to her breast and wept and thanked him wordlessly for giving her the chance for loving service.”
While killing Tea Cake becomes another hardship that Janie must endure, her actions allow her to still achieve happiness and self-love that she has desired since her marriage to Logan Killicks.
At the conclusion of the novel, Hurston reveals Janie’s satisfaction and optimism in coping with the death of her latest husband: “Tea Cake, with the sun for a shawl. Of course he wasn’t dead. He could never be dead until she herself had finished feeling and thinking. The kiss of his memory made pictures of love and light against the wall. Here was peace. She pulled in her horizon like a great fish-net. Pulled it from around the waist of the world and draped it over her shoulder. So much of life in its meshes! She called in her soul to come and see.”
After suffering numerous hardships on her way to finding self-love, Janie finds happiness for herself and remains content with her life. Although the loss of Tea Cake initially saddens her, Janie realizes that his legacy will always be with her.
By using the phrase “here was peace,” Hurston reveals that Janie has discovered the meaning of love and a new identity through multiple accounts of suffering and sacrifice-the “horizon” is no longer far away when Janie finally appreciates how to live for herself. Thus, the satisfaction that Janie experiences in her relationship with Tea Cake allows her to overcome his death and find her own voice.
Throughout the novel, Janie uses different approaches to resolve each of the problems that she experiences in her journey to ultimately find self-love. More importantly however, her character demonstrates to the audience that while individuals overcome adversity in a variety of ways, we each do so in order to secure happiness and lead a good, desirable life.
Maud Martha by Gwendolyn Brooks
In Gwendolyn Brooks’ novel Maud Martha (1953), Maud Martha Brown fights against her own psychological difficulties and overcomes them in order to discover happiness for herself.
Maud’s desire to be cherished remains strong throughout the novel, but she struggles to see herself in a positive light because she is repeatedly subjected to racial prejudice and the social pressures of society. The feelings that others have for her dictate the way she feels about herself.
As Maud searches for a voice in society, her dark skin prevents her from doing so, making her believe that she is unattractive. In her opening chapter, Brooks reveals Maud’s difficulties with self-perception and self-image during her early childhood: “But dandelions were what she chiefly saw. Yellow jewels for everyday, studding the patched green dress of her back yard. She liked the demure prettiness second to their everydayness; for in that latter quality she thought she saw a picture of herself, and it was comforting to find that what was common could also be a flower.”
Although most people consider dandelions to be ugly weeds, Maud believes them to be “yellow jewels”-she sees them as a symbol of her life. Brooks indicates that Maud is not only attracted to dandelions but also perceives herself as one. Thus, Maud’s self-image as an ugly weed carries with her in the majority of the novel.
Furthermore, Maud’s low self-esteem becomes even more apparent as she compares herself to her sister Helen.
For example, Brooks reveals Maud’s lack of self-confidence after Emmanuel offers Helen a ride in his wagon rather than her: “For the basic situation had never changed. Helen was still the one they wanted in the wagon, still ‘the pretty on,’ ‘the dainty one.’ The lovely one.”
Maud dislikes herself for the way she looks because she can not attract the same boys that Helen can. With her sister constantly being regarded as the beautiful one, Maud is afraid that no man will ever find her beautiful. Even when she marries her husband, Paul, she is convinced that he does not marry her for the sake of physical beauty.
Rather, she confesses, “I am what he would call-sweet. But I am certainly not what he would call pretty.”
Unable to feel good about herself, Maud struggles to face society without thinking that judgment will be placed on her.
However, Maud gradually overcomes her problems with low self-esteem after the birth of her child, Paulette: “Shortly before she heard it in the kitchen-a bright delight had flooded through her upon first hearing that part of Maud Martha Brown Phillips expressing itself with a voice of its own. “
The birth of Paulette signals the rebirth of Maud Martha; she begins to transform the way she views herself and those around her, regaining a sense of self-confidence. This surge of happiness evoked from the birth of her daughter leads Maud into a better state of mind at the conclusion of the novel.
Brooks demonstrates this new attitude that Maud embodies in motherhood: “What, what, am I to do with all of this life? And exactly what was one to do with it all? At a moment like this one was ready for anything, was not afraid of anything…At a moment like this one could think even of death with a sharp exhilaration, feel that death was a part of life: that life was good and death would be good too.”
While Janie Crawford overcomes her hardships through verbal and physical rebellion and action, Maud instead uses motherhood to defeat her individual psychological problems of self-perception and self-image. Both differ in the methods that they use to overcome their troubles yet still have the same goal in mind: a life filled with happiness.
In the final lines of the novel, Brooks leaves the reader with a sense of hope for Maud as she continues to indicate a change in self-perception and self-esteem: “And, in the meantime, while people did live they would be grand, would be glorious and brave, would have nimble hearts that would beat and beat…And, in the meantime, she was going to have another baby. The weather was bidding her bon voyage.”
Maud realizes that the psychological issues that she developed during her childhood led to many of the problems that she faced later in her life. With this in mind, she uses motherhood as a way to direct her daughter away from enduring similar hardships at a young age. Even further, as Maud looks to erase the past by reliving her childhood through Paulette, she ultimately begins to discover peace of mind and happiness for herself.
In 1972, hip hop emerged in the South Bronx of New York City as deprived African Americans began to form a new sub-culture in the United States to overcome the struggles of ghetto life and find a better life for themselves. Three particular artistic forms made up this culture: rapping, breaking (break-dancing), and tagging (graffiti art).
In essence, hip hop became a cultural art form-it represented music, dance, and visual art as a new way of life. Each of these cultural forms share the same view and message, symbolizing that urban life is hard, and hip hop is an approach that struggling individuals can utilize to break free of their everyday setbacks.
Michael Eric Dyson, a hip hop studies scholar, explains how rap music, a significant element of the hip hop culture, represents the social, economic, and political struggles that African Africans have had to endure in poor communities.
In his essay, “The Culture of Hip-Hop,” Dyson focuses on this idea of the struggle as the central meaning of rap and hip hop music for these urban, lower-class African Americans: “Rap reflects the intraracial class division that has plagued African-American communities for the last thirty years. The increasing social isolation, economic hardship, political demoralization, and cultural exploitation endured by most ghetto poor communities in the past few decades have given rise to a form of musical expression that captures the terms of ghetto poor existence.”
For many underprivileged African Americans, hip hop music has become a cultural form of expression that gives them the opportunity to overcome the social and economic problems that they face on a daily basis. This remains true for those involved in the development of break-dancing, specifically young African Americans.
Sally Banes, a dance studies scholar, explains that breaking allows people to overcome their struggles: “It symbolizes hope for the future-born of a resourceful ability to make something special, unique, original, and utterly compelling out of a life that seems to offer very little.”
Since its origination on the streets of New York City, hip hop has allowed struggling African Americans to cope with their problems through the pleasures of music, dance, and art-rapping, breaking, and tagging bring happiness into the lives of those with little to be happy about.
Furthermore, hip hop acts as a source of self-liberation by allowing poverty-stricken individuals to escape their troubles and respond to the social, economic, and political issues present in society.
Tristan Alexander Riley, Professor of Sociology at Bucknell University, explains in his essay, “The Rebirth of Tragedy out of the Spirit of Hip Hop,” that gangsta rap, a particular genre of hip hop music, employs a similar message about enduring and overcoming the struggles and hardships of life in the inner city: “Much of the music in the genre of gangsta rap embraces a perspective in which the narrator sees clearly his evitable suffering, or even his own demise, and yet still embraces the terms of the field on which this has been constructed.”
Hip hop portrays a realistic picture of street life and consequently, signifies a personal release from crime, drugs, and poverty that most African Americans experience on a daily basis when living in urban ghettos across the United States. Therefore, much of the lyrics presented in hip hop music reveal this notion of overcoming adversity. A myriad of rappers portray the tragedies that they have experienced in their everyday lives.
For example, Jay-Z demonstrates a life full of suffering in his song “Guns and Roses”: “They giveth and they taketh, life is cruel that way…Life is all about guns and roses, bittersweet like friends and foes is, some get left behind, some get chosen…Flowers need water to grow, it gotta rain, in order to experience joy, you need pain, every time a baby is born, somebody’s slain, you know the sayin’, somebody’s loss is another’s gain, the sun comes out when the water goes down the drain, a rainbow then the clouds come out, we do it again.”
This inherent message of struggle in hip hop has remained true for over three decades in the United States and now has become prominent internationally. Because we each experience various hardships in our own lives, it is important for us to recognize that hip hop is a way for all people, particularly poor African Americans, to overcome obstacles that may occur in the course of their lives. Today, many hip hop artists that perform use their music to overcome misfortune in their lives and ultimately acquire happiness for themselves.
While some hip hop artists find happiness just by performing their music, others experience the economic gains of commercialization and capitalism that can create a better life for them. Some hip hop artists have achieved happiness by selling millions of records, allowing them to move out of the ghetto and climb the ladder of social hierarchy.
For many African Americans, hip hop has become a means for attaining the American Dream.
For others however, hip hop is not solely about improving one’s own economic stature-it offers them the opportunity to freely express their thoughts, beliefs, and opinions on all issues present in their lives. Whether through personal satisfaction or economic benefits, hip hop has given African Americans a way to overcome the hardships that they face in an artistic and cultural form of expression.
In concluding his essay, Dyson offers a similar interpretation of hip hop and its central message, particularly focusing on the sub-genre of rap music: “Rap is a form of profound musical, cultural, and social creativity. It expresses the desire of young black people to reclaim their history, reactivate forms of black radicalism, and contest the powers of despair and economic depression that presently besiege the black community. Besides being the most powerful form of black musical expression today, rap projects a style of self into the world that generates forms of cultural resistance and transforms the ugly terrain of ghetto existence into a searing portrait of life as it must be lived by millions of voiceless people.”
Like the lives of Janie Crawford and Maud Martha, hip hop culture reflects the constant struggles of many impoverished African Americans as they search for happiness and a better life. Over the last thirty years, hip hop, whether rapping, breaking-dancing, or tagging, has given many disadvantaged African Americans a voice and the opportunity to break free from their tough times living in poverty.
While Janie Crawford and Maud Martha Brown each use different methods of action for overcoming adversity and achieving happiness, these particular African Americans resort to hip hop to help resolve the problems that they experience individually and seek a happier life.
People will always have to face obstacles in their lives and be required to resolve them. Each of us endures hardships, whether in our families, friends, jobs, or other aspects of everyday life.
In addition, each person will discover their own way to overcome these situations in order to improve different aspects of their lives; how we decide to address these issues and construct solutions for them can greatly differ from person to person.
Even so, it is important for us not just to recognize that individuals overcome adverse situations in their lives through various behaviors. Rather, the reasons behind their actions are what matter most.
While Janie Crawford and Maud Martha each devise their own strategies to conquer the problems that they face, they more importantly do so in hope of finding happiness for themselves.
Likewise, impoverished, urban African Americans in the early 1970s adopted the hip hop culture in order to overcome the social, economic, and political problems of ghetto life and ultimately pursue a life of fulfillment and pleasure.
Therefore, these literary characters share a sense of struggle with those originally involved hip hop movement, and the actions that these individuals take to defeat such hardships represents their desire for happiness and a good life-both goals that many of us today strive to attain in our own lives.
