English Language Arts · 11th Grade · Modernism and the Lost Generation · Weeks 19-27

Prose of the Harlem Renaissance: Zora Neale Hurston

Analyzing excerpts from Zora Neale Hurston's work to understand her unique voice, use of dialect, and exploration of African American folklore.

• Common Core State Standards
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.3
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.4

About This Topic

Zora Neale Hurston occupies a unique place in American literature: a formally trained anthropologist who wrote some of the most vivid prose of the Harlem Renaissance, grounding her fiction in the oral traditions, folklore, and vernacular of African American communities in the rural South. Under CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.3 and RL.11-12.4, students analyze how an author's choices about character and language shape meaning, and Hurston's work offers some of the richest material in the American canon for this analysis.

Her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, along with her shorter works, demonstrates that dialect in literary prose is not a deficiency but a precision instrument. Every spelling choice, dropped letter, and idiom in Hurston's dialogue reflects her deep knowledge of the Eatonville community she documented as an anthropologist and loved as a native. Students who initially resist dialect as hard to read often discover that it carries emotional and cultural information that standard prose cannot.

Active reading and comparative analysis are especially effective here. When students read Hurston aloud in pairs, or compare her portrayal of a community scene with how another author from the same period handles similar material, they develop a textured understanding of voice and cultural specificity that close reading in isolation cannot produce.

Key Questions

1. Analyze how Hurston's use of dialect contributes to the authenticity and cultural richness of her narratives.
2. Compare Hurston's portrayal of African American life with other writers of the period.
3. Explain the significance of folklore and oral tradition in Hurston's literary contributions.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze how Zora Neale Hurston's deliberate choices in spelling, idiom, and syntax within dialogue contribute to the authentic representation of African American vernacular speech.
• Compare and contrast Zora Neale Hurston's depiction of African American community life and cultural expression with that of at least one other Harlem Renaissance writer.
• Explain the function of folklore and oral storytelling as foundational elements in Zora Neale Hurston's narrative structure and thematic development.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of Hurston's use of dialect in conveying characterization, emotion, and cultural identity to a modern reader.

Before You Start

Introduction to Literary Analysis

Why: Students need foundational skills in identifying literary elements such as characterization, setting, and theme before analyzing complex authorial choices.

The Harlem Renaissance: An Overview

Why: Students should have a general understanding of the historical and cultural context of the Harlem Renaissance to appreciate the significance of Hurston's contributions within the movement.

Key Vocabulary

Vernacular	The everyday language spoken by people in a particular country or region, often including distinct grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation.
Dialect	A particular form of a language that is peculiar to a specific region or social group, often characterized by unique vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation.
Folklore	The traditional beliefs, customs, and stories of a community, passed through the generations by word of mouth.
Oral Tradition	The spoken transmission of cultural knowledge, history, and stories from one generation to the next, without the use of written records.
Cultural Specificity	The unique characteristics, practices, and expressions that define a particular culture or community.

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

Common Misconception

Dialect in Hurston's prose makes it less literary or less serious than works written in standard English.

What to Teach Instead

Hurston's use of dialect was a deliberate artistic and political choice , she rejected the pressure to write in 'standard' English in order to honor and document a living culture. Learning about her background as an anthropologist trained under Franz Boas helps students understand why the dialect is the argument, not a limitation.

Common Misconception

Hurston's work was universally celebrated by her Harlem Renaissance contemporaries.

What to Teach Instead

Hurston faced significant criticism from contemporaries, including Richard Wright, who found her portrayal of Black Southern life insufficiently political. This debate , aesthetics versus protest , is a productive discussion topic that helps students understand the stakes of literary choices beyond the page.

Common Misconception

Folklore elements in Hurston's work are decorative cultural flavor rather than structural and thematic.

What to Teach Instead

Folklore and oral tradition are structural in Hurston's writing , they represent alternative forms of knowledge and community authority that standard narrative forms cannot capture. Students who analyze how these elements function discover layers of meaning invisible to readers who treat them as background.

Active Learning Ideas

Think-Pair-Share: Dialect as Design

Students read a passage from Their Eyes Were Watching God in the original dialect and in a 'translated' standard English version provided by the teacher. Pairs compare the two and discuss what the translation loses in emotional texture, rhythm, and cultural specificity , and why Hurston made the choices she did.

25 min·Pairs

Collaborative Research: Folklore and the Oral Tradition

Groups identify three folklore elements or oral tradition patterns in a Hurston excerpt , call-and-response, signifying, storytelling within a story. Groups present findings and the class maps common patterns across different excerpts to see how deeply these structures organize Hurston's narratives.

40 min·Small Groups

Close Reading: The Porch Scene

Using a porch scene as a focus, students annotate for who speaks, who is silent, what the community values, and how power is expressed through language rather than action. Discussion follows about what Hurston reveals through group dynamics rather than individual psychological description.

35 min·Individual

Comparative Writing: Hurston and Wright

Students read a brief excerpt from Richard Wright alongside a Hurston passage on a similar theme , community, identity, or aspiration. In a structured written response, they compare the authors' tones, uses of vernacular, and implicit views of the African American community. The comparison can become a fishbowl discussion.

45 min·Individual

Real-World Connections

• Linguistic anthropologists use detailed phonetic transcriptions and ethnographic interviews to document endangered languages and dialects, similar to how Hurston meticulously recorded the speech patterns of her community.
• Screenwriters and playwrights often research and incorporate regional dialects and cultural idioms to create authentic characters and settings, such as in historical dramas set in specific American regions or periods.

Assessment Ideas

Quick Check

Provide students with a short, previously unseen excerpt of dialogue from Their Eyes Were Watching God. Ask them to identify 2-3 specific linguistic features (e.g., spelling, idiom, syntax) and explain in writing how these features contribute to the authenticity of the character's voice.

Discussion Prompt

Facilitate a class discussion using the prompt: 'How does Hurston's use of dialect challenge or affirm common perceptions of African American language? Consider specific examples from the text and compare them to standard English.' Encourage students to cite textual evidence.

Peer Assessment

Students will select a short passage from Hurston and a comparable passage from another Harlem Renaissance author. They will then exchange their selections and provide written feedback to their partner on how effectively each author uses language to represent their characters and community, focusing on one specific element like dialogue or descriptive imagery.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I help students get past initial resistance to reading dialect in Hurston's prose?

Have them read the passage aloud first, in pairs. Hearing the rhythms and sounds of the dialect makes it significantly more accessible than silent reading. After one oral reading, most students find the written form much easier to follow and begin to appreciate the precision of Hurston's choices.

What is the best way to teach the Wright-Hurston debate about authenticity and protest?

Present brief excerpts from both authors on a similar theme, then share their documented public disagreement about what African American literature should accomplish. Ask students to weigh in with textual evidence. A structured debate format works well , both authors made principled arguments worth engaging seriously.

Why is Hurston's anthropological work relevant to understanding her fiction?

Her fieldwork training gave her both the methodology and the ethical framework to treat her community's culture as worthy of careful documentation. Her fiction reflects this , the language, stories, and communal rituals are recorded with precision and respect rather than sentimentality or condescension.

How does active learning support the study of Hurston's prose?

Oral reading activities transform dialect from an obstacle into an asset , students experience the rhythm and expressiveness of Hurston's language instead of fighting it silently on the page. Comparative analysis with contemporaries like Wright also helps students articulate what makes Hurston's choices distinctive, deepening their close reading skills across both texts.