Date of Award
2008
Document Type
Thesis
Publication Status
Version of Record
Submission Date
October 2026
Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]
Stover, Johnnie
Abstract
Zora Neale Hurston is recognized as an important American literary figure, but the majority of her fiction is overshadowed by the critical attention given to her most popular novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. Just as her short stories remain relatively ignored by critics, little is written about her thoughts regarding nature and the human relationship with the natural environment. This thesis draws upon the recent growth of ecocriticism and ecofeminist literary criticism in an attempt to interpret Hurston's environmental thought as manifested in three of her early short stories, "John Redding Goes to Sea," "Magnolia Flower," and "Sweat." In this study, I show that even in her early short stories, Hurston's fiction is ripe with imagery and narrative that blend the natural with the cultural while effectively illustrating and engaging the interconnectedness between social inequality and environmental degradation in the South.
Extent
79 p.
Recommended Citation
Redman, F. Russell, "Nature's Place in Zora Neale Hurston's "John Redding Goes to Sea," "Magnolia Flower," and "Sweat"" (2008). Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009. 1522.
https://digitalcommons.fau.edu/etd_general_5/1522
Identifier
FA00000953
Comments
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2008.|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters