The 1930s: a pivotal moment in the birth of literary modernism. After Sigmund Freud published studies of human emotions through psychoanalysis in the early 1900s, writing changed forever. The authors added masks of character development that deviated from classic archetypes and relied on individuality. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is a product of its times, as demonstrated by its unique literary structure. Throughout this work of the modernist moment, Hurston skillfully blends realism, naturalism, and romanticism to create a new genre of writing representative of sociological pressures, natural destruction, and passion for individual freedom. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Hurston's novel incorporates elements of realism and naturalism through ironic discrimination on the part of the Turners, grounded dialect choices, and Darwinian views of nature's relationship with humanity. To fully embody literary realism, depictions of racial discrimination and dialect expectations reflect important sociological pressures during the time Hurston was writing. Contrary to natural expectations, Mrs. Turner is dark-skinned but incredibly racist towards African Americans. She is “a milky woman” (163) and believes that her lighter skin gives her invaluable status compared to those darker than her. She complains: “I have white features on my face. Yet all Ah must be grouped with everything else. It’s not fair” (166). Hurston's inclusion of this mentality in his novel, indeed, accurately reflects a time when the black community was trying to define itself. The conflict of definition is most clearly demonstrated through the writing style: the narrative of the story is told in sophisticated, grammatically precise and developed English while the dialogue is spelled phonetically, depending on exactly how it is pronounced. While critics like Richard Wright considered this tactic demeaning, Hurston in no way presents the spectacle of a white author creating dialect comedy, as Mark Twain demonstrates in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Instead, the writing style aims to accurately represent the community's reality as well as the community's potential. Equally important, Hurston's writing follows not only the realist mentality, but also the naturalist view of depicting animal tendencies and natural disasters as destructive. forces, without regard to humanity. Before the destructive hurricane arrived, Hurston writes that “a few rabbits were scurrying through the neighborhoods heading east. A few opossums passed furtively and their route was final... Snakes, rattlesnakes began to cross the neighborhoods. The men killed some of them, but the crawling horde could not miss them” (181). In this Darwinian competition of survival of the fittest in the midst of relentless nature, animal instincts defeat human instincts. Trying to rationalize by planning and preparing for an uncontrollable storm is futile, as anyone can be a victim. Hurston describes the effects of the storm: “Winters and winters of hardship and suffering. The wheel kept going in circles. Hope, despair and despair” (195). Much like the violent seas in Stephen Crane's "The Open Boat," natural forces care nothing for humans and their circumstances. To create a juxtaposition to..