Both “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston and “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker, demonstrate similar concerns about the mistreatment of black women by black men. Both Zora Neale Hurston and Alice Walker focus on the experiences that black women deal with in the early 20th century. Both protagonists deal with domesticity that prevented them from developing their individuality as well as their self-esteem. Throughout both novels, we experience the growth of Celie and Janie. In this essay, I would focus on how African American women were objectified and controlled and how if affected their individuality.
“The Mask You Live In” is a documentary that argues how young boys and men struggle with their masculinity and how it affects them in the future. This film explores different tactics to better the chances of males to express their feelings and much more. Even though this film was screened in 2015, the definition of masculinity has been circulating in our world for centuries. Trying to be masculine is something that many men have struggled with. According to Tony Porter an anti-violence advocate “From a young age, we’re taught not to express our emotions” (Newsom, 2015). This documentary relates to both novels because the men of each novel have been abusive. Even though we are not given their background story the readers that their behaviors have to do with the male role. Men are often told to lock away their feelings and man up. If a man were to cry and talk about their feelings, they would be considered vulnerable and not tough enough. Both novels portrayed the males as controlling and powerful.
In Walker’s novel the color purple Celie, a fourteen-year-old girl has been raped and impregnated by her stepfather. In “The Color Purple” the readers learn that Celie’s biological father had passed away when she was just a child. We learn that the man whom she believed to be her father has been sexually...