Organizational Learning and Change
Zora Neale Hurston’s respect for the black community is a driving force in her novel, There Eyes Were Watching God. In it she incorporates black traditions and folklore. Hurston allows her characters to speak naturally and the story seems realistic because of it. She creates Janie Crawford, a strong, sensitive, and intelligent black woman. One focus on black culture occurs when Jody purchases a mule from Matt Bonner. The town becomes proud of their mule and he is treated almost like a citizen. As the people of Eatonville personify the mule, folk stories begin to be told. “New lies sprung up about his free-mule doings (55).” He was said to have run Mrs. Tully off the croquet ground for “having such an ugly shape” and waltzed into the church to break up the reverend’s “long-winded prayer.” When the mule dies, most of the town shows up at the funeral.