Writing shouldn’t be prejudiced

 Aireana Rhoads 

Dr. Harris 

ENGL2016-44378

1 December 2025 

Writing shouldn’t be prejudiced

In the 1930’s the people wanted African American women to show their emotions in their writing and talk about their struggles that they are facing. For men they were supposed to show their courage and what they do for their family. The Great Depression made it challenging for African American writers because it was hard for them to release their books plus it was during the time where the social realism and protest literature movement was going on. Only a few number of African American wrote during the Great Depression. There were two authors who still decided to write during the Great Depression and became famous for their one book. 

In 1936 Zora Neal Hurston wrote “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” she published it in 1937 during the Great Depression. Her book wasn’t well like in the African American community, especially Richard Wright wasn’t a huge fan of her book. In the text of “Their Eyes Are Watching God: Critical Reception” it says, “Wright claimed that the problem wasn’t that Hurston couldn’t write, but rather that she intentionally chose to oversimplify and distort the character of African Americans in a way which he thought pandered to racist white audiences” (Kamara). Richard Wright didn’t like how the main character Jaine Crawford used sensuality throughout the book. It was common for women to write like this, but people didn’t support it at all. In the text of “Feminism and Women’s Writing in the US’’ it says, “Empowered by female support and the creativity of women writers, concerns once relegated primarily to women—motherhood, romance, body image, the difficulty of balancing family life and work, female rivalry, rape, and sexual abuse—have become part of mainstream literature and culture” (Mambrol). There were other authors that was writing like this, and they did get criticized for it, but it didn’t stop them from continuing writing and publishing their books. Zora Neal Hurtson book was incredibly famous even though people dislike it, but they still continue to read it.

In 1940 “Native Son” was published by Richard Wright during the Great Depression. His book was criticized by African Americans and white people because the whole book was filled with negative emotions and in the text of “Richard Wright and Native Son: Not Guilty” it says, ‘‘But in at least one fundamental area it has not materially changed-and this area invites exploration, for it involves the assumption that the novel is an attack on white society” (Dorothy. S 01). Richard Wright got so much criticism about “Native Son” that he had to rewrite the whole book leaving out the bad parts of what he did to a white person. People didn’t like how he was sexualizing women in his book because it wasn’t right to do that to women, and you don’t see women doing this to men. If they did it was only a little bit and not a whole lot like he did. Richard Wright was giving his character Bigger Thomas emotions that people aren’t used to seeing men having. He was changing how books should be written between male and female. 

There shouldn’t be a certain way for African American authors to write. They have the right to express their feelings and talk about whatever they want to talk about no matter what their gender is. If someone doesn’t like the way the book is then they can stop reading it because nobody is forcing them. Authoring books is a way for African Americans to tell their stories for everyone to read and a way for them to let everything that they have been struggling on go. Plus it’s another way to connect to other African Americans that can relate to the author, and it can help others with things. There is a limit to how authors express themselves in their writings because it can lead to people being uncomfortable and having their book being taken off the shelves. I believe that the audience that read their books didn’t like the books because they wasn’t used to the way that books used to be. In the 1930’s books was evolving and getting better from each author that authors a book. African American wanted to start that change and encourage others to continue that change that they started. Zora Neal Hurston and Richard Wright didn’t let the criticism stop them from continuing writing books. They still published books after “Their Eyes Were Watching God” and “Native Son.” They are both still writing books till this day. 

Overall an author should write the way that they want to write, it doesn’t matter what gender they are. “The Black Canon: Reconstructing Black American Literary Criticism” said “As Wright predicted, this merger of Black expression into the mainstream estranges the Black poststructuralist in a manner that he perhaps “never wanted,” in a way which contradicts his primary goal in adopting poststructuralist methodology” (Joyce 06). Wright predicted this because he wanted change for the African American authors who are starting to begin their writing career. Zora Neal Hurston and Richard Wright was two famous African American authors that they both had the one famous book that was criticized for many reasons. This shows us that their criticized books didn’t stop them from becoming famous. Your gender doesn’t define the way authors wright just like your gender doesn’t define your human emotions. 

Work cited

Redden, Dorothy S. “Richard Wright and Native Son: Not Guilty.” Black American Literature Forum, vol. 10, no. 4, 1976, pp. 111–16. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/3041608. Accessed 30 Nov. 2025. Accessed on 11/29/2025.

Kamara, Adama. Their Eyes Are Watching God: Critical Reception – Zora Neale Hurston. 21 Feb. 2017, scholarblogs.emory.edu/eng210zoranealehurston/2017/02/21/their-eyes-are-watching-god-critical-reception. Accessed on 11/30/2025

 Mambrol, Nasrullah. “Feminism and Women’s Writing in the US.” Literary Theory and Criticism, 26 Apr. 2025, literariness.org/2025/04/25/feminism-and-womens-writing-in-the-us. Accessed on 11/30/2025. 

Joyce A. Joyce. “The Black Canon: Reconstructing Black American Literary Criticism.” New Literary History, vol. 18, no. 2, 1987, pp. 335–44. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/468732. Accessed 1 Dec. 2025.