Among this year's English Department students presenting at URCA was Integrated Language Arts major Shelby Aulger, whose faculty mentor was Dr. Sharleen Mondal. Aulger's abstract for her presentation, as it appears in the URCA 2019 booklet, reads
Defining What is Natural: Gender Issues of Dominance and Control Within Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God
Zora Neale Hurston’s 1937 novel Their Eyes Were Watching God marks, for many scholars, the end of the Harlem Renaissance. Arriving just seventeen years after suffrage for women was granted by the Nineteenth Amendment, her work directly confronts gender issues of her time. Prior literary consideration has often focused on the novel’s significant exploration of race and of gender in terms of infidelity and individuality. This study expands upon that work by analyzing how Hurston confronts patriarchal power structures through her vast symbolism and colorful metaphorical language. The presentation will examine the use of mules, pear trees, and checkers to highlight the status of women in the 1930’s—including stereotypes, domestic roles, and sexuality— as well as the violence and dominance of men. Hurston also often hints at the idea that what is deemed “natural” is in fact, far from what she supposed it to be. This presentation also addresses Hurston’s skillful use of contrast, comparisons to the natural world, and connections to the distribution of power in social conventions and under patriarchy to discuss the idea that what society deems to be natural is often determined by those in power. That determination, as Hurston reveals, was used to mar the natural world as she perceived its original state to be.Aulger reflected on what drew her to this project, noting that
I started this project as an Honors Contract Course for ENG 314, after rediscovering a fondness for Hurston's work that first began in high school. I appreciate the colorful, often metaphorical language and the subtleties with which Hurston writes; thus, her works have always resonated with me. In its beginnings, the project merely focused on gender issues in the novel, but I worked to narrow my scope to examine the idea of defining natural social interaction and the ways that Hurston uses this concept to address gender inequality and toxic masculinity. I would say that this project was meaningful to me in my own quest to explore literary and historical opinions on gender inequality, as well as in helping to rekindle my admiration for Hurston's work. I feel that this endeavor also allowed me to explore the novel on a much deeper and more significant level than ever before.The department congratulates Aulger on her successful presentation and appreciates her rich contribution to undergraduate literary studies research at Ashland University.
Shelby Aulger presenting her research at the Symposium
Shelby Aulger with her faculty mentor, Dr. Sharleen Mondal
