The 1930s: a crucial point 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 moved away from classic archetypes and relied on individuality. Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God is a product of its time, as evidenced by its unique literary structure. Throughout this work of the modernist moment, Hurston deftly blends realism, naturalism, and romanticism to create a new genre of writing accurately representative of sociological pressures, natural destruction, and the passion for individual freedom. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Hurston's novel incorporates elements of realism and naturalism through the Turners' ironic discrimination, entrenched dialect choices, and Darwinian views of the relationship between nature and humanity. To fully embody literary realism, representations of racial discrimination and dialect expectations reflect the important sociological pressures at the time of Hurston's writing. Contrary to natural expectations, Mrs. Turner is dark-skinned but incredibly racist towards African Americans. She is "a kind of milky woman" (163) and believes that her lighter skin gives her an invaluable status above those darker than her. She complains: “I have white features on my face. Yet everything I have achieved must be put together with everything else. It's not fair” (166). Hurston's inclusion of this mentality in her novel, in fact, accurately reflects a period in which the black community was trying to define itself. The definitional conflict is demonstrated most clearly through the writing style: the story narrative is told in sophisticated, grammatically accurate, and developed English, while the dialogue is written phonetically, based on exactly how it is spoken. While critics such as Richard Wright considered this tactic demeaning, Hurston in no way presents the spectacle of a white author creating comedy through dialect, as shown with Mark Twain in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Instead, the writing style aims to accurately represent the reality of the community as well as the potential of the community. Equally important, Hurston's writing not only follows the realist mindset, but also the naturalist opinion of portraying animalistic tendencies and natural disasters as destructive. forces, without regard for humanity. Before the destructive hurricane arrived, Hurston writes that “a few rabbits were running through the neighborhoods heading east. Some opossums snuck by and their path was defined… Snakes, rattlesnakes began to pass through the neighborhoods. The men killed some, but they could not miss the creeping horde” (181). In this Darwinian competition for the survival of the fittest amidst a relentless nature, animal instincts defeat human instincts. Attempting to rationalize by planning and preparing for an uncontrollable storm is futile, because anyone can be a victim. Hurston describes the effects of the storm: “Winters and winters of hardship and suffering. The wheel kept going round and round. Hope, despair and despair” (195). Just like the violent seas in Stephen Crane's "The Open Boat," natural forces have no interest in humans and their circumstances. To create a juxtaposition to realistic and naturalistic qualities.