Hurston Spunk Analysis

This story, one of Hurston's earliest published works, is typical of her writing in many ways; it effectively employs the dialect of rural southern African American; and it explores the complexities of romance, violence, and superstition. The story touches subjects and themes that we see a lot every day, as the powerful and sexually aggressive male, the unfaithful wife, and the intimidated cuckold; the force of lust, jealousy, and community pressure all tie together to form a mosaic that everybody can relate to in some way. The name of the title character, Spunk, also implies his personality: As a noun, the word suggests mettle, spirit or courage, and as a verb, spunk could mean to stand up or assert oneself or to blaze up in fire or passion. All these meanings seem …show more content…
The theme of adultery, in particular, anticipates short fiction such as "The Gilded Six-Bits," in which Missie Mae has an affair with Otis Slemmons, and the novel Jonah's Gourd Vine, in which John Pearson repeatedly carries on affairs with other women.
But amidst of the chaotic events within the story, Hurston maintains her symbolistic thought, which the story ultimately follows, “What goes around comes around.” The grand scheme of life couldn’t be more unexpected, it has so many unpredictable events that we never see coming, such as how fast Joe’s life was lost and how rapidly Spunk’s courage and sanity degraded. But, of course, life’s greatest and worst events are always the ones that are most