VOICE AS EMANCIPATION IN NORA ZEALE HURSTON’S THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD AND WHITNEY HOUSTON’S TRY IT ON MY OWN)

Abstract

Studies have been carried out on female emancipation and the
attainment of self-realization, but it appears not much has been
done with respect to the voice as an instrument against patriarchy.
This paper therefore attempts to examine the deployment of the
voice to attaining self-realization and validation. Significantly, in
the various periods are political activism and engagements by
African Americans geared towards emancipating themselves from
the control of their enslavers. The period announces selfrealization and the emergence of ‘The New Negro’. Zora Neale
Hurston’s writings flourish in this period as well. In this
perspective, the literary critical view, Womanism, which has as one
of its primary aims is the quest to achieve in black women, selfdefinition, and actualization, becomes apt for this paper’s
investigation. Because African American literature has a way of
linking the past to the present, Whitney Houston, a 21st Century
pop and gospel singer reiterates the concern of self -assertion that
Hurston presents in her novel. To this end, Zora Neale Hurston’s
Their Eyes Were Watching God and Whiney Houston’s Song “Try it
on my Own” become germane to the issues raised and addressed
in this paper. The Paper concludes that the voice is a veritable tool
for emancipation.