History Forgotten

We all have our idols. They influence our lives, writing, thinking, and acts in ways we can't even comprehend. Their ideas bring people together and sometimes drive them apart. Jodi Picoult, J.K. Rowling, and Diana Gabaldon are just a few of the authors who changed my life. J.K. Rowling introduced me to higher thinking. She showed me, through Harry Potter, that it was okay to be a nerd and also okay to speculate about things that may not happen. I spent a good portion of my middle school years dreaming about what would happen in the end, if Harry would marry Hermione, etc. Diana Gabaldon writes about my country, about Scotland, and showed me that my destiny lies in the pages of Scottish history. Through her series, she managed to link Scotland and the U.S., proving that history is intertwined in ways we can't even imagine. Most recently, Jodi Picoult has shed light on me. She toured my high school and I had the privileged to show her around. Nine months later, in my favorite book of all time, a character emerged with my name. This really drove the nail into the proverbial coffin for me being a writer. I have been so positively (and occasionally negatively) influenced through writing that I feel it to be my duty to pay it forward. Thus, I completely understand Alice Walker's need to find out more about Zora Neale Hurston.
When Alice started her journey, Hurston was "one of the most significant unread authors in America" (Walker, 93). Hurston's book, Their Eyes Were Watching God was so influential in Walker's life that she wanted to learn more about the woman who wrote it. Walker traveled to Florida to try and find more details about this mysterious woman but found only more dead ends once arrived. "Most people [don't] know anything about Zora Neale Hurston" or "any of the great things she did," (Walker, pg 95) one school teacher told Walker. Not many of the town folk even knew Hurston wrote about them as well (pg 99).
Reading the article, Looking for Zora was almost depressing. Walker sets out on a journey of her idol's history and comes up short at almost every turn. She doesn't even know for sure where Hurston was buried. Walker feels a sadness beyond anything she can describe when she found the area where Hurston most likely lays to this day. It was nothing more than a "field full of weeds" (Walker, pg 115). While Zora never mentioned fear of death in her writings, she surely deserved better than what she got. This was only 35 years ago yet it seems impossible that someone so influential could receive such an unjust end. Hurston influenced more than just Walker but Alice was the only one to do something about her unknown influence. She made an effort to get to know the past of the woman who made such a difference in her life. Honestly, if I wondered onto Jodi Picoult's grave some day and found it overgrown and unmarked, I would feel just as unjust as Walker must have.

Works Cited
Looking For Zora by Alice Walker
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston