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Abstract
Jonah’s Gourd Vine is stuffed with so many themes that are often interconnected and sometimes difficult to sort out. Hurston‘s treatment of her themes varies from the comic to the tragic, from realistic to surrealistic, and from ironic to symbolic.
Jonah’s Gourd Vine is set in the early years of the twentieth century. In the very opening pages of the novel, Hurston examines the life of African Americans in the post-slavery Southern part of America. She depicts the unfortunate legacy of slavery that continues to affect the lives of African Americans. Through the characters of Ned Crittenden, Amy Crittenden and Pheemy, all former slaves, Hurston tries to explore the psychological and emotional trauma that affects the African American even after so many years. Ned Crittenden, step-father of John Pearson warns John to stay far away from the Whites. He tells John,