Living in the South during 1942, Zora Hurston gives the reader a first-person point of view of her valued yet constricted childhood as an African-American. By using diction from a young girl's perspective and her manipulation of point of view, Zora enriches our sense of her childhood. Most importantly, the time period of a belligerent WWII foreshadows Zora's conflict to try to break free from authority and her audacity to speak her mind.
From the beginning of the narrative, Zora shows a sense of nostalgia as she relates back to the abundance of the nature scenery: "I loved the fleshy, white, fragrant blooms as a child." Even a profound amount of food was growing right beside her: "We had a five-acre garden with things to eat growing in it, and so we were never hungry." …
