In the very center of Florida, a young girl grew up in a world where blacks were leaders. In the very center of the mean streets of Memphis, a young boy grew up in a world of hardships, desertion, and struggle. This girl and boy would grow up to be two of the most inspiring writers of the Harlem Renaissance: Zora Neale Hurston and Richard Wright. While Hurston wrote of the African-American experience in Their Eyes Were Watching God as being, at its core, an entirely human experience (regardless of race or sex) yet controlled by a higher power, Wright, in Black Boy, wrote of the African-American experience as he saw it through his own eyes: one of lifelong struggles, having been dealt cards by God and having to play with what you've got. These two very distinct and contrasting writing styles are shown in three literary devices of the authors' magnum opuses: settings, characters, and themes.
             The setting chosen in both works are significant to the styles of the authors. Hurston chose two setting rich in development of black culture: Eatonville, Florida (the town of her childhood) and Jacksonville, Florida (the "muck"). These places are very susceptible to the destruction brought by hurricanes, showing an underlying but constant theme of the wrath of God. On the other hand, in Wright's vision, the setting for the characters is a result of their mistakes in life, where people have made it hard on themselves with their life choices, not God. This place is one of the so-called "projects" in Memphis, Tennessee (also the town of Wright's childhood).
             In each novel, there is a prominent division between how the female and male characters are portrayed. This, too, shows how much the styles of the authors contrast. In Black Boy, Wright displays female figures as somewhat dependent, but still strong. Exhibiting these traits, Richard's mother, who has an awful time working her multiple jobs ...