It is appropriate that Mules and Men and Their Eyes Were Watching God should be reissued almost simultaneously. Both works can rightfully be considered classic studies of Afro-American culture. Zora Neale Hurston—novelist, folklorist, and essayist—wrote about Afro-American culture with an insight and perception shared by few black writers.

Throughout her varied career Hurston tended to combine her two passions, folklore and literature, in interesting and compelling ways. She has often been accused of making her folklore studies too literary and her literary works too folkloristic, a criticism which has some merit. Mules and Men stands as a testament to this inclination in Hurston's treatment of folklore materials. Although the narrative structure of Mules and Men was included because of publisher's objections to printing the straight folklore texts collected by Hurston, it provided her with a unique opportunity to present storytelling context. In the process, she demonstrated a folkloristic sophistication and sensitivity to folklore processes shared by few of her contemporaries. (pp. 463-64)

Although Hurston did not address herself to the theoretical and interpretative questions raised by her collection, there is still much about the volume that suggests caution in approaching it. Despite the generous amount of information included concerning her collecting experiences. Hurston tells us very little of how she was able to get the stories written down, especially during some of the tense moments she describes. There is no mention of either recording equipment or the use of pad and pencil during the sessions. This leads one to question the authenticity of the transcriptions. Did Hurston take the same liberties with the folklore texts that she took with the dialogue? There is good reason to suspect that she did exactly that in order to create the smooth narrative flow of Mules and Men. For some the lack of comparative notes on the tales and hoodoo practices will pose a problem.

Despite the problems this volume presents to the professional folklorist, it remains a worthwhile and extremely useful book in many ways. The experiences which Hurston describes are valuable to any potential collector. The variety of the material and the realistic settings of the storytelling events as well as the interaction between the participants invite comparisons with more recent field collecting experiences. Despite Hurston's inclination to be literary in her presentation of folklore, her understanding of Afro-American culture is impeccable. Also her descriptions of the "jooks" and the activities which occurred within them preserves an important and often overlooked aspect of Afro-American culture. Her ability to capture the rhythms not only of black speech but also of black life is unsurpassed.

Their Eyes Were Watching God is an often overlooked classic of Afro-American literature. Those interested in the use of folklore in literature will find it a rich source for study. It undoubtedly offers Hurston's most mature use of folklore in the novel. (pp. 464-65)

The drama of Janie's existence can be seen as a metaphor for oppression on a grander scale. Hurston's primary symbol for this situation in the novel becomes the mule…. In a stratified society, the black woman is of the lowest stratum. The literal and symbolic uses of the mule throughout the novel suggest not only its importance in the agrarian South of Hurston's time, but it also evokes the folktales which compare its plight to that of the black man. In Janie's case the use of the mule also suggests the tale in which the mule acts as a trickster, causing the black man to be punished for reporting the fact that he can talk. Like the mule, Janie is expected to work for Joe and act as an ornament for his store. Any indication of intelligence is stopped immediately.

That we are expected to compare Janie's plight with that of the mule is further illustrated in the episode with Matt Bonner's mule. Although Matt's mule is given personality traits, he remains a beast of burden, a possession to be used to satisfy Matt's needs in much the same way that she is used by Joe. This is the source of Janie's empathy for the mule. But human beings are not mules. Joe Stark can buy Matt's mule and set it free, but Janie must assert her own will if she is to be free to seek the kind of life she desires. (p. 465)

Teacake is Hurston's major folkloristic triumph in the novel. Through Teacake she translates the blues aesthetic into a character. His approach to life emanates from the blues tradition and the lifestyle associated with it. He is willing to take life as it comes and, most important to Janie, he is willing to allow her the same privilege…. With Teacake, Janie discovers that she does not have a defined role as such. She eases herself into life on the mucks—the card games, the carousing and, of course, the blues. (pp. 465-66)

It is the irony of the novel that Janie finally finds happiness and fulfillment as a woman and human being with Teacake, when happiness had been defined for her all along in terms of social respectability and material possessions. It is Teacake, the bluesman, and the life-style that he represents from which her grandmother and Joe Stark had tried so desperately to protect her. Just as the bluesman finds cathartic relief by immersing himself in the emotions of his songs, Janie finds relief by immersing herself in that aspect of black life that she had been sheltered from.

Mules and Men and Their Eyes Were Watching God demonstrate Hurston's ability to portray black life in its complexity and beauty. The problems of racial prejudice make themselves felt only incidentally in Hurston's works. She chose to focus on the internal black community attempting to discover the universal through the individual experiences of the members of the group. (p. 466)