calls” (28). When Joe confronts Spunk in an effort
to defend his honor and masculinity, Spunk shoots
and kills him. Spunk, who is haunted by a huge
black cat that he believes is Joe’s spirit come back
from hell, is killed in a violent accident when he
falls on the circle saw at the sawmill.
In “Spunk,” Hurston celebrates the life of rural
blacks, who “inhabit a world dominated by strin-
gent morality,” according to Wilfred Samuels
(246). This story, Samuels also argues, demon-
strates Hurston’s interest in “exploring and filter-
ing the rich and complex dynamic of a patriarchal
‘villa,’ male sexuality, and heterosexual relation-
ships,” which she developed in her other short
stories and novels, particularly THEIR EYES WERE
WATCHING GOD (246). Most important, however,
“Spunk” itself is a “signifying” moment. According
to Geneva Smitherman, “Signification refers to the
act of talking negatively about somebody through
stunning and clever verbal put downs. In the black
vernacular, it is more commonly referred to as
... signifyin” (82). The signification of “Spunk”
encompasses individuals in the narrative, Spunk
Banks, Joe, ’Lige, as well as the community within
the story. However, the story also signifies on the
reader, for signifyin, while always a put-down, is
also teacherly, instructive. There are lessons to be
learned from the event. In “Spunk,” the charac-
ters, community, and readers are reminded of les-
sons from African-American culture: “What goes
around comes around” and “God don’t like ugly,”
to name two.
Other aspects of the story are also taken from
African-American folk traditions and culture:
The black English language of the characters, ref-
erences to folk beliefs such as the anecdote of the
“black bob-cat,” beliefs of “h’ant[s]” and haunt-
ing, burial and death rituals (“We laid him on the
sawdust pile with his face to the east so’s he could
die easy”), and the idea that death is not a end.
Spunk says as he is dying, “Ah’ll git the son-of-a-
wood louse soon’s Ah get there an’ make Hell too
hot for him” (31).
“Spunk” is one of the few narratives of the
HARLEM RENAISSANCE that focuses on rural African
Americans, their culture and their folk traditions.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cronin, Gloria, ed. Critical Essays on Zora Neale Hur-
ston. New York: G. K. Hall, 1998.
Hurston, Zora Neale. “Spunk.” In Zora Neale Hurston.
The Complete Stories, 26–32. New York: Harper
Collins, 1995.
Samuels, Wilfred D. “The Light at Daybreak: Hetero-
sexual Relationships in Hurston’s Short Stories.”
In Critical Essays on Zora Neale Hurston, edited
by Gloria Cronin, 239–256. New York: G. K. Hall,
1998.
Smitherman, Geneva. Talking and Testifying, The
Language of Black America. Detroit: Wayne State
University Press, 1977.
Yvonne AtkinsonStaples, Brent (1951– )
Journalist, advocate for children, and author Brent
Staples was born in Chester, Pennsylvania, in 1951,
to parents Melvin Staples, a truck driver, and Ge-
neva Staples. His father’s alcoholism and his moth-
er’s depression paralyzed the family. The eldest of
nine children, Staples had an unstable childhood.
His family moved from one home to another, al-
ways staying one step ahead of the next eviction.
Fortunately, Staples was chosen to attend a spe-
cial program for nontraditional students at the
Philadelphia Military College and Penn Morton
College. He earned a B.A. with honors in behav-
ioral science from Widener University in Chester
(1973), an M.A. in psychology from the Univer-
sity of Chicago (1976), and a Ph.D. in psychology
on a Danforth Fellowship from the University of
Chicago (1982). Staples began his journalistic ca-
reer as a freelance reporter and jazz and literature
critic. His first newspaper appointment was as a
staff reporter with the Chicago Sun-Times (1983–
85). In 1985 he moved to the New York Times and
became editor of The New York Times Book Re-
view (1985–87) and assistant metropolitan editor
(1987–90). Since 1990 Staples has served on the
editorial board of The New York Times, writing on
politics and culture. In recognition of his articles
on reading and literacy, the New York Branch ofStaples, Brent 479