Hurston’s work shows the divisive effects that traditional white values, including class divisions and gender imbalances, have on blacks.While Hurston openly criticized white culture in letters, in articles for black publications, and in the manuscript version of her autobiography, her attack is more indirect in most of her work, which was largely published by white publishers and in white periodicals.

The phrase you ask about, in this context, could be interpreted as trying to do something one way when the tools and methodology are in complete opposition to it. If you’re trying to make a mark on something in a straight line, you couldn’t do it with a tool that was crooked, could you?