"Their Eyes Were Watching God": Journal 2

I have selected the following passage to do my journal entry on:

"The burst of applause was cut short by Joe taking the floor himself.
'Thank yuh fuh yo' compliments, but mah wife don't know nothin' 'bout no speech-makin'. Ah never married her for nothin' lak dat. She's uh woman and her place is in de home.'
Janie made her face laugh after a short pause, but it wasn't too easy. She had never thought of making a speech, and didn't know if she cared to make one at all. It must have been the way Joe spoke out without giving her a chance to say anything one way or another that took the bloom off things. But anyway, she went down the road behind him that night feeling cold. He strode along invested with his dignity, thought and planned out loud, unconscious of her thoughts." (43)

The first technique I am going to touch base on is imagery. Once again the word "face" is used and Hurston uses Janie's facial expressions as a way to convey her true emotions. Obviously, Janie is hurt by what Joe has said and she forces a laugh. Hurston does not abruptly say "Janie is hurt by Joe's words", she instead creates mental images through imagery and gives the reader an even deeper understanding of Janie's pain.

The second technique I am examining is epiphany. All of a sudden, Janie realized that Joe may not be the man she ran off. Janie is naive and easily blinded by love, and she finally surfaced back to reality by the few simple words that escaped Joe's mouth. The quote "It must have been the way Joe spoke out without giving her a chance to say anything one way or another that took the bloom off things" (43) is what really stood out to me in the passage. It seems as if Janie is finally grasping an understanding of what kind of man Joe really is. He isn't the well dressed, good-looking, and sweet-talking gentlemen anymore. Instead she sees this ignorant and controlling aspect of him that scares her.

My second technique leads me onto my third that I have selected, which is Joe becoming the antagonist in Janie's story. He literally went from being the good guy to the conflict in Janie's life within 10 lines. Janie is seen as the protagonist and since we often feel our emotions in the story through her, we begin to develop this sort of disloyalty towards Joe with her.

Tone: Condescending and honest

Mood: Sympathetic

I chose this passage because to me, it showed a lot about Janie and who she is as a person. Janie is gullible and falls into people's traps. She is very innocent and still like a child in a way. She is dependent on others taking care of her. I thought this passage was important because for the first time in the book, I saw Janie starting to developed mature emotions. She had an epiphany about Joe and began to see the world as it really is and this is the beginning of her starting to take action to prove her independence.