Their Eyes Were Watching God - Journal 8

Journal #8: Find quotations for three different stylistic attributes of Hurston's writing. Explain the context of the passage (where does it occur in the book, what is happening, who is involved). Identify and describe the literary technique used in the the passage, and explain how you think it affects the text and how you read it.

  "It sho is. Still Ah ain't Mis' Tyler and Tea Cake ain't no Who flung, and he ain't no stranger tuh me. We'se just as good as married already. But Ah ain't puttin' it in de street. Ah'm tellin' you" (p.114)

• This quotation takes place during the end of Tea Cake's courtship of Janie. Pheoby, Janie's friend inquires into the relationship between the two, warning her that Tea Cake may be using her and that relationship is seen as improper by others in the community. In response Janie tells Pheoby about her relationship with Tea Cake and their future plans. Here, Zora Neale Hurston makes use of Pheoby, a minor character with the sole distinguishing feature of being Janie's friend, as a confidant for Janie. This allows the thoughts of Janie about Tea Cake to be revealed without Janie having to talk to him or just have the thoughts alone. This also sets a framework for the book and adds to its circular nature, the beginning of the book has Janie arriving back in Eatonville and finding Pheoby to whom she begins to tell her life story.

 "She adored him and hated him at the same time. How could he make her suffer so and then come grinning like that with that darling way he had?" (p.108)

• After Janie's intimate moments with Tea Cake throughout the eleventh chapter, he leaves for a number of days and does not return. Janie expresses doubt and uncertainty of her feelings for him as well a fear that he will not return. When he does, Hurston uses a paradoxical statement to express the nature of their relationship. At first it may seem contradictory for Janie to both adore and hate Tea Cake, it really defines how Janie views her interactions with Tea Cake. Hurston possibly could have used this to parallel an internal conflict within Janie. The rules of society and of the community that judges her is coming into conflict for her attraction to Tea Cake and the freedom that he brings. 

"Poor Joe Starks. Bet he turns over in his grave every day. Tea Cake and Janie gone hunting. Tea Cake and Janie gone fishing. Tea Cake and Janie gone to Orlando to the movies. Tea Cake and Janie gone to a dance. Tea Cake making flower beds in Janie's yard and seeding the garden for her. Tea Cake in a borrowed car teaching Janie to drive. Tea Cake and Janie playing checkers; playing coon-can; playing Florida flip on the store porch all afternoon as if nobody else was there. Day after day and week after week"

• This passage comes after Janie and Tea Cake attend the picnic and summarizes the events of the following weeks. Although it may not seem important and mostly there to move the plot, Hurston's use of syntax allows it to show the community's opinion on Janie and Tea Cake's relationship. The use of simple repetitive sentences gives the passage a tone of annoyance, as if someone is listing all of the things Janie and Tea Cake are doing that they should not. Furthermore the choppy sentences help to emphasize the passing of time and the short installments that we see of their relationship.