Their Eyes Were Watching God Language Analysis

In human relationships, it is often argued that to have a voice is essential to assert one's personality and to posit a stance of strength and power. Counter to that, silence is perceived as a sign of weakness, lack of power and self-assertion. However, in Their Eyes Were Watching God, in a sense it is the power of silence, of being silent rather than being silenced that makes Janie survive the complicated situations she is placed in, of being a part of a minority, both a black citizen and a female. By learning to develop a voice and control it, shows that Janie has not totally succumbed to Joe's empowerment. She has preserved her inside and she does master her own voice. She has learnt to become more conscious of when to voice out her thoughts …show more content…
Something like George Washington and Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln, he had de whole United States tuh rule so he freed de Negroes. You got uh town so you freed uh mule. You have tuh have power tuh free things and dat makes you lak uh king uh something”(Zora Neale Hurston 58). With her silence she grew stronger, for her it was cautionary and essential to know when it is appropriate to speak and how to use voice to one's own advantage. Voice to Janie at this crucial stage becomes a powerful means for survival and self-preservation in an environment controlled by others, whether Joe or the community of Eatonville. So as Haurykiewicz states that "... the proper application of verbal surprises can achieve great results. "17 She uses silence to ward off abuse but when it is crucial she fights back. " She is saving her verbal powers for a surprise attack. "18 This attack comes when Joe criticizes her looks of becoming old. She lashes out at him and gives him the fatal blow as she did with Killicks. She literally emasculates him before the whole town. “... Naw, Ah aint no young gal no mo' but den Ah ain't no old woman neither. Ah