Zora Nail Hurston uses language in their Eyes Were Looking at God to tell the story’s progression. Hurston’s novel is divided between literary prose and Southern black vernacular. This style focuses on Janie’s transition from an immature girl into a mature woman. She struggles to find her voice in the midst of her noisy world. Janie is becoming more experienced and wiser as her narration and Janie become more authentic. Janie is a strong believer in the power and identity of language.
Their Eyes Were Looking at God’s First Chapters set the stage for the rest of the chapters. As a third-person narration, Janie Starks describes Janie’s return to Eatonville. The story is filled with metaphors and colorful language. Janie never speaks a word. Instead, we hear the voices and gossips from the porch. These voices foreshadow Janie’s future interactions. Words without masters. Janie tells her story in a long string of monologues and dialogues. She uses the Southern African Americans’ colloquial voice to tell it. Janie’s difficult quest for her voice is represented by the complex web of changing narratives. These two styles can be viewed as distinct, but they aren’t completely incompatible. Janie’s omniscient third-person narrator often refers back to Janie’s thoughts or events. The narrator can be described as a character by itself. Janie seems to enjoy hearing stories and the narrator has a distinct personality. You can see this in various colloquialisms sprinkled throughout the poetic prose. For example, in the second paragraph, the narrator uses the “now” word at the beginning to make conversational filler. The novel’s characters use language to control others and exert their will upon others. Jody Sparks is a character that uses language to manipulate others, or to express his desire to make Janie a perfect woman. Jody rejects Janie no matter who she is. It also effectively slows down her intellectual and emotional growth. Jody is elected Eatonville mayor. This is the first example. Janie is called upon by the town to deliver a speech on Jody’s behalf. Jody denies her permission to speak because he has never married her to make speeches. Jody doesn’t allow Janie to speak before the crowd. He is forcing Janie to accept his identity. Jody views language and speech as the tools that he controls.
Language and speech are what bind people together in Eatonville and foster relationships. Janie, in chapter 6, is driven to listen to all the voices of the citizens of Eatonville. She longs to find her identity, and a community that allows her freedom to explore and share with others. Due to her husband’s strict control, she cannot do this at Eatonville. Janie sees for herself, in chapter 6, that her initial attraction to Jody was not his power. It is his power that is limiting her. Jody sets up walls for her, but she begins to see that there is much more beyond them. He “hustles” her to go to the store to sell things, while she is outside enjoying the company of the townsfolk who gather on the porch to exchange stories (51).
Jody’s physical condition is deteriorating and he uses language to control Janie. Jody is no longer physically capable of exercising his power over anyone. He must use this tool to keep the balance of power he holds over Janie. He is trying to make Janie’s world look more like his own. Chapters seven and eight are where Janie stands up against her husband’s cruelty. She defends herself, whereas she was afraid or unable before. Jody retaliated verbally and she told Janie that she was a woman. He then said that Jody had insulted her. She also stated that Jody “has an illusion of irresistible maleness which all men cherish.” (75). Janie mutes Jody’s voice and he cannot apologise for his role as the community pillar. Janie finds her voice again and is able free herself from Jody’s gripping rhetoric. Janie’s words become free from Jody’s grip and Janie dies.
Janie has entered a new stage with Jody’s passing. Tea Cake also became Janie’s new love interest. Tea Cake treats Janie differently to Jody. He doesn’t consider one of them superior. The two of them talk for quite a while after their first meeting. They even play checkers together, which puts them on an equal playing field and is something Jody would never allow her to play. Janie was charmed and overwhelmed with sweet talk during their first conversation. Janie & Tea Cake instead engage in flirting. Janie & Janie meet for the first time. Janie & Janie have continued to communicate after the meeting. Janie & Tea Cake had conversations over several pages.
Janie, who was at Eatonville with Jody when Janie first started dating, expressed her desire to be part of the conversation because she felt intellectually suppressed from her husband. Janie’s later feelings for community, when she began dating Tea Cake, are quite the opposite. Janie and Tea Cake have a more intimate relationship than she had previously experienced. She doesn’t need to be in contact with others. Their relationship is what makes Eatonville so upset. Janie now has the confidence to ignore the gossip that is common in the town. Pheoby and Janie have a lengthy conversation that explores Janie’s individual growth. Chapter 12 contains more details about Janie. Janie can communicate complex ideas and emotions in the conversation between them. Janie now understands that Nanny’s view is not something she has a problem with, and she doesn’t have to say it outright.
It’s fascinating to observe that Janie’s greatest epiphanies in life are triggered by conversation. Janie’s journey to find herself and to understand who she is is is one and the exact same. We can clearly see that Janie is becoming someone she likes, with Tea Cake helping her to get there. Janie describes her feelings toward Tea Cake by saying that she “taught me the maiden tongue all over” (102).
In the novel, the act to not speak again is used as a demonstration of power. However, this time the roles have been reversed. Janie does not feel like Janie should be silenced or lose her identity, as she did with Jody. Instead Janie responds to Tea Cake’s abuses of her in chapter seventeen by imposing silence. Janie’s silence during chapter 17 is not a display of dominance or repression by another. It is a reflection of her strength. Janie no longer feels the need to speak out verbally in order to be understood. She uses her silence to her advantage and creates her own voice. Janie accepts the beatings by Tea Cake and chooses to let her body suffer for the love of her husband. The novel’s climax is at this point. Janie becomes the woman she’s worked so hard to become.
Janie speaks more than the narrators for the majority of the second-half of the novel. However, Janie does not speak at trial when Janie relates the story of how her husband was killed. Chapter nineteen has Janie speaking in a summary. The narrator does not speak to Janie directly, but rather summarizes her words. She speaks to the jury once, but she never addresses the reader. Janie’s silence during the trial demonstrates that she is finally in control of her voice and can speak what she needs.
Janie’s journey to adulthood is told through Their Eyes were Watching God. The language that was used to tell the story reflects her growth as a character. Hurston switches between Hurston’s third person omniscient narration and the voices of the characters throughout the novel. We see a gradual change in Janie from a young girl who only kisses boys to an intellectually competent woman who has seen the horizon. Janie is a woman because of her willingness to speak up and the knowledge that sometimes it is best to not say anything at all.