Journal 5 TEWWG

AGH! I woke up and remembered I have to put this on the blog instead of on paper. Sorry if there are many errors w/ my grammar and spelling.

In the introduction of chapter nine in TEWWG, Hurtson exhibits her honed awareness and manipulation of language. Right after Joe's funeral, Hurston uses Janie to show syntax, word choice, tone, and sound devices; "It was like a wall of stone and steel. The funeral was going on outside. All things concerning death and burial were said and done. Finish. End. Nevermore. Darkness. Deep hole. Dissolution. Eternity. Weeping and wailing outside. Inside the expensive black folds were resurrection and life. She did not reach outside for anything, nor did the things of death reach inside to disturb her calm. She sent her face to Joe's funeral, and herself went rollicking with the springtime across the world." (Pg 88)

This is one of Hurston's best examples of use of syntax in TEWWG. At first, she uses complete sentences with a definite structure: Noun does an action, with description words. "It [Janie's face] was like a wall of stone and steel" (88). On the other side was the funeral. Hurston uses complete sentences to show the reader that the outside world is in order. Things are falling into place. People die, people mourn. However, Hurston starkly contrasts the outside world with Janie's inner turmoil. The short, stinging words appear in one word phrases. They bite with succinctness. "Finish. End. Nevermore. Darkness. Deep hole. Dissolution. Eternity. Weeping and wailing outside." (88) Hurston interrupts the logical, flowing thought of Janie at the funeral to show the real struggle that Janie is facing. Every period between every phrase puts an "Eternity" between the words. They create uncomfortable gaps that explains Janie's conflicts better than complete sentences would.
Then, toward the end of the thoughts, Hurston once agains returns to whole sentences with great descriptions. Janie quickly turns from short sinister thoughts to "rollicking witht he springtime across the world." (88) By pivoting so quickly on the emotions, Hurtson's usage of syntax effectively represents how easily Janie got over Joe's death.

Through word choice, Hurston give the reader a clearer view of the intangible things that Janie is going through. "Finish", "End", "Nevermore", "Dissolution", "Darkness", "Eternity", and "Deep hole" are all intangible, death related things. Janie is clearly thinking about death as her husband has just passed away, but Hurston's word choice identifies what Janie is contemplating. Each word is also a noun. Hurston never uses "Finished" or "Ended" because putting them into nouns creates more immediate feelings. Then she juxtapositions these morose and grievous words to fulfilling words such as "resurrection and life" and "rollicking with the springtime across the world." (88) This sudden juxtaposition shows Janie's reluctance to linger on deathly thoughts. Everything dull and lifeless that was connected to Joe is now replaced with a carefree "skip" through the world.

At first, Hurston's tone is abysmal, but then it evolves to a tone of "resurrection". Overall, however, Hurston's single tone in this passage is one of enlightenment. To achieve enlightenment, one must suffer through a period of confusion. Once that confusion is resolved, then the end is achieved. This "enlightenment" give the reader and Janie a revelation. As a reader, we have already known that Janie was a free woman, who shouldn't be held back by "Darkness" and "Dissolution", whereas Janie now sees that that wasn't the way to live. She is enlightened with new information about herself.

Once again, Hurston juxtapositions two things in this passage to create the proper image. The words of gloom (finish, end, nevermore, darkness, deap hole, etc) is juxtapositioned to Janie's arrival into reality. Hurston uses a harsh "s" sound to create discord. "FiniSH" and DarkneSS" and "DiSSolution" use the "s" sound. Hurston also uses the next phrase, "Weeping and wailing outside." (88) The "W" sound creates an impassion mindset, almost ignorant. Other words that jump to mind are "what, why, where, when, . . ." These words, when continuously repeated, cause the listener to ignore what is being said. Hurston is using this sound to show us that Janie is ignoring the "weeping and wailing." This transition between the sound devices also show Janie's transition back into reality.