Journal 10: Theme + Quotes

Theme: To find confidence and recognize themselves as an individual liberated from coercion by male figures, women must take in the luxury of believing in herself to fulfill her rights.  


[I'm not quite sure this is clarified enough.  I'm not sure if there are words that are too vague even though I've reworded it three times now.]


"'Mah fust wife never bothered me 'bout choppin' no wood nohow.  She'd grab dat ax and sling chips lak uh man.  You done been spoilt rotten.'" (26)

• The simile of "slinging chips like a man" is used in this quote.  It shows how women were just another slave to the men even in pure African-American settings.

"She wasn't even angry.  Logan was accusing her of her mamma, her grandmama and her feelings, and she couldn't do a thing about any of it." (32)

• Hurston throws in rising action and possible tension in this quote, adding fuel to the fire inside Janie's emotional threshold.  

"She got up without a word and went off for the shoes.  A little war of defense for helpless things was going on inside her.  People ought to have some regard for helpless things.  She wanted to fight about it.  'But Ah hates disagreement and confusion, so Ah better not talk.  It makes it hard tuh git along.'" (57)

• "A little war of defense" is a metaphor that is inserted into the statement to put emphasis on how much internal conflict is taking place within Janie.
• Internal conflict is illustrated through the above metaphor.  She is struggling with downplaying the "helpless things."

"No matter what Jody did, she said nothing.  She had learned how to talk some and leave some.  She was a rut in the road.  Plenty of life beneath the surface but it was kept beaten down by the wheels.  Sometimes she stuck out into the future, imagining her life different from what it was.  But mostly she lived between her hat and her heels, with her emotional disturbances like shade patterns in the woods--come and gone with the sun.  She got nothing from Jody except what money could buy, and she was gibing away what she didn't value." (76)

• Hurston uses a variety of literary techniques here.  She uses a simile and metaphor to drop a hint at how Janie feels like she is living her life
• There is diction where Hurston uses "beaten down by the wheels" as a reference to the oppression placed upon Janie.
• Alliteration with "rut in the road".

"'Naw, Jody, it wasn't because Ah didn't have no sympathy.  Ah had uh lavish uh dat.  Ah just didn't never git no chance tuh use none of it.  You wouldn't let me.'" (85)

• External Conflict is used by Hurston between Jody and Janie to illustrate that she openly acknowledges Jody's oppression.