In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston employs
many tactics that make the story come to life around the reader and force them
to more deeply engage with the novel. Though the list is extensive, two things
that have stood out to me so far have been the figurative language used by
Hurston and how she writes all of the dialogue between characters in a southern
dialect.
One of the characteristics that forced me to more deeply engage in
the novel was to have the characters speaking in a dialect of the deep south. One
example of is when Pheoby and Janie are talking about the gossipers on the
porch, Janie says, “‘Ah don’t mean to bother wid tellen’ ‘em nothin’ Pheoby. T’ain’t
worth de trouble. You can tell ‘em what Ah say if you wants to. Dat’s just de
same as me ‘cause mah tongue is in mah friend’s mouf’” (6). Unlike a book
written with “standard” spelling and grammar, I found it impossible to speed read
or skim over any of the dialogue in Their Eyes Were Watching God.
Because I was not used to reading the dialect the characters were speaking in,
I had to really slow down and take the time to work out what was being said. The
result of this was not only that I paid a lot of attention to what the
characters were saying, but that I could almost hear their voices in my head as
I went, and that reading the dialogue felt more like listening to a
conversation than reading words on a page.
Another aspect of Their Eyes Were Watching God that I felt
made the story come to life was the use of figurative language in the
descriptions of characters. One example of this is when Nanny is telling Janie
the story of her life and describes the wife of her former master. Instead of
simply describing her as cold-hearted and bitter, Nanny says that she “Look lak
she been livin’ through uh hundred years in January without one day of spring .
. . Ah tried not to feel de breeze off her face, but it got so cold in dere dat
Ah was freezin’ to death under the kivvers” (17). I found this to be an incredibly
powerful metaphor because the reader can see the woman much more clearly, both
physically and in terms of her personality and its effects on Nanny. The other
metaphors and uses of figurative language have had the same results on me. They
make it much easier to visualize the characters and the setting, and make the
novel a lot of fun to read!
I’m curious to observe how these two literary devices
develop throughout Their Eyes Were Watching God, and how they continue
to affect my reading of the novel.
I agree. I found it really hard to skim over the dialect and found myself almost whispering it aloud as I read along. I think that the book captivates my attention a lot more as a result of the use of dialect. I also think the figurative language evokes a much clearer picture in my head because I think of the metaphor and then apply it to the picture I have.
ReplyDeleteI agree wholeheartedly it adds a sense of emotion and creativity to the narrative. Also, considering that the story seems to be semi-autobiographical or at least from Hurston's own experience (since she grew up in Florida at the turn of the century), I think it's actually more than a literary device to her. If you remember reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks freshman year, the author says that she didn't alter any of the quotes (primarily from black people speaking in dialect) because she felt it would reduce the accuracy of the story. Hurston could very well be doing the same thing with the use of figurative language and dialect in dialogue. She could feel she would be doing a disservice to her community by "cleaning up" the language. The combination of being true to form and literary device is brilliant work by Hurston.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you and Umar, the fact that Hurston writes her dialogue in the way she does completely adds to the depth of the novel but also the realism. The fact that she makes the dialogue dissimilar to dialogue we have seen in Invisible Man for example makes the reader enter the novel and almost experience it themselves. As we discussed in class, many of us had to read the lines out loud, almost putting us in the perspective of the speaker. This is very well done on Hurston's part and really does add a lot to the novel.
ReplyDeleteDespite the annoyance of taking so much time to read,the dialect really enhances the story and really brings the reader into the scene. The stark difference between the dialog and the narration of the story also adds to the entrapment of the story, it helps divide the story into 2 separate parts that tie together and help show 2 different views of the same event. It really made me appreciate the story a lot more.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with you on the significance of the dialogue. It's interesting how in the other books we read, the language was all grammatically correct and very standard english, even though the people in the book might not have actually spoken that way, and yet people accuse Hurston of pandering to white audiences. It seems that by forcing people to read this complex dialogue in an unfamiliar dialect, Hurston is forcing white readers to reconsider their prejudices about non-standard english, much more so than Ellison or Wright does.
ReplyDelete