Visualization
Many of Hurston's examples of imagery were written to simply do what they do best: convey to the audience the visual details of a scene with diction and prose. When the hurricane came through, Hurston described it as a “monstropolous beast [that] had left his bed. The two hundred miles an hour wind has loosed his chains. He seized hold of his dikes and ran forward until he met the quarters; uprooted them like grass and rushed on after his supposed-to-be conquerors, rolling the dikes, rolling the houses, rolling the people in the houses along with other timbers.” This description of the was purely for the purpose of giving the audience a lucid depiction of the destruction the hurricane wrought.
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Individualism In the novel, words are woven together to support the theme of a woman’s independence. In chapter one, the audience is immediately introduced to Janie, with her “great rope of black hair swinging to her waist and unraveling in the wind like a plume”, offering a clear image of her beauty and an air of difference between Janie and the other people in the town.
Several pages later, "She had glossy leaves and bursting buds and she wanted to struggle with life but it seemed to elude her," compares Janie's development into a woman to the blossoming of the pear tree, allowing the audience once again to perceive Janie's character. |
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Symbolism In chapter four, “They [Janie and Joe Starks] sat on the boarding house porch and saw the sun plunge into the same crack in the earth from which the night emerged.” narrates and describes the sun descending back into the ground, however the view is also a symbol for the coming of a long, dark period of Janie’s life; in a way, this supports the theme of Janie taking control of her own life. For once, her decision to leave with Joe Starks is completely her own.
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