Journal #6: Five Quotations analysis

Tea Cake and Janie have been spending more time together and one night, he shows up at Janie's house and the two of them spend the evening in eachother's company. "Then Tea Cake went to the piano without so much as asking and began playing blues and singing, and throwing grins over his shoulder." (p.103) We can see the certain aspects of how Janie is feeling at this point in time through Hurston's use of tone. From the way that Tea Cake is "throwing grins over his shoulder," it gives this sense of being in high spirits and pleasant. We get the feeling that Janie feels content because of the use of the simple, yet comforting, words like playing and singing. Tea Cake has this confidence and assurance about him, which we can see through the fact that he plays the piano without getting permission first, and because of this he shows Janie that she can speak up and deserves to get what she wants, too. The tone helps transition us from a gloomy Janie to a Janie that is truly enjoying herself.

Although Tea Cake and Janie have become closer, Tea Cake does not consistently keep up on their relationship. It upsets Janie when, "He did not return that night nor the next so she plunged into the abyss and descended into the the ninth darkness where light had never been." (p.108) This imagery impacts the text because the use of the harsh words really reveals how heartbroken Janie is. We can see the negative effect of Tea Cake's inconsistency on Janie because we are able to vividly picture the darkness that Janie feels has consumed her. This uncertainty, or abyss of darkness, has no positive light in it and we can literally see Janie's desperate emotions to find true commitment and love through the imagery in this passage.

"After a long time of passive happiness, she got up and opened the window and let Tea Cake leap forth and mount to the sky of a wind. That was the beginning of things." (p. 107) The reader notices Hurston's repetition of a short sentence summarizing the previous paragraph in this passage. One can recall that on the first page Hurston says, "That is the life of men" to summarize the first paragraph. She has repeated this short sentence summarization to bring us back to the beginning of the story and show us how far Janie had come. By referring us back to even the first page, it reminds the reader of all the obstacles Janie has overcome and it brings us on this journey of growth with our protagonist.

"Doubt. All fears that circumstance could provide and the heart feel, attacked her on every side." (p.108) Syntax

"Nobody else on earth kin old uh candle tuh you, baby. You got the keys to the kingdom." (p.109) Idiom