Their Eyes Were Watching God Language Analysis

In Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston uses the motifs storytelling, mouths, and tongues to represent a person’s status and power at that period of time and uses them to emphasize how important speech was important to a person’s status at that time.
In The beginning of the story when Janie arrived back into town she tells Phoeby, “You can tell ‘ em what Ah say if you wants to dats just de same as me’ cause mah tongue is in my friends mouth”(2). Janie saying this is giving Phoeby power over her reputation. She trusts Phoeby enough to relay her story truthfully to rest of the town members. Phoeby has Janie’s Fate in the community in her hands.
Referencing the neighbors janie proclaims, “so long as they get a name to gnaw on they don’t care whose it is and what about’ specially if they can make it sound like evil”(3). During this time reputation was everything and gossip in the town gave the town members power to judge each other's fate in the community. People with a bad reputation were gossiped about in the town and most likely weren’t respected or powerful.
The narrator alludes, “She had learned how to talk some and leave some”(76). During this time Jody began hitting Janie

because he felt like she was a woman and had no power to be as opinionated as she was. Even though women did not typically have power or a voice in the community by Janie choosing whether or not she would speak gave her power over situations that she was put into and rather or not she would respond to certain things or not to.
The narrator vividly explains “The sun was gone, It was the time to hear things and talk. These sitters had been tongueless, earless, eyeless conveniences all day long. Mules and other brutes had occupied their skins. But now, the sun and the bossman were gone, so the skins felt powerful and human. They became lords of sounds and lesser things. They passed nations through their mouths. They sat in judgment”(4). Since people in Eatonville were lower-class workers and all black they worked for someone else day in and day out and having no say and no power. Coming home to gossip gave them power in the community and a voice that someone would listen to. To most of the townspeople a voice in the town was all they had so coming home where their opinion mattered gave them power and the capacity to judge others.
During the town meeting write after Jody put up the last light post in the town he makes a speech and the townspeople ask Janie to speak and on her behalf Jody Remarks "Thank yuh fuh yo’ compliments, but nah wife don’t know nothin’ ‘bout no speech-makin’.

Ah never married her for nothin’ lak dat. She’s uh woman and her place is in de home”(43). During this time women had no power; a woman’s role in society was to was to tend to the house and take care of kids, Like Nanny said women were the mule of the world especially black women and mules are not equated as being powerful and strong. They are considered dirty working creatures which you can treat ineptly , feed them garbage, and they are still expected to do their work and be obedient like the women of that time were

considered.
Since Joe helped build Eatonville the power has gotten to head and the townspeople put him on this high pedestal. As Janie complains about Joe’s lack of communication and attention he’s been paying her but Joe responds by saying, "Ah told you in de very first beginnin’ dat Ah aimed tuh be uh big voice. You oughta be glad, ‘cause dat makes uh big woman outa you" (44). Jody’s concept of becoming a big voice in Eatonville Is by asserting his rank in the town. Jody thinks that his having a voice is substitutable for having power and by asserting his power through his voice he hinders janie’s by keeping her voiceless and opinionless. In Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston uses the motifs storytelling, mouths, and tongues to elucidate how throughout the story mouths, tongues, storytelling, and a person’s speech determined their status and power in society or in Eatonville and how it was most important in Eatonville well they were predominantly black working class who spent most of their lives voiceless and opinionless and coming to the town to gossip gave power and status to their lives.