Erin's Zora Neale Hurston Page (2024)

Zora Neale Hurston’snovel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, depicts Janie’s life as a series ofevents which help her to eventually acquire a “voice”, meaning the acknowledgementand expression of the person whom she realizes herself to be. Thebeginning of the novel describes a very young, subservient, and most importantlya quiet girl. However, by the end of the book Janie has transformedinto an independent, mature, and as the reader can tell by listening toher story, a very articulate woman. Chapter 7 of this book follows Janieas she begins to realize that there is more to her than she can comprehend,and in turn begins to examine herself as an individual. In this chapterHurston uses speech and silence to symbolize Janie’s transformation froma woman lacking an individual identity to one which has begun to understandherself as well as her ability to communicate that identity to the world.

Chapter 7 of Their Eyes Were Watching God begins with a reiteration ofhow Janie's life has been up to this point. Throughout Janie's life andnow in her marriage to Joe Starks she has served a subservient role: "Nomatter what Jody did, she said nothing" (76), and “she let it pass withouttalking” (78). Here Hurston is hinting to the fact that Janie'ssilence allows her husband to control her, restricting her from realizingher full potential. By Janie allowing Joe to control her speech,she is accepting him as her identity and the restrictions on her character.Janie has, in a childlike manner, let those around her dictate what herlife should be, her marriage to Joe being no exception. It is becauseof her past subservient roles in relationships that Janie behaves thisway with Joe, she has never known a different position. Prior tothis point in the book Janie has been content with her lack of self-understandingand expression in relationships, however, she now begins to question heridentity and role in life. It is these questions that bring aboutthe transformation in Janie, from silent to speaking, and the developmentof an individual identity.

The questions which arise in Janie’s thoughts at the beginning of the chapterare a clue to the reader that Janie may begin to develop a voice.She states: “Maybe he [Joe] ain’t nothing, but he is something in my mouth.He’s got tuh be else Ah ain’t got nothin’ to live for. Ah’ll lie an sayhe is. If Ah don’t, life won’t be nothin’ but uh store and uh house”(76). These thoughts represent the development of her identity as an individual,she is beginning to wonder who she is. By Janie stating that Joeis in her mouth she is suggesting that he is the one speaking, thereforehe is her identity. The statement that without his presence she is onlya store and house represents her realization that without him she is voidof any individuality. It is this realization that allows Janie to beginexamining her own identity and how she can express that. Janie recognizesthat she has to learn who she is and begin expressing that person. Thisidea is seen in the following portion of the chapter.

Speech is seen a great deal in the next portion of Chapter 7, suggestingthat it is here where Janie begins to understand her individual identity,and is able to communicate that to the rest of the world. “Then too,Janie took the middle of the floor to talk right in Jody’s face, and thatwas something that hadn’t been done before” (78). Hurston states here thatJanie has finally challenged Joe, with Janie’s speech representing theexpression of the new identity which she has found. The earlier questionsthat she had been pondering provided her with an opportunity to examineher role in life, and when she realized that she was unpleased with hercurrent situation this is how she chose to fix it. Janie’s speechin the store represents the idea that she has now come to realize thatthere is an individual person in her, and she will no longer allow thosearound her to suppress that. She even goes so far as to say thatshe has discovered her female identity, one separate of Joe, and arguesthe fact that Joe may not even fully understand himself: “But Ah’m uh womanevery inch of me, and Ah know it. Dat’s a whole lot more’n you kin say”(79). The fact that Joe cannot say this is another example of how Hurstonuses silence to symbolize a lack of self-awareness.

The theme of speech and silence symbolizing the presence or lack of identityis seen throughout the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, and Chapter7 is a perfect exemplification of this. Chapter 7 serves as a majorturning point for Janie’s character in that it is in this chapter thatJanie is able to speak, finally understanding that she is an individualand expressing that to the world. Due to Janie’s self discovery inchapter 7 she is able to develop her voice further in following chaptersof the book. Hurston uses the fact that Janie is actually speaking throughoutthe story in terms of her telling her life story to Pheoby as the greatestproof of her eventual attainment of an individual identity.