After making a mistake in the cutting of tobacco Janie speaks up for herself. She bring Joe down a peg by making fun of him for a change. "Then Joe Starks realized all the meanings and his vanity bled like a flood. Janie had robbed him of his illusion of irresistible maleness that all men cherish, which was terrible. The thing that Saul's daughter had done to David. But Janie had done worse, she had cast down his empty armor before men and they had laughed, would keep on laughing." (80-81) This quote is full of appealing words and clever tricks to help the reader relate to this passage. Hurston demonstrates her awareness and manipulation of language with the help of syntax, word choice, tone and sound devices.
Hurston leaves us with something to thing about at the end of each sentance, a small incomplete thought. Her gramatical style is important to this passage because is draws our attention to the choppy, cut up sentances that convey the horribleness and severity of what Janie has done to Joe.
Hurston uses words like bled, robbed, and empty to both demonstrate the tone of the passage and draw us into the book with her word choice. These words create an image of fighting and cruelty. Hurston uses these harsh words to make us see the passage from Joe's point of view, the victims view. Hurston uses these words to get us to side with Joe and make us feel bed for him. We see that she feels bad for him as well, that she has feeling for her characters just like we do. With just a few key words Hurston sets the tone for this passage.
In this passage Hurston uses words with harsh beginnings. The use of T's, V's and B's, create a harsh unwelcoming place. Adds to the horribleness of what janie is doing to Joe. This demonstrates the malice Janie speaks with and gives us a deeper insight to the contempt Janie hold in her heart for Joe.
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