Journal 6

"Janie's train left too early in the day for the town to witness much, but the few who saw her leave bore plenty witness." (pg116)

Motif: This passage is a parallel to earlier in the book when Janie runs away from Logan with Jody. "Janie hurried out the front gate and turned south."(pg 32) The diffrences of the situation are important however. The fact that she is on a train and not a road indicates that she is not only a changed person but heading to a different life in a different setting. She could be a symbol of society and how over time it started using railroads for travel instead of roads. But the idea that a road is closer to the natural world than a train could be forshadowing a life in which Janie is not comfortable.

"When the fellow began to pick the box the people came from east, west, north and Australia." (pg122)

Hyperbole: Hurston is exaggerating the people coming in order to characterize Tea Cake. This passage also creates a humorous mood for the story that he is telling because it is supposed to contrast with the mornful atmoshpere previously used. Also it is in part an allusion to the influence of jazz and blues music on the colored people during the harlem renesance.

"So her soul crawled out from its hiding place." (pg 128)

Personification: This is a key moment in the book so Hurston uses personification to accent the sentence and its meaning. Though out the novel Janie's biggest internal struggle has been to find true love and through it who she is.

"Big Lake Okechobee, big beans, big, cane, big weeds, big everthing." (pg 129)

Parralel Structure: Hurston uses this repeating word to not only catch our attention and bring our minds to the setting but to express a theme. The continued motif of nature is showing us that Janie is conected with her sexuality and her "soul". At the same time the use of the word big is interesting because as the book progressed the settings have grown along with Janies understanding of herself. She started at the Washburn's then lived with Logan on his farm then she moved to a town, then a city, and now she is living in a vast wilderness on plantations were everthing is "BIG". This growth parrallels her growth into better lifesyles, relationships, and a better understanding of love.