Journal #6

"Stopped and talked a little with everyone she met, turned aside momentarily to pause at a porch or two - going straight by walking crooked" (Hurston 112).
- Oxymoron

" 'De Pastor claim Tea Cake don't 'low her tuh come tuh church only once in awhile 'cause he want dat change tuh buy gas wid' " (Hurston 111).
- Irony (of a gossiping pastor)

It is the day after Tea Cake has spent the night at Janie's for the first time, and now that Tea Cake is at work, Janie is left by herself to overthink their growing relationship. "In the cool of the afternoon the fiend from hell specially sent to lovers arrived at Janie's ear. Doubt" (Hurston 108). In this passage, Hurston personifes doubt to give the idea more power and to convey to the reader the struggle Janie is having surrounding it. Though this feeling of doubt is almost inevitable in new relationships, Janie does not easily brush it off like others might. Doubt is an unfamiliar feeling for her in realtionships. For example, when she first meets Joe, Janie is swept away by him and does not consider he may possibly have bad intentions or other sides to his personality. Now she is more careful. This shows us that Janie has developed as a character and has by now had more experiences that have caused her to mature into who she is. Because she now knows the possiblities of what can go wrong in a relationship, Janie takes this feeling of doubt very seriously to avoid repeating the mistakes of her past.

As soon as word gets out about Janie's relationship with Tea Cake, the town is abuzz with the news, and everyone starts to gossip about all the places the two are going and the things they are doing. "Tea Cake and Janie gone hunting. Tea Cake and Janie gone fishing. Tea Cake and Janie gone to Orlando to the movies. Tea Cake and Janie gone to a dance" (Hurston 110). Through her use of parallel structure in this passage, Hurston gives us a closer look at the relationship between Janie and Tea Cake and demonstrates their commitment to each other. By mentioning again and again the things Janie and Tea Cake are doing as a couple, Hurston emphasizes their togetherness and how close their relationship is. While she could have simply said "Tea Cake and Janie did everything together", Hurston chose not to because she wanted us as an audience to clearly distinguish this relationship from Janie's others. In her marriage with both Logan and Joe, Janie barely knew the men before she got married. Because she has grown in her experiences and knowledge in this type of thing, Janie is making sure she really loves Tea Cake before she marries him by testing out being a couple with him.

One day when Pheoby is in town, she and Sam Watson start discussing Janie and her new relationship, and Sam brings up Janie's hair to suggest that she must be seeing someone. " 'New dresses and her hair combed in a different way nearly every day. You got to have something to comb hair over' " (Hurston 111). This passage uses Janie's hair as a symbol of her freedom. When Joe was alive, he made Janie tie up her hair every day in rags so she would not attract attention from other men - and Janie obeyed him even until the day he died. With Joe's death, however, Janie finds her independence and decides to live her life as the person she wans to be and not as the submissive wife she has been for nearly all of her marriage. By burning up her hair rags and combing and styling her long hair whichever way she chooses, Janie shows us that she has realized it is time for her to assert herself and her independence and let others accept her as they please. This importance of letting her hair down and therefore choosing freedom follows Janie throughout the novel, and is used by Hurston to begin to develop theme.