In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neal Hurston uses language as a tool to show the progression of the story. Throughout the novel, Hurston uses a narrative style shared between poetic literary prose and the vernacular of southern blacks. This style emphasizes Janie's transition from immature girl to mature woman, as she struggles to find her voice amidst the bustling crowd of her already noisy life. As Janie grows older and wiser, the narration as well as Janie's own voice changes to keep up with her own changes. Language and its control are Janie's source of identity and empowerment. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The first chapters of Their Eyes Were Watching God set the framework for how language should be used in the chapters to come. The story begins in the third person, as a narrator describes Janie Starks' arrival in Eatonville. Here the style is full of metaphors, colorful language, and other literary devices. Before Janie says a word, we hear the gossiping voices on the porch, foreshadowing Janie's interactions later: "A mood comes to life." Words walk without masters” (Hurston 4). When Janie begins to tell her story, the narrative style shifts to long sequences of monologues and dialogues, with the familiar voices of Southern African Americans. The complex web of shifting narratives is representative of Janie's complex quest to find her voice. However, the two styles are not completely disjointed from each other, as the third-person omniscient narrator often returns to events or thoughts known only to Janie. In fact, the narrator is a character in his own right, as he seems to enjoy telling stories as much as any other character, and has a personality of his own, the only linguistic difference being the lack of black dialect. This is evidenced in various colloquialisms sprinkled throughout the poetic prose, such as in the second paragraph of the first chapter, where the narrator's use of "now" at the beginning of the sentence serves as conversational filler: "Now , women forget all those things they do not want to remember, and remember everything they do not want to forget” (1). The various characters in the novel use language to manipulate those around them and to exert their will on others, although this is not always intentional. Jody Sparks is the first such character to use speech and language, or more accurately the lack thereof, in his efforts to make Janie his ideal woman. Jody never accepts Janie for who she is and effectively stunts her emotional and intellectual growth while they are married. The first example of this occurs when Jody is elected mayor of Eatonville. The townspeople all ask Janie to make a speech on Jody's behalf, but Jody refuses to allow her to speak, saying that he never married her for the purpose of giving speeches and that "she is a woman and his place is in the house” (40). By not allowing Janie to speak in front of the crowd, Jody is not allowing her to express her own identity and is instead imposing an identity on her. For Jody, language and speech are the tools he uses to control. For the people of Eatonville, language and speech are the ties that unite everyone and nourish relationships. In chapter six of the novel, this is illustrated by Janie's desire to eavesdrop on the various conversations of the townspeople. She aspires to an identity of her own and to acommunity where she is free to explore herself and others. She cannot do this in Eatonville due to her husband's strict control over her. Janie learns for herself in Chapter Six that she was initially attracted to Jody's power, but that it is his power that restricts her. As she observes the townspeople and their daily conversations, she realizes that there is a colorful world beyond the walls that Jody has put up for her. She begins to see that he is keeping her away from this world of conversation when he "rushes her inside the store to sell something", while he stays outside to please himself whenever the Townspeople gather on the porch to share stories (51). . As Jody's body deteriorates, he distracts from his aging exterior by directing insults at Janie, yet another example of his use of language as a tool to control her. Now that Jody is physically unable to exert his power over anyone, he must rely on this tool to preserve the imbalance of power he has over Janie. By insulting Janie's appearance, he attempts to recreate the world he lives in to look less like the one where he is obviously dying. Here, in chapters seven and eight, Janie takes her first stand against her husband's cruelty by speaking out in her own defense, whereas previously she was too afraid or unable to speak. She verbally defends herself against Jody, returning the insults he threw at her and telling him to his face that she is a woman through and through, which is more than she can say for him, thus depriving him “of his illusion of irresistible masculinity which all men cherish” (75). Now that Jody's voice is silenced by Janie, his only rebuttal is violence, because he can no longer present himself as the pillar of his community. Janie finally finds her voice and manages to free herself from Jody's rhetorical hold. It’s no coincidence that Jody dies when Janie’s words finally break free. Jody's death marks the beginning of a new stage in Janie's development, as well as the entrance of a new love interest for Tea Cake. Tea Cake is different from Jody in that he treats Janie as if they are both on the same level, rather than one being superior to the other. From their first meeting, the two talk at length and even play checkers, a game that puts players on an equal footing and which Jody has never allowed him to play. Their first conversation contrasts with Janie's first interaction with Jody in that instead of being charmed and overwhelmed by sweet talk, Janie and Tea Cake both actively participate in flirting with each other. The narrator steps in to describe Jody and Janie's interactions after their first meeting, saying simply that "every day after that they managed...to talk", while conversations between Janie and Tea Cake are documented over several pages, alluding to the nature of the relationship. two relationships (28). Previously, when Janie was still in Eatonville with Jody, her desire to join the conversation with the community was an emotional response to being intellectually stifled by her husband. This contrasts with Janie's feelings toward the community later, when she and Tea Cake begin dating. Janie's relationship with Tea Cake is more intimate than she has experienced before and therefore does not need other forms of human contact. The Eatonville community is resentful of their relationship precisely because of this; it takes them out of the equation, so to speak. Janie is now able to dismiss the petty gossip that spreads throughout town because she is more.