Summary Of Their Eyes Were Watching God
ries of women who were misled by the illusion of love and died in disparity.
Some interesting irony, ambiguity and understatement are found at the beginning of the chapter. Details of Tea Cake's and Janie's relationship are laid out through the events of their courtship:
"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. Tea Cake making flower beds in Janie's yard and seeding the garden for her. Chopping down that tree she never did like by the dining room window. All those signs of possession."
This passage is interesting because the position of narration is ambiguous. Who believes that these events of courtship are signs of possession? Is this Phoeby's thought? Is it the voice of the community as a whole? Is it Janie's thought? Passages like this one are clear examples of free indirect discourse, a narrative technique where opinions float into the narration as first-person thoughts. Although it is quite ambiguous, one possible explanation is that it is the opinion of the community that these different events in the courtship are "signs of possession". Ironically, however, Janie would never perceive the events of her courtship as signs of Tea Cake's possession over her. Since it is generally her voice that permeates the narration, it seems like she might be commenting, ironically, on the community's perception of her affairs. However, it also unclear whether it is Tea Cake possessing Janie, or Janie possessing Tea Cake. Therefore there are many possible implications of the very short sentence, "All those signs of possession." Because the full implications of the idea are not fully fleshed out immediately in the text, the sentence is also a vivid example of understatement. Is Hurston here, herself, commenting in the text? Does she believe that, in some senses, full, reciprocal love is "possession".
Another very interesting, but...
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