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Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, depicts Janie’s life as a series of events which help her to eventually acquire a “voice”, meaning the acknowledgement and expression of the person whom she realizes herself to be. The beginning of the novel describes a very young, subservient, and most importantly a quiet girl. However, by the end of the book Janie has transformed into an independent, mature, and as the reader can tell by listening to her story, a very articulate woman. Chapter 7 of this book follows Janie as she begins to realize that there is more to her than she can comprehend, and in turn begins to examine herself as an individual. In this chapter Hurston uses speech and silence to symbolize Janie’s transformation from a woman lacking an individual identity to one which has begun to understand herself as well as her ability to communicate that identity to the world.
Chapter 7 of Their Eyes Were Watching God begins with a reiteration of how Janie's life has been up to this point. Throughout Janie's life and now in her marriage to Joe Starks she has served a subservient role: "No matter what Jody did, she said nothing" (76), and “she let it pass without talking” (78). Here Hurston is hinting to the fact that Janie's silence allows her husband to control her, restricting her from realizing her full potential. By Janie allowing Joe to control her speech, she is accepting him as her identity and the restrictions on her character. Janie has, in a childlike manner, let those around her dictate what her life should be, her marriage to Joe being no exception. It is because of her past subservient roles in relationships that Janie behaves this way with Joe, she has never known a different position. Prior to this point in the book Janie has been content with her lack of self-understanding and expression in relationships, however, she now begins to question her identity and role in life. It is these questions that bring about the transformation in Janie, from silent to speaking, and the development of an individual identity. The questions which arise in Janie’s thoughts at the beginning of the chapter are a clue to the reader that Janie may begin to develop a voice. She states: “Maybe he [Joe] ain’t nothing, but he is something in my mouth. He’s got tuh be else Ah ain’t got nothin’ to live for. Ah’ll lie an say he is. If Ah don’t, life won’t be nothin’ but uh store and uh house” (76). These thoughts represent the development of her identity as an individual, she is beginning to wonder who she is. By Janie stating that Joe is in her mouth she is suggesting that he is the one speaking, therefore he is her identity. The statement that without his presence she is only a store and house represents her realization that without him she is void of any individuality. It is this realization that allows Janie to begin examining her own identity and how she can express that. Janie recognizes that she has to learn who she is and begin expressing that person. This idea is seen in the following portion of the chapter.
Speech is seen a great deal in the next portion of Chapter 7, suggesting
that it is here where Janie begins to understand her individual identity,
and is able to communicate that to the rest of the world. “Then too,
Janie took the middle of the floor to talk right in Jody’s face, and that
was something that hadn’t been done before” (78). Hurston states here that
Janie has finally challenged Joe, with Janie’s speech representing the
expression of the new identity which she has found. The earlier questions
that she had been pondering provided her with an opportunity to examine
her role in life, and when she realized that she was unpleased with her
current situation this is how she chose to fix it. Janie’s speech
in the store represents the idea that she has now come to realize that
there is an individual person in her, and she will no longer allow those
around her to suppress that. She even goes so far as to say that
she has discovered her female identity, one separate of Joe, and argues
the fact that Joe may not even fully understand himself: “But Ah’m uh woman
every inch of me, and Ah know it. Dat’s a whole lot more’n you kin say”
(79). The fact that Joe cannot say this is another example of how Hurston
uses silence to symbolize a lack of self-awareness.
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Last updated: 7/24/2002