SUMMER NOVEL LANGUAGE ANALYSIS
Love. The maker and destroyer of life. However, the question that rises in one’s mind is how do they find this beautifully tragic emotion? Do they just wait for Prince Charming to come and love them away into the glowing sunset? Do they make it their only goal in life and pledge to follow it through thick and thin and through rain and shine? Or do they decide to take the lead and go around looking for love just like Janie does and marry three people on their way? Crawford is on a journey to find love, but she faces many obstacles on her way. She is left to deal with the death of her lover—who also happens to be her husband—Tea Cake, and a crowd of judgmental eyes, who are envious of her because she accomplishes …show more content…
She starts off by making reference to the horizon in the first few lines of the first chapter, “Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others, they fail on the same horizon, never out of sight, never landing . . . .” In this novel, the horizon represents the possibility of change or improvement. For Janie Crawford, it symbolizes her goals; she hopes to reach the horizon, but sadly lives in reality. Hurston also makes use of the idea of ships out on the horizon to represent a person’s dreams. All throughout the book, a reader may infer that Janie’s dreams are like the ships that never reach their dock. Another symbol that Hurston throws at the readers in the first few pages of the novel is Janie’s hair. The readers first come across it in chapter 1, when the people hanging out on the porch see Janie coming back and raise questions at her: “‘What dat ole forty year ole ‘oman doin’ wid her hair swingin’ down her back lak some young gal?’” The people sitting on the porch are clearly jealous of Janie because she is able to turn the impossible into possible. The hair, in this case, is used to symbolize Janie’s freedom and independence. However, one can see Hurston making references to Janie’s hair until the very last chapter of the novel. They represent the way Janie is being treated by the other …show more content…
Hurston talks about the differences between women and men by comparing their reactions to their dreams and goals, “. . . his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men. Now women . . . . The dream is the truth. Then they act and do things accordingly.” According to her, men never really reach out for their dreams. The women, however, control their will and go after their dreams. By adding these few lines into her very first chapter, Hurston foreshadows how the story unfolds. She also predicts the development of Janie’s dreams. Since Janie is a woman, she must do what women do; follow their dreams. And so as the novel unfolds, Janie acts accordingly, facing many challenges, but never giving up. Another main component of Hurston’s novel is that it is written backwards; it starts from the end. In chapter 1, she starts Janie’s story with “So the beginning of this was a woman and she had come back from burying the dead . . . .” Hurston foreshadows the climax of the novel in such a way that it makes the reader wonder why she would ever do such a thing. However, she uses a variety of intense and gaudy diction such as “sodden,” “bloated,” and “sudden dead” to convey her message. The reader is able to deduce the affect this death will have on Janie, and is left to wonder whether Janie will succeed to reach the horizon or will her dreams be lost into the
Love. The maker and destroyer of life. However, the question that rises in one’s mind is how do they find this beautifully tragic emotion? Do they just wait for Prince Charming to come and love them away into the glowing sunset? Do they make it their only goal in life and pledge to follow it through thick and thin and through rain and shine? Or do they decide to take the lead and go around looking for love just like Janie does and marry three people on their way? Crawford is on a journey to find love, but she faces many obstacles on her way. She is left to deal with the death of her lover—who also happens to be her husband—Tea Cake, and a crowd of judgmental eyes, who are envious of her because she accomplishes …show more content…
She starts off by making reference to the horizon in the first few lines of the first chapter, “Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others, they fail on the same horizon, never out of sight, never landing . . . .” In this novel, the horizon represents the possibility of change or improvement. For Janie Crawford, it symbolizes her goals; she hopes to reach the horizon, but sadly lives in reality. Hurston also makes use of the idea of ships out on the horizon to represent a person’s dreams. All throughout the book, a reader may infer that Janie’s dreams are like the ships that never reach their dock. Another symbol that Hurston throws at the readers in the first few pages of the novel is Janie’s hair. The readers first come across it in chapter 1, when the people hanging out on the porch see Janie coming back and raise questions at her: “‘What dat ole forty year ole ‘oman doin’ wid her hair swingin’ down her back lak some young gal?’” The people sitting on the porch are clearly jealous of Janie because she is able to turn the impossible into possible. The hair, in this case, is used to symbolize Janie’s freedom and independence. However, one can see Hurston making references to Janie’s hair until the very last chapter of the novel. They represent the way Janie is being treated by the other …show more content…
Hurston talks about the differences between women and men by comparing their reactions to their dreams and goals, “. . . his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men. Now women . . . . The dream is the truth. Then they act and do things accordingly.” According to her, men never really reach out for their dreams. The women, however, control their will and go after their dreams. By adding these few lines into her very first chapter, Hurston foreshadows how the story unfolds. She also predicts the development of Janie’s dreams. Since Janie is a woman, she must do what women do; follow their dreams. And so as the novel unfolds, Janie acts accordingly, facing many challenges, but never giving up. Another main component of Hurston’s novel is that it is written backwards; it starts from the end. In chapter 1, she starts Janie’s story with “So the beginning of this was a woman and she had come back from burying the dead . . . .” Hurston foreshadows the climax of the novel in such a way that it makes the reader wonder why she would ever do such a thing. However, she uses a variety of intense and gaudy diction such as “sodden,” “bloated,” and “sudden dead” to convey her message. The reader is able to deduce the affect this death will have on Janie, and is left to wonder whether Janie will succeed to reach the horizon or will her dreams be lost into the