Eyes: Journal #7

1.) “He’s de wind and we’se de grass. We bend which ever way he blows” (Hurston 49).

First off, this quote clearly has the alliteration aspect of the "w" sound. I think the "w" sound was used to sort of a whisper to the sentences. The "w" sound sounds very flowy and I think that really illuminates what the that quote is saying. It's talking about how Joe has control over the people of Eatonville and how they bow down to him, and the "w" sound is effective of emphasizing the the power situation. The context of the quote is about power, which is shown all throughout Hurston's novel. There are power struggles between Joe and the town people, men and women, and blacks and whites. The power struggle can be connected to all different parts of the book where one person is submissive to another, as the people of Eatonville show in the quote.

2.) “Strange trains, and people and places didn’t scare him neither” (Hurston 34).

Throught Eyes, Hurtson uses a lot of parallel structure when describing things. In this quote she was referring to Joe. The repetition of "and" makes the things that he isn't afraid of have more effect, power, and length. The statement that Joe is fearless is really portrayed through the use of parallel structure. In the scene where the men from the porch are fighting for Daisy's attention Hurston says, "you know jim and dave and lum" (68). Again, the use of the repeated "and" gives the phrase more emphasis. It show just how many guys she's talking about which is what she was trying to do.

3.) “She knew things that nobody had ever told her. For instance, the words of the trees and the wind. She often spoke to falling seeds and said, ‘Ah hope you fall on soft ground’” (Hurston 25).

Hurston uses the motif as trees to represent something that is very susceptible to nature and change. Trees change with nature and are very easily molded. I think that is quote especially shows that Janie is aware that the well-being of trees depends on many things besides itself. She's aware that trees need a safe place to fall in order to grow and become a mighty tree. By soft ground I think it could also mean that she hopes that the trees are not taken advantage of because they are so vulnerable. In the book, I think Janie almost parallels this sense of constantly being effected by people and letting everyone make decisions for her just as what happens to the trees.