Their Eyes Were Watching God Journals 1-14 (Sort of)

1.) The Dialect as a Whole
Through the dialect of the characters of the novel you can determine a lot about them. Had you not had previous knowledge about the novel, you could tell from the dialect that they are lower class, African-American citizens of the south.

2.) "Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board." (pg 1)


3.) "Now, women forget all those things they don't want to remember, and remember everything they don't want to forget." (pg 1)


4.) "He was a seal-brown color but he acted like Mr. Washburn or somebody like that to Janie." (pg 27)
 When Janie first sees Joe Starks, though he is a black man, he carries himself like a white man.This novel is set in time where there are obvious class separations. Even though the African-Americans were free from slavery, they really weren't considered a part of society. So, why is Joe walking around like he owns the place? From the description of his clothes, you can tell that he is well-off. He wants to buy land so he can prove that not only the white people can have power. He likes to be in control and by acting like a white man, he may be able to achieve his goal of owning land. 

5.) "Free, single, disengaged." (pg 35)


6.) "Us talks about de white man keepin' us down! Shucks! He don't have tuh. Us keeps our own selves down." (pg 39)
 This is a very odd thing for a black person to say in this time period. Most colored men would blame the white folks for holding them back. Coker realizes that they are free men now and should have the same rights as anyone else. Most African-Americans would say that it's the white man's fault, but he realizes that they have to work for what they want.


7.) "What with him biting down on cigars and saving his breathe on talk and swinging round in that chair, it weakened people." (pg 47)


8.) "There was no doubt that the town respected him and even admired him in a way. But any man who walks in the way of power and property is bound to meet hate." (pg 48)
This may be a foreshadow to something that will happen to Joe because of his excessive power. The town (or Janie) will eventually come against him and either take over, kick him out of town, or just make his life miserable.

9.) They bowed down to him rather, because he was all of these things, and then again he was all of these things because the town bowed down." (pg 50)
This marks the start of Joe's hunger for power. Joe has always wanted a voice in something big. Being mayor of the town is perfect for what he wants. But since he has such an overbearing personality, the people seem to be sort of afraid to disagree with him. Without knowing so, the townspeople have put him on a pedestal and made him feel like a king. Being treated like a king is what Joe's self conscience has always wanted. He said he just wanted his voice to be heard, but deep down, he wanted to have power over everyone; like the white man's power over the black people.

10.) "'Tain't no earthy use. They's jus' some puny humans playin' round de toes uh Time." (pg 54)
This shows how the power has gone to Joe's head. He think that he and Janie are above everyone.

11.) "This business of the head-rag irked her endlessly...That was because Joe never told Janie how jealous he was." (pg 55)
Jody may get jealous of other men when they look at Janie because he knows how disrespectful he is to her. He thinks that if another man were to show an interest in her;  she would see how badly he treats her and leave him without a second thought.

12.) "You have tuh power tuh free things and dat makes you lak uh king uh something." (pg 58)
Janie tells Joe this after he frees the mule from Matt Bonner. She notices that Joe has let the power that comes with being mayor go to his head. This is dangerous for many people because if Joe gets to much power, he will think that nothing can stop him.

13.) "But you ain't goin' off in all dat mess uh commonness. Ah'm surprised at yuh fuh askin'." (pg 60)
This also shows how Joe's power has consumed him. He thinks of himself and Janie as the 'royalty' of the town and everyone else is just a peasant.

14.) "The flock had to wait for the white-headed leader..." (pg 61)
This may be a reference to the power that the white men still have over the black people. Though this passage is actually talking about vultures, they still have a leader that they have to follow and alert every time they want to do anything. Even though slavery is over, the black people are still afraid to do anything for fear that the white people will come after them.


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