Rhetorical Strategies

     "Their eyes are watching God," is a book that has various rhetorical strategies being constantly used, this became evident within the first few pages, the title in it's self is even a metaphor, or maybe it's hyperbole? Though some things just shouldn't be argued.  The novel starts with a metaphor, "Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board."(page 1) This line is followed by a string of sentences, with a plethora of similes and metaphors that establish a forthright tone.
     The forthright tone mimics the character of Janie, who is very blunt in speech. Janie is honest - believing that there is no real point in lying or making up any stories, even though she is the mystery who blew back in to town. Everyone else "sat in judgment,"(page 1) but she just overlooks it all with the belief that on actual "Judgment"(page 6) day, she won't have had any withheld secrets and/or guilts"to be made known." Everything she says holds a candid truth and everything she does is straightforward and unconcealed.
     The whole novel is like a book of metaphor examples. And similes, just like in that last sentence. Zora Neale Hurston, makes use of these two prevalent rhethorical strategies, not just to set a foundation for the tone, but to  emphasize the setting. "Nanny's head and face looked like the standing roots of some old tree that had been torn away by storm,"(page 11) in modern day a simile such as "Nanny's face looked like it had been sucked into a blender" would have been more relatable, but this time period maintained a much different way of life. This novel is set in the south during the late 1930's, the metaphors and similes give an idea of what the characters did, and how they viewed certain things, and how they spoke, bringing up another strategy used: colloquialism.
      Every spoken sentence is some sort of slang, however the narrator does not speak in slang. What this does is show a contrast in how the characters speak and how the reader's speak in there own voices, not necessarily how the narrator may speak. In this case, every spoken line is like being in the shoes of Janie or Pheoby or Joe or really any character who is speaking, making the story an enjoyable read thus far.  Also, by changing the spelling of the words and terms, such as I to "ah" and look here to "looka heah" and these to "dese," Hurston makes it easier to figure out how they are actually speaking, and to mentally form an accent.
       Hurston drags all readers into the deep South, where Tea Cake is a person and dead dreams lead to womanhood and similes are as common as metaphors.