(Spoiler: I have read up to page 109)
Death is a part of life
that most seem to struggle coping with. Janie is forced into watching her husband slowly
depart this life and although she disagrees with him most of the time, she is
saddened by his passing on. On page 84,
Janie addresses Death as if he is a person “waiting for the messenger to bid
him come.” The author uses apostrophe here, almost bringing Death to life and personifying
this figure. She carries this strategy throughout multiple lines and her
imagery really gives the audience a sense of what Death would be like. Her technique
compels the audience to sympathize with Janie, for this is not her first
encounter with Death. She has found “a feather from his wing lying in her yard”
before and she is now going to have to once again move forward after a major
loss (Hurston 84).
The author most likely focuses
on death for an extended period of time because it is going to have such a
major effect on Janie’s life. Janie feels so much guilt at this point of the
story and the conflict that began multiple chapters ago is still continuing. It
will either be resolved by his ultimate death or she has to quickly solve their
issues now. Janie is running out of time to make things right between them and the author is building the
suspense with this well-done apostrophe. Death has “his sword drawn back” and
Janie must reach Jody before he does (Hurston 84).
Death has been personified so much that almost everyone pictures the same figure. The modernized picture below shows the power that Death has and how he has the ability to watch over everyone, deleting people whenever he wants. Janie imagines death to be just like this, hovering above, ready to make his move.
Firstly - thanks for the spoiler alert Casey! This is very courteous for those who have not read far enough. It is true when you say that modern society has a clear and defined image of Death as a grim reaper with the unstoppable ability to end life. The author also purposefully chose to build up tension in the event of Jody's death because she wanted to match the time elapsed with the feeling of death's worst quality: lenght. Watching someone die is the worst feeling because you know at a certain point that it's inevitable, so Janie witnessing Jody die must have left an emotional scar on her conscience.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think about death after this point in the book? Isn't there further personification to be discussed?
ReplyDelete