Journal #5

Janie is at Jody's funeral, Hurston is explaining what Janie is thinking as the funeral goes on. "Janie starched and ironed her face and came set in the funeral behind her veil. It was like a wall of stone and steel. The funeral was going on outside. All things concerning death and burial were said and done. Finish. End. Nevermore. Darkness. Deep hole. Dissolution. Eternity. Weeping and wailing outside. Inside the expensive black folds were resurrection and life. She did not reach outside for anything, nor did the things of death reach inside to disturb her calm. She sent her face to Joe's funeral, and herself went rollicking with the springtime across the world." Hurston's expresses his manipulation of language by word choice, syntax, tone and sound devices in this passage to give the reader a taste of what Janie is feeling at Jody's funeral. As with syntax, a couple sentences are full, with varying explanation and imagery and other times he uses one word sentences to convey the sadness and gloom and how everything is complete and over. His word choice, for example, "darkness", "weeping and wailing", and the use of the word "black" display the overall tone for the passage which is despondency and despair. The sound devices Hurston uses also help to create a sort of tone for the passage and makes the passage seem very hopeless.