Hurston Rhetorical Analysis

Hurston uses an abhorring tone when she describes Mrs. Turner’s hypocrisy. Mrs. Turner, despite being a black woman, believes that black people should not be subjected to the same level of respect as white people. Mrs. Turner believes that a person’s whiteness is equated with the amount of respect he or she deserves. Hurston uses phrases like “insensate cruelty”, as well as biblical imagery, to convey her tone. Hurston finds Mrs. Turner’s criteria for determining the worth of others to be illogical and unfounded. She compares Mrs. Turner’s system to “the pecking-order in a chicken yard” (144). Hurston’s simile allows for her to compare Mrs. Turner’s system to a hierarchical system imposed by unintelligent animals in a disgusting and filthy
yard, and thus to express how she detests Mrs. Turner’s treatment of her own race.
Hurston’s use of biblical imagery is also significant. Hurston expresses repugnance about Mrs. Turner’s treatment of her own race by comparing Mrs. Turner’s worship of lighter-skinned people to the worshipping of Gods. As this novel takes place in the Southern United States during a period of widespread racism, blacks were repeatedly subjected to systematically cruel treatment (“All gods dispense suffering without reason” (145)). The Gods in Hurston’s metaphor symbolize white people. Mrs. Turner builds “altars” to express her submission toward white people, and believes that she deserves to be treated cruelly because of the color of her skin. This passage serves as social commentary. Hurston expresses contempt toward blacks like Mrs. Turner who encourage the ill-treatment of blacks by whites, and believes that whites are worshipped because they are able to freely inflict pain upon others.

The diction in this passage can be best described as slang, dialect, and concrete. Examples of slang in this passage include “gotten their knots charged” and “jook”, while examples of dialect include “coon-dick”, “eating house”, and “likker” (149). “Getting a knot charged” is slang for getting drunk, while jook is slang for a Southern bar. Furthermore, coon-dick is cheap whiskey or moonshine, an eating house is a food establishment, and likker is liquor. By utilizing a multiplicity of words to describe eating establishments and liquor, Hurston is highlighting the importance of individuals gathering together to eat and drink as communion. In literature, communion often examines how characters stand with one another. The communion described in this chapter serves to signify how there is a weak bond of community. Not only do the townspeople take advantage of alcohol by getting drunk, the townspeople participate in mass brawls and wreak havoc. By stressing communion, Hurston is also underlining the submissive role women are expected to play in the community. Although the men get drunk and start a massive fight in Mrs. Turner’s eating establishment, she is the one who ends up being physically injured.
Concrete diction is also prevalent in this passage.
Concrete diction is used when Hurston describes the men as “loud-talking” and “staggering” (149). Furthermore, concrete diction is used when the men are described as “white” and the town as “colored” (149). Hurston uses descriptive language, or language that humans can perceive with the five senses, to describe the rambunctious behavior of the drunk men. She also uses this language to allow the reader to feel as if he or she is part of the communion in order to achieve the full effect of dining together. The reader is able to visualize the energy radiating from the town, from the drunk men stumbling down the sidewalk to police cars scrambling about the city to the physical qualities of the men causing the
trouble.

This excerpt is an incredibly important passage, as Hurston alludes to the title of the work when she asserts that “their eyes were watching God” (160).
The hurricane is symbolic of the lack of power people have over their own lives. Hurricanes and other natural disasters do not discriminate when it comes to inflicting damage; they affect people of all ethnicities, genders, races, and sexual orientations alike. Janie, Tea Cake, and Motor Boat prove to be powerless against the destructive force of the hurricane, similar to how they prove to be powerless against the decisions imposed by white society. Hurston may also be providing social commentary on white supremacy in society. Although the black characters are staring at the dark, representative of how blacks were grouped together and segregated from whites during this era, their eyes are watching God. As in chapter sixteen, God is representative of white power. No matter what smaller, personal choices blacks make, Hurston argues, whites continue to exert all-encompassing and ultimate power over blacks. The decisions of whites ultimately affect the decisions that blacks can make, as whites exert incredible power over the major economic, political, and social sectors of life in the United States. Janie may be seated on a high chair, but God is seated on the highest
stool.
The hurricane is also a turning point in the novel. Janie and Tea Cake’s picturesque relationship is put to the test as Tea Cake’s physical capabilities deteriorate and he is bitten by a rabid dog, resulting in illness and subsequently death. The hurricane does not merely physically destroy Janie’s surroundings, but tests her will to survive and to remain emotionally stable as the love of her life transforms into a crazed, weak being. The hurricane and the aftermath involving Tea Cake’s sickness forces Janie to question whether it is best for her to run from her problems or to face them head on. While Janie and Tea Cake can escape the physical hurricane, they are trapped in its cycle of destruction.