The usage of literature has been, since the dawn of time, a force used to inspire the oppressed, condemn oppressors, and to serve as an amalgamating force between the two. Whether it is used as an act of propaganda to convey the tones of the period or to call for change, literature can be accredited as the catalyst of many social movements that have changed life as it was once known. An example of this is the literary masterpiece Their Eyes Were Watching God, written by Zora Neale Hurston. It is a novel which provides an in-depth reflection of the prominent racism and sexism within the United States during the early 1900s. The novel examines the life of African Americans, African American women in particular, who had to experience both racism as well as sexism. The novel’s themes of gender roles and race are expressed by the unique use of dialect, diction, and language in the novel. To fully comprehend the significance of the diction and language used in the novel, one must first understand the overall plot. The novel is first set in West Florida, and the protagonist of the story is Janie.
Growing up, Janie is unaware of her blackness; she finds herself shocked by this reality upon seeing a picture of herself. Janie lives with her grandmother, Nanny, who is incredibly overprotective of her granddaughter and often worries for her. Showcasing the norms of the time, Nanny marries off her granddaughter in the hopes of protecting her better, broadcasting the dynamics of gender roles in the twentieth century. Logan Killicks is the first of three husbands whom Janie marries. Due to the duo’s dynamic personalities constantly clashing, the marriage is one of failure. After her life is threatened by Killicks, the young woman runs away with a man named Joe Starks, who becomes her second husband. The pair run away to the first all-black city in America: Eatonville, Florida. Joe Starks becomes a prominent member of his city as the mayor, and Janie’s life seems to be heading in the best direction that it can. Unfortunately, Starks shares similarities with her previous husband. His idea of societal gender expectations conflicts with Janie’s outspoken and independent identity.
Due to a violent falling out, Janie’s marriage falls to shambles. Her husband becomes ill and eventually dies. Janie later falls in love with another man by the name of Tea Cake; however, their relationship proves to be yet another tragedy for Janie. Janie and Tea Cake move to the Everglades of Florida, and they have a thriving marriage which turns to shambles when a hurricane hits, and in a sudden turn of events a rabid dog bites Tea Cake, and he contracts rabies. Due to his illness, he turns mad, but before he can be successful in his attempts to kill her, she kills him out of self-defense. She is brought to trial for murder, but her innocence is proven. Janie returns to Eatonville. The novel is the narration of her life to her friend Pheoby, whom she meets when she returns to Eatonville. A unique dialect is used to represent the unique culture associated with the characters of the novel. The term dialect is defined as “a provincial, rural, or socially distinct variety of a language that differs from the standard language, especially when considered as substandard” (“Dialect”). Dialect in literature, and particularly this novel, bears importance for a sum of reasons. Its main significance lies in its ability to illustrate the period of the work, the culture of those discussed in the work, and the region as well as the attitude of the work. The characters speak in Ebonics combined with southern slang and an implied southern drawl. Pheoby says to Janie on the fourth page of the novel “Ah see you is. Gal, you sho looks good” (Hurston 4). Hurston uses wording such as this throughout the novel, as it is how the characters speak to one another. Dialect is an extremely powerful tool that can show the level of education that the speaker has as well. Because the novel is set in a period of mass disenfranchisement and terrorism directed toward blacks via legal slavery practices such as sharecropping and tenant farming, the number of educated black people stands close to zero.
This is made apparent by the “incorrect” way of speech presented by the characters, especially due to its stark contrast with the narrator’s speech. The narration is so unlike the dialogue of the novel, as the narration contains only Standard English and many complex words. This expresses the idea that the author’s “… writing compared to her dialect shows the contrast in what people of the time may have thought about blacks as to what they were actually capable of as seen in Hurston’s prose” (“The Function of Language and Dialect in ‘Their Eyes Were Watching God’”). Hurston uses the contrast of the dialogue and the language used in narration to help exhibit to the audience the social status, life position, and personalities of Janie and all the characters she interacts with. The strong themes presented in this novel are made evident through the use of diction. The words, speech, and language Hurston use help convey the general attitudes and problems that prevail during the novel’s time period. For example, the problem of sexism is shown through the use of the characters’ dialogue. Janie’s grandmother even says: “Honey, de white man is de ruler of everything as fur as Ah been able tuh find out. Maybe it’s some place way off in de ocean where de black man is in power, but we don’t know nothin’ but what we see. So de white man throw down de load and tell de nigger man tuh pick it up. He pick it up because he have to, but he don’t tote it. He hand it to his womenfolks. De nigger woman is de mule uh de world so fur as Ah can see” (Hurtson 47).
These few sentences not only illustrate racial division but the inequality of the sexes. This is incredibly important because it displays the marginalization of black women; black men cannot know their wives’ and daughters’ experiences with sexism, and white women cannot know their black sisters’ struggles with racism. Throughout the novel, the dialogue used by Janie’s first two husbands illustrate how they, black men who were discriminated against racially, further discriminated against Janie because of her sex. Their Eyes Were Watching God is a work of writing embedded into the history of American literature. Its use of contrasting dialogue and speech illustrate a culture of a people that many Americans cannot relate to nor understand, making an audience that might be ignorant to the culture feel a connection towards it. It is a novel which emphasizes the great marginalization of two groups in the United States in the period of its publishing as well as today. Those affected by the marginalization can see a reflection of their living conditions, and this arguably inspired them to fight for change and fight for equality. Through dialogue, the novel can convey its strong themes of discrimination and equality to a large audience.
