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Idioms
Definition of Imagery
Imagery, in any sort of writing, refers to descriptive language that engages the human senses. For instance, the following lines from Robert Frost's poem "After Apple-Picking" contain imagery that engages... read full definition
Imagery, in any sort of writing, refers to descriptive language that engages the human senses. For instance, the following lines from Robert Frost's poem "After... read full definition
Imagery, in any sort of writing, refers to descriptive language that engages the human senses. For instance, the following lines... read full definition
Chapter 2
Explanation and Analysis—A Great Tree in Leaf:
One of many important instances of dialect in the book, and Hurston's use of it as a literary device, is the following, as Janie begins her story to Pheoby in Chapter 2:
Janie saw her life like a great tree in leaf with the things suffered, things enjoyed, things done and undone. Dawn and doom was in the branches. 'Ah know exactly what Ah got to tell yuh, but it’s hard to know where to start at.'
There is an interesting contrast here between Janie's speech and that of the narrator. In standard English, the narrator describes Janie's life, that she feels like "a great tree in leaf." This represents a full understanding of Janie's whole life and her perception of it; it is communicated to the reader in standard English. This story of Janie's life is the content of the story which she is about to tell to Pheoby; it is "exactly what Ah got to tell yuh." Janie tells Pheoby that she doesn't know how to tell her story, but the standard-English narrator summarizes it quickly in one quick metaphor. Exactly who this narrator is remains unclear in the story. This tension in how the story is told, with Janie's story, usually in dialect, interspersed with gaps filled in by a seemingly omniscient standard-English narrator, carries through the book. It is perhaps this tension that Hurston alludes to when Janie says that "it's hard to know where to start at." Janie begins her speech not sure of her story, even if the narrator is, in standard English.
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Chapter 3
Explanation and Analysis—Mule-Foots:
Logan Killicks, Janie's first husband, rarely washes and is quite gross. Janie's description of this, describing to Nanny why she can't stand Logan, is some of the most visceral imagery in the book. And it is a good example of the fact that imagery is not only a visual tool, but can use description of any physical sense. Here, the focus is Logan's smell:
His belly is big too, now, and his toe-nails look lak mule-foots. And 'tain't nothin' in de way of him washing his feet every evenin' before he comes tuh bed. 'Tain't nothin' tuh hinder him 'cause Ah places de water for him. Ah’d ruther be shot wid tacks than tuh turn over in de bed and stir up de air whilst he is in dere. He don’t even never mention nothin’ pretty.
The reader can see, feel, and even smell the unfortunate figure of Logan Killicks. Janie uses this imagery to try to argue for her own benefit. She wants to make clear that Killicks is ugly and gross, despite even her best efforts to help him clean up. This imagery, and how specific and visceral it is, is motivated by Janie's rhetorical goal to convince Nanny that she should divorce Logan. The rhetorical nature of this imagery is set off by the last line of this paragraph. It is not only that he smells bad, but that he "don't even never mention nothin' pretty." Logan is not pretty, in his appearance, smell, affect, or personality, and this is why Janie leaves him for Joe Starks.
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Chapter 8
Explanation and Analysis—Baggy:
Hurston makes a very evocative image of the fat, decrepit figure of an elderly Joe Starks, one of the multiple descriptions of the horrible states to which each of Janie's husbands come. This description focuses on his looseness, as he all but melts away:
Then too she noticed how baggy Joe was getting all over. Like bags hanging from an ironing board. A little sack hung from the corners of his eyes and rested on his cheek-bones, a loose-filled back of feathers hung from his ears and rested on his neck beneath his chin. A sack of flabby something hung from his loins and rested on his thighs when he sat down. But even these things were running down like candle grease as time moves on.
In the first sentence "baggy" may seem like an odd description, but one of the essential features of Hurston's style is that her images are seldom expected, predictable, or familiar. Hurston commits to "baggy" as a descriptor, confirming and elaborating it in the unexpected yet clear simile, "Like bags hanging from an ironing board." This uses a familiar image, an ironing board, but positions it in a new context to work as an entirely evocative simile for Joe's old body. (Note that the narrator, echoing Janie's disgust, calls the man "Joe," not the more affectionate "Jody.") Hurston clarifies that these bags hanging off an ironing board are full of feathers and "flabby something." They hang from his face, ears, and loins. The image of bags is precise for an old man gone to seed, but it is entirely novel, avoiding anything close to cliche.
This imagery also shows how gross Joe has become, but it also shows how differently gross he is than Logan Killicks. While Janie's first husband was unappealing because he stank and refused to wash, her second was unappealing because he became fat and ugly as he aged. Hurston uses the distinct and evocative imagery for each husband to show Janie's development through the novel. Janie does not just fall for the same type of bad men (say, smelly ones), but up to this point she has married two different flawed men and lost her patience with both. Through her relationships with these different men, Janie develops into her own personality and maturity; the varying imagery between the husbands helps to trace this development in the novel.
Related Themes:
