Words can often paint a better picture than the greatest of paint brushes. In this case the articulation of Zora Neale Hurston makes the characters come to life from the pages. It captures the cadence and idioms of black vernacular. An example resides on page 29 “De nigger woman is de mule uh de world so far as Ah can see. Ad been prayin’ duh it tuh be different wid you. Lawd, Lawd, Lawd!” Their eyes were watching god. With this type of language use a unique expression of ideas rarely seen in literature. It helps embed the quotes into one’s memory to emphasize distinctly what separates narration from dialogue.
Identity is one of the more meticulously explored themes in the novel. Janie the protagonist confronts this as one of her conflicts. As African Americans we constantly battle this monster. With Zora Neale Hurston’s choice dialect it helps strengthen black southern pride by not only acknowledging non-standard english in literature. Another example of this dialect is displayed on pg.135 “Ah jus lak uh chicken. Chicken drink water, but he don’t pee-pee,” Their eyes were watching god. Hurston exemplifies the vernacular southern dialect with her use of carefully crafted dialogue. The use of this dialect makes African Americans not feel alienated in the literary world where it is indeed rare to see non-standard english. Philosopher and critic Alain Locke praised Hurston’s “gift for poetic phrase” stating how it was a welcome alternative to the norm during the harlem renaissance in tn turn strengthening southern ethnic identity.
Nevertheless there are some drawbacks to Hurston’s use of this dialect. One being how it can prove to be quite difficult to comprehend initially. This obstacle indeed proves to be difficult especially in the first few chapters. An example of this is seen in chapter 1, while Janie is talking with Phoeby about the porch sitters “If God don’t think no mo’ ‘bout em then Ah do, they’s a lost ball in the high grass.” Their eyes were watching god. However, after more extensive reading one begins to be able to predict the speech patterns of the characters. In addition, to adapting to the dialect in general; another solution is reading aloud which proves to be quite helpful.
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As previously noted Hurston’s use of the vernacular southern dialect is justified by the illustrations it produces and how it strengthens southern ethnic identity. Language is a forever changing and evolving form of art similar to natural selection in a population. Language is the key to culture, subduing one dialect to the advantage of another is disorder within language. All humans as members of the collective human civilization must attempt to abandon these beliefs of partiality and embrace cultural relativism and innovation in the future.
