Their Eyes Were Watching God Chapter 6 Reading Questions

Directions: Answer each of the following questions in complete sentences, using textual evidence to support your claims
when asked to.

1. 3-4 sentences, using at least one quote. Why do you think Janie feels so deeply for the mule?
Janie's emotional connection to the mule is illuminated as she witnesses its mistreatment. The
quote "Ah wants things sweet wid mah marriage lak when you sit under a pear tree and think"
reveals Janie's yearning for a fulfilling relationship, mirroring her own desire for a life filled
with love and freedom. The mule's tragic fate serves as a metaphor for the stifling constraints
on Janie's dreams, evoking a profound empathy from her as she contemplates the shared
struggle for autonomy.

2. 3-4 sentences, using at least one quote. After she is slapped by her husband, Janie experiences yet another shift
in her feelings about Joe. Here too, Hurston uses figurative language to capture the shift in Janie’s feelings. “She
stood there until something fell off the shelf inside her. Then she went inside there to see what it was. It was her
image of Jody tumbled down and shattered. […] She found that she had a host of thoughts she had never
expressed to him, and numerous emotions she had never let Jody know about. Things packed up and put away in
parts of her heart where he could never find them. She was saving up feelings for some man she had never seen.
She had an inside and an outside now and suddenly she knew how not to mix them.” How many types of
figurative language can you find in this passage? How does each figure of speech help to convey a change in
Janie’s feelings toward her husband?
There is the metaphor of something falling off the shelf inside Janie, symbolizing a realization or
revelation. The shattered image of Jody represents a metaphorical break in her perception of him. The
phrase "saving up feelings" employs personification, giving emotions the quality of something tangible.
Lastly, the concept of having an inside and an outside serves as a metaphor for Janie's newfound self-
awareness, emphasizing the emotional distance she's creating. Each figure of speech contributes to
conveying the shift in Janie's feelings toward her husband, revealing a crack in her idealized image of
him and a burgeoning awareness of her own emotional depth and autonomy.