How Does Hurston Use Figurative Language

Hurston used the stylistic techniques of figurative language and point of view to strengthen the tone of wanting more out of a lonely life.

A major factor Hurston used to enhance the tone was figurative language. For example, when she included the fact that Janie, the main character, had a starched ironed face and set in the funeral behind her veil there wasn’t really a veil it was just her face but, it was portrayed in such a way so that one would notice it was just a cover up. Once Joe, her second husband, had died she knew things would be different because now she could finally breathe which is the reason for the saying, “ She sent her face to Joe’s funeral but her mind went rollicking with the springtime across the world.” The one thing that was holding her back had finally been lifted up off of her shoulders. To resume, “...she was there in the big house and sometimes it

From Janie’s point of view, “...she should find them and they find her,” meaning that she wanted more than just a old man she was forced to marry or a man who came to her. She wanted somebody she went after who also went after her. Furthermore, she felt as if she had been, “whipped like a cur dog, and run off down a back road after things,” meaning Nanny, Janie’s grandma, had caused her to put her dreams to the side and live a certain way. She had felt as if her own grandmother had tied a piece of the horizon around her neck tight enough to choke her. Therefore, from her point of view she had been restrained from getting the love she actually wanted out of life for quite some time. But, for Janie she could look at a mud-puddle and see an ocean with ships. For this reason, she can think of a million other things she could do or want to do out of one little thing. She had a view of life where nothing was impossible you just had to want it and go for your dream or go with the flow and eventually something good will