The context of the passage puts the reader among Janie in her recollection of herself after she watches the life leave Jody’s body. She began to look back all that had happened, “She was full of pity for the first time in years.” She goes over to the mirror and looks at herself, it had been years since the young girl had left her face. Now, “... a handsome woman had taken her place.” She lets down her hair, the feeling of it empowered her with a sense of freedom. Now that Jody was dead, Janie feels sorry, because life had been hard on him just as much as others. In the passage, the speaker is a narrator seemingly limited only to the thoughts within Janie’s head. The passage conveys a sense or concept in which death and pity arise and a rebirth. The tone is somber in a way that shows Janie’s pity and sorrow but at the same time she realizes her maturity as a woman and she finally is free to be herself when she lets her hair down. This passage is a turning point that marks a transformation in Janie;s journey.