The Looking Glass

This passage is situated in the text where Jody takes his lasts breaths and Janie cries for help. She had been talking to Jody about how she did not like being silent all of the time and how age had taken toll on the both of them. In all those moments of silence, she did not think that Jody even realized what he was doing to his wife.  She mentioned how things were not the same anymore, and that their love for eachother was drifting away, and how she no longer felt beautiful anymore. As Jody withered away, the two talked about how Jody has been so controlling that he doesn't even know his own wife. In this passage, Janie has the realization of what all those years of growing old with Jody, had done to her body. She had told her young self to never let her grow old and if she did, to have the old self wait for the young self to catch up. As Janie looked in the dresser mirror, she saw an old woman, that of which had replaced the young woman she used to be. She remained beautiful but  had to look at  herself in a different perspective to see it. This passage sheds light on other parts of the novel because in Chapter 9, she once again takes down her hair, this time for good, burning all of her hair rags. Before, she would take down her hair, look at herself and put it right back up, in fear that Jody would punish her, but now she was free and Jody was gone.
The speaker of this passage in the narrator, who has been watching over the two as they talked about their lives previous to this converstation. The narrator is careful to not let any details of their conversation to slip away, which allows for very strong imagery, almost like you are sitting right their with the two as they talk. In the passage, the author does not use any figurative language, mostly because this passage has a very serious tone and that kind of diction would not add any affect to the passage.
Overall, the tone of the passage is sentimental, as for Janie's realization has an element of tenderness and sadness. Their is a moment of nostalgia when she takes off her rag cloth because she is mentally and emotionally attached to it and it is a reminder of Jody's orders. Later in the book, when Janie decides to remove and burn those clothes, the moment of nostalgia is still there because they had sentimental value of her but it is constant reminder of Jody that she no longer wants.