Their Place in the World (blue)

In the passage on the bottom of page fourteen, Nanny was talking to her very disgusted. This is because she kissed Jhonny Taylor and Jhonny is not one of the best people to be running around with especially because Janie is a young girl. In the passage Nanny was talking to Janie after she "slapped some sense into Janie".  The actual character Nanny is doing the talking or dialogue in this passage.  The speaker is reliable to a certain point, she is very wise due to her past expiriences in slavery and with her daughter(Janies Mother). The slavery does alter her point of view slightly, she says,"So de white man throw down de load and tell de nigger man tuh pick it up.  He pick it up because he have to, but he dont tote it.  He hand it to his womenfolk de nigger woman is de mule"(14) This shows a very strong impression of slavery however slavery was not that long ago, so the speaker is in fact reliable in this passage. Now moving on to tone, the tone in the passage is really strong and powerful. While reading you can "feel" the tension in the air from nanny with this tone. The tone is made up of fear,"Ah been prayin' fuh it tuh be different wid you. Lawd, Lawd, Lawd!"(14) and that is not the only thing, there is also realization. The passage is jam packed with tons of tension and fear from the connection with Janie and Nanny.


Spencer Perr
Mark Gutierrez