Triumphant Janie

When close reading this passage on page 87 of Their Eyes Were Watching God you can tell that it is situated in the text after Janie and Jody have an argument and Jody passes away. When he dies it persuades Janie into taking her hair down for the first time since Jody told her to keep it up and she feels free. “She tore off the kerchief from her head and let down her plentiful hair. The weight, the length, the glory was there.” (Hurston 87) There is much figurative language in this passage but one that sticks out is when Janie talks about her younger self and how she is older now. “Years ago, she told her girl self to wait for her in the looking glass. It had been a long time since she had remembered. Perhaps she’d better look. She went over to the dresser and looked hard at her skin and features. The young girl was gone, but a handsome woman had taken her place.” (Hurston 87) This sentence explains how Janie has grown and changed since the last time she really looked in the mirror but it is a good change. Thanks to Jody and all that Janie has gone through in this part of her life she has grown to be a strong, independent woman. The tone in this section starts out questioning herself and who she is then changes after she looks in the mirror, she feels triumphant which is the main tone of the passage. Janie has made it through the making of the town and the marriage with Jody where she was mistreated and not free to do what she wanted and she is proud of herself and feels successful.