"The porch couldn't talk for looking": Voice and Vision in 'Their Eyes Were Watching God.'(Zora Neale Hurston)(Critical Essay)
| Publisher | African American Review |
| Publication | African American Review |
| Subject | Ethnic, cultural, racial issues/studies |
| Format | Magazine/Journal |
| ISSN | 1062-4783 |
| Issues per Year | 4 |
| Volume | 35 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Published | 2001-12-22 |
| Role | Type | Name |
| Author | n/a | Deborah Clarke |
| Person | Criticism and interpretation | Zora Neale Hurston |
| Related Content | Type |
| Their Eyes Were Watching God | Lesson Plan |
| Their Eyes Were Watching God | eNotes |
| Their Eyes Were Watching God | quickNotes |
| Their Eyes Were Watching God | Puzzle Pack |
| Their Eyes Were Watching God | Activity Pack |
| Their Eyes Were Watching God | AP Teaching Unit |
| Their Eyes Were Watching God | Teaching Unit |
| Their Eyes Were Watching God | Response Journal |
| Their Eyes Were Watching God | Salem on Literature |
"So 'tain't no use in me telling you somethin' unless Ah give you de understandin' to go 'long wid it. Unless you see do fur, a mink skin ain't no different from a coon hide." (Hurston, Their Eyes 7)
When Janie explains to her friend Pheoby the reason that simply telling her story will not suffice, why she needs to provide the "'understandin' to go 'long wid it,'" she employs a metaphor of vision: Unless you see the fur, you can't tell a mink from a coon. Stripped of their defining visual characteristics, the hides collapse into sameness. Recognizing visual difference,...
[This journal article is 9645 words long]
Join eNotes
The above is a free excerpt. Get complete access to our library of journals with the: