Although Janie shares her story with Pheoby, making it seem like her tale, it is not told in the first person. Instead, a third-person omniscient narrator delivers most of the story, leading to much discussion about whose perspective this truly represents. Claire Crabtree, in the Southern Literary Journal, argues that this narrative voice is “always close to but not identical with Janie’s consciousness.” This suggests that the narrator, who understands more about the other characters' thoughts than Janie could, is closely aligned with her perspective. The use of free indirect speech to convey Janie's thoughts further supports this connection. However, Henry Louis Gates Jr., in his book The Signifying Monkey, proposes that the narrative voice “echoes and aspires to the status of the impersonality, anonymity, and authority of the Black vernacular tradition, a nameless, selfless tradition, at once collective and compelling.” Gates believes that the narrator, who speaks in standard English while the characters use Black dialect, gradually becomes a representative voice of the Black community by adopting elements of Black vernacular speech. This voice takes on an oral storytelling quality, narrating not only Janie's story but many others. For example, Nanny's voice becomes prominent when recounting Janie's heritage, and the voices from the porch take over during their extended discussions about life in Eatonville. Essentially, the novel includes multiple storytellers within Janie's broader narrative, with various voices contributing to the story.