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Literary Devices Used in Zora Neale Hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God"

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Literary Devices Used in Zora Neale Hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God"
Chao Chen
Mrs.Alvaranga
John Bowne HS
10 Nov. 2012
Their Eyes Were Watching God, Final In each novel there are characters that have to accomplish quests in order to reach self realization and to show the development of this particular character. In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston makes good uses of literary devices like personification, figurative language, and tone to help enhance the development of Janie’s character to reach self realization. In Their Eyes Were Watching God it took a while for Janie get close to self realization and she learned it after dealing with some drops in her life. Searching for the right mate was never easy because we are all at the mercy of time, yet time is the best way to find answers that we seek for. In the novel after years have passed and the death Joe has gave Janie a chance to take a good look at her past “But she had been whipped like a cur dog, and run off down a back road after things” this figurative language was used to show Janie’s inside feeling of her past; how it contributes to her life has been so far as being treated like a dog. In the matter of fact as Janie carried on with her look at the past, she has found something else that had a big impact on her. The sorrow destiny of Janie’s family had never left her; instead it happened to her as well due all these different people she had to deal with. The passed on destiny was described figuratively “Here Nanny had taken the biggest thing God ever made, the horizon – for not matter how far a person can go the horizon is still way beyond you”, this enhance the fact that Nanny had never left her and freedom was just a mental picture within Janie’s mind. Janie’s quest for happiness has instead taken her on a quest for self realization. There are roads must be taken within life and the road that Janie chose has bought her lonesomeness instead “Then she’d lie awake in bed asking lonesomeness some questions”, this personification is

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