Eyes #7

"And that he spit in that gold-lookin' vase that that anybody else would have been glad to put on their front room table"(47).

Joe is proudly displaying his power over others by buying nice things, surprise! I put the spitoon under symbol, because it represents Joe's materialistic views and how he uses the things he gains to feel powerful.  Other symbols that fall under this category may include the house and/or the store.  By having things that are "better" than those around him, Joe puts himself up on a throne not unlike that of a king.  To top it all off, he spits in that pretty vase, proving that he is in a higher spot than those who wouldn't dare spit in such a fine decoration.  He tries to get Janie to do the same thing by buying her something similar.  It is never specified whether or not she uses it, and I wonder if Hurston does that on purpose.  I also made the connection to at the beginning of the book to when nanny was telling Janie that she didn't want any men making a spit cup out of her.  In Joe's situation, he's making a spit cup out of the whole town by parading his posessions around.  This doesn't get him any respect, and he ends up disliked by some for that reason.

"They made burning statements with questions, and killing tools out of laughs.  It was mass cruelty"(2).

The sudden change from Hurston's usual flowing style full of complex sentences and imagery and other things of the like certainly draws the readers attention to the shorter sentences.  By using a short sentence, Hurston points out the importance of the situation by drawing the readers attention to something different.  This could also be used to point out a contrast, set up a different mood, or keep a reader awake.

"She saw a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom"(11).

The repeated "s" sound in this super sentence creates a sense of calm simliar to that of the water flowing in and out at the beginning of the novel.  Outside under the trees, Janie feels a sense of happiness that the things her husbands give her can't necessarily bring.  The "s" could also be the whisper of the seeds floating through the air and sinking in to the soil.