Alifa Karim
Period 6
11/12/13
Timed Write Serfdom is one of the truly abyssal facets of world history. In “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” the porch sitters, also referred as the townspeople, represent peasants. In contrast, Janie is portrayed as a sort of an orphan princess. By utilizing stylistic elements, Zora Neale Hurston develops the persona of the townspeople and Janie as the serfs and princess respectively. Through the use of dialogue, the townspeople are shown to be peasants because they are lower than Janie Starks, and they aspire to be like her and have her life. They all “hope that she might fall to their level some day,” (2) so that they don’t have to envy her lifestyle as much. The townspeople admire Janie, but they do not respect her. The men especially would notice her “grape fruits in her hip pockets,” (2) instead of her beauty within. They think of her as a fruit, instead of a woman. They want to devour her beauty instead of her personality and achievements. The women would look her up and down to find something negative to say when really Janie “made them remember the envy they had stored up from other times” (2). The women were also jealous that their husbands constantly stare at her when she walks by. She is the one that makes men want to save “with the mind what they lost with the eye” (2). Her beauty is a woman’s pain, but a man’s gain. Hurston acquires symbols in the chapter to directly prove Janie as a princess. She is shown as a brave, independent, hardworking and beautiful woman that can hear the world talk her down, yet stand so tall. The townspeople know that Janie is better than them and that she has more of everything, but she doesn’t show it off to everyone like others would. “’She sits high, but she looks low’” (2). This quote shows that Janie does not see herself as a beautiful princess that can have any man she wants. She looks down upon herself as if she is a serf like the townspeople. Janie also has a few connections that prove she is royalty to the peasants. For instance, Janie’s “’blue satin dress” (2) shows she sits high because blue represents royals. Along with her outfit, her hair is an addition to her personality because it is described as “the great rope of black hair swinging to her