The Power of Porch Talk in Their Eyes Were Watching God

李楠

【Abstract】Porch talk， as a common setting in Their Eyes Were Watching God， is empowered by Zora Neale Hurston to make political and cultural assertion of African Americans and self-autonomy assertion of black female， providing the reader an authentic African American oral tradition and black heritage.

【Keyword】Zora Neale Hurston； Porch talk； Black oral tradition

In 1937， Zora Neale Hurstonpublished her masterpiece Their Eyes Were Watching God， which has been studied since then from many perspectives home and abroad， this paper delves deep into the strong power of porch talk in the novel， exploringHurstons usage of traditional porch talk as a narrative framework to convey the political and cultural assertion of AfricanAmericans and the self-autonomy assertion of Janie and black women in general， so as to provide an important clue for the readers to appreciate the African American oral tradition and culture and to have a better understanding of the is novelfrom a new angle.

1.Porch talk as a political and cultural assertion

The front porchis an integral part of Southern oral tradition since it is a place where history being recorded by memory and is a true forum for AfricanAmerican folklore， where stories are retold， stretched， remade， and passed down.Their Eyes Were Watching God is， on the broader level， a story about storytelling on the porch. When Janie Crawford returns after a two-year absence to her home in Eatonville， she eagerly tells her story to her best friend Pheoby Watson on the steps of her back porch. Applied the back porch talk as a classic narrative framework， Hurston naturally let Janie speak her own story.

First of all， the porch talk enhances the community cohesion largely through gossiping and telling stories. Moreover， Hurston describes theporch talk time， the sundown， as an empowering moment， in which the role of these black people is transformed： from mules of white master to their own lords of sounds. The act of “passing nations through their mouths” signifies orality and self-authority. Black people celebrate the porch talk as of freedom， of leisure and of letting words walk “without masters” （Hurston， 2）. Therefore， porch talk is black peoplessurvival strategy to heal their wound， to get comfort after one-day hardworking， to fight against hardship of life，to forget social discrimination and to even feel the modest taste of equality.

Furthermore，lots of asking and answering happened during the porch talk whichserves as a narrative framework constructing the whole story， a plot device bringing the protagonist forwards and an aesthetic strategyand representation of African American folkloric tradition. Such asking and answering can be referred to as loosecall-and-response， a loose overlapping back and forth banter between speaker and listener where the speakers voice is intertwined with the audiences response. Thisfeature applied enables the readerto participate， to be a part of the story， toimage their talkingthe dialect， or immersing themselves into the storytellers porch scene.

The language used in the porch talk isthe authentic black vernacular. Immersing the reader in dialectal writing instead of writing Standard English makes Hurstons text more akin to a porch talk， as such， giving the readers an authentic listener experience and a wonderful taste of African American culture. The store porch in an AfricanAmericancommunity is， to use Robert Hemenways words， “thetotem representing black cultural tradition； it is wherethe values of the group are manifested in verbalbehavior” （Hemenway23）.

2. Porch talk as a self-autonomy assertion of Janie and black women

There are Phoebys gossiping porch representing the folkcommunity who gossip about Janies life，the androcraticporch of Joe Starkss store， Janies own front porch and private back porch. In eachporch， Janie plays different roles as a storytellingsubjector object. Geographically moved from one porch to another， Janie gradually articulates her own voice physically and symbolically.

On Jodys store porch， Janie isconsigned to a listening position. When she attempts to find an individualizedvoice in this androcratic “place”， Jody warns her that she is “getting too moufy” （71）. Not only Janie， many other women in this porch are in service of men， as objects of mens stories and performances. One of Janies sustained desires is to create anindividualized space for herself， fighting against theexclusivity of mans porch.Upon the death of Jody and his public authority，Janie inherits the porches and begins to shift the terms of theporchespower.Janie begins to assert her individual powerby inviting others onto the front porch of her house. Then， Janie marries Tea Cake mostly because he allows her to be a part of the conversation more than anyone before. Finally， Janie has hadher own porch， became authorized teller of her ownstory and gained her self-autonomy.

3. Conclusion

Through applying porch talk， Hurston gives the readers an authentic listener experience of a black female Janies self-autonomy journey with rich traditional black folklore flavor， explicitly and confidently reclaiming the cultural South for African Americans and articulating the political assertion in a more profound way.

【references】

[1]Gates， Henry Louis， Jr.， The Signifying Monkey： A Theory of African American Literary Criticism[M]， New York： Oxford University Press， 1998.

[2]Harris， Trudier. The Power of the Porch： The Storytellers Craft in Zora Neale Hurston， Gloria Naylor， and Randall Kenan[M]. Athens： University of Georgia Press， 1996.

[3]Hemenway， Robert E. ZoraNeale Hurston： A Literary Biography[M]. Urbana： University of Illinoise Press， 1980.

[4]Hurston， Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God[M].New York： Harper & Row， 1990.

[5]程錫麟.赫斯頓研究[M].上海外語教育出版社，2005.

[6]秦蘇玨.《他們眼望上蒼》中惡作劇精靈意象解讀[J].國外文學，2008（3）：102-108.

[7]王元陸.赫斯頓與門廊口語傳統(tǒng)——兼論赫斯頓的文化立場[J].外國文學，2009（1）：67-73.