Journal 6

"Death, that strange being with the huge square toes who lived way in the West. The great one who lived in the straight house like a platform without sides to it, and without a roof. What need has Death for a cover, and what winds can blow against him? He stands in his high house that overlooks the world. Stands watchful and motionless all day with his sword drawn back, waiting for the messenger to bid him come. Been standing there before there was a where of a when or a then. . She was sad, and afraid too. Poor Jody! He ought not to have to wrassle in there by himself. She sent Sam in to suggest a visit, but Jody said No. These medical doctors wuz alright with the Godly sick, but they didn't know a thing about a case like his. He'd be alright just as soon as the two-headed man found what had been buried against him. He wasn't going to die at all. That was what he thought. But Sam told her different, so she knew. And then if he hadn't, the next morning she was bound to know, for people began to gather in the big yard under the palm and china-berry trees. People who would not have dared to foot the place before crept in and did not come to the house. Just squatted under the trees and waited. Rumor, that wingless bird, has shadowed over the town." [84]

1.  Hurston's use of the question "What need has Death for a cover, and what winds can blow against him?" shows that Janie recognizes the helplessness of the situation, that there is no thing humans can do about death.  She is expressing that by stating that death needs no cover to hide under, and nothing can stop it, that by living, you basically buy a ticket for death.

2.  Hurston uses wings, feathers, and birds throughout the book, and twice in this sections, although each is used separately. 

• "She was liable to find a feather from his wings lying in her yard any day now."  This shows that Janie is expecting Joe to die.  What I find weird is that she is referencing Joe as a bird.  I think she is comparing him to an animal to show that rather than feeling angry that Joe treated her disrespectfully, Janie feels sad because she feels pity for Joe (like he is a lesser being).  The man she once saw with associated with great ambition and aggressive goals, was now lying sickly in a bed, fighting a useless fight.
• "Rumor, that wingless bird, has shadowed over the town." This is where my animal/pity comparison both strengthens, and weakens (based on two ways of looking at this).  It strengthens if you look at this as rumor being a pathetic thing, told by pathetic people.  Almost like Janie is frustrated with the rumors the she was responsible for killing Joe.  However, it weakens because the pity view would have to switch awkwardly from person to concept, and I'm not sure Hurston would want to do that.  Alternatively, Hurston could have referred to rumor as a wingless bird because as things lose their wings (at some points in the book) they are considered to have died.  So, by doing this, she could be saying that people who spread the rumors are "dead" on the inside.

3.  Hurston only uses one word in dialect "wuz".  This is because this passage is mostly just the narrator making an insightful statement about death in relation to the setting.  Although throughout the book the narrator is omniscient, it is still necessary to make the distinction that this is Janie's thoughts.

4.  Hurston says "The great one who lived in the straight house like a platform without sides to it, and without a roof." in reference to death.  I think she does this to differentiate death from people even further, that it does not have a house, but rather, like god (referenced as the Watcher earlier) "overlooks" humanity from above.  This connects in my mind the standard idea of "god" and the standard idea of "death".  While god created life, with it he created death, and because it is his creation, it is on the same level as him, in the manner that it is above humanity an out of human control.

5.  Hurston repeatedly refers to death as a "he".  This could be because death has influence over the society, just as men do, so this further extends the role of gender in society.

6.  Capitalization of the word No in the sentence "She sent Sam in to suggest a visit, but Jody said No." is used to show Joe's emotion in the situation, believing that Janie has poisoned him.  But also this is used to even further the disrespect Joe is showing her, and I believe this is supposed to show the gender oppression in more of a wife vs. husband role.  She had to send a MAN in to see if she could go in, even though she was his wife.