Previous
Allegory
Definition of Alliteration
Alliteration is a figure of speech in which the same sound repeats in a group of words, such as the “b” sound in: “Bob brought the box of bricks to... read full definition
Alliteration is a figure of speech in which the same sound repeats in a group of words, such as the “b” sound in: “Bob brought... read full definition
Alliteration is a figure of speech in which the same sound repeats in a group of words, such as the... read full definition
Chapter 19
Explanation and Analysis—Janie's Gun:
Tea Cake's death, by Janie's rifle shot, is foreshadowed often throughout the later part of the book, most explicitly by Tea Cake teaching Janie how to shoot. Tea Cake first has the idea that Janie should learn to shoot a gun after their move to the Everglades. Janie is skeptical, but Tea Cake is quite certain: "Oh, you needs tuh learn how. 'Tain't no need uh you not knowin' how to handle shootin' tools. Even if you didn't never find no game, it's always some trashy rascal dat needs uh good killin'."
At this point, a long way before the climax of the book, readers already might be able to guess that "some trashy rascal" might end up getting killed before the end of the story. Hurston uses alliteration and assonance, linking the "s" and "a" sounds in "some trashy rascal," to bring the reader's attention to the phrase; this makes the reader more likely to notice the foreshadowing.
As Tea Cake teaches Janie how to shoot, the student quickly starts to overtake the teacher:
[Tea Cake] bought another rifle and a pistol and he and Janie bucked each other as to who was the best shot with Janie ranking him always with the rifle. She could knock the head off of a chicken-hawk sitting up a pine tree. Tea Cake was a little jealous, but proud of his pupil.
Nearing the end of the book, it is clear that Janie has become proficient with a gun. The term "Chekhov's gun"—the principle in literature, named after the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, that if a gun appears at the beginning of a story, it must be fired by the end—is on point here. The reader has become all but certain that there will be gunfire in the story soon. The tension grows after Tea Cake contracts rabies and becomes increasingly sick, deranged, and violent. Then another gun enters the story: "It was then she felt the pistol under the pillow. It gave her a quick ugly throb, but she didn't ask him about it since he didn't say. Never had Tea Cake slept with a pistol under his head before." At this point, Janie's intervention feels all but inevitable. This foreshadowing throughout the second half of the book builds the tension leading to Tea Cake's death. And at the same time, it makes his death more tragic, as Janie's story forces readers to see that Tea Cake creates his own demise.
Related Themes:
