Silence: small word, big concept. Silence is crucial to humanity, defining the human experience and language. But unlike silence, language is continually evolving. Most of humanity is advanced through language, setting the foundation for culture, power, and imagination. In other words, language represents both freedom and imprisonment, hope and fear, love and hate. As a result, the ability to control language is a step towards the journey of individualism. The novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is written after the pinnacle of the Harlem Renaissance, a period of expanding African culture through literature, music, and art instilled a new sense of social and artistic freedom. However, the Depression during the 1930s ended the cultural tolerance that allowed the Harlem Renaissance to flourish, shifting cultural production into “social realism.” Thus, the rise of the movement perceived art should unmask the social injustice within the world. In Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie’s possession of an “outward existence which conforms, the inward life that questions” illustrates how breaking society’s gender roles and finding control over one’s voice are crucial sources in developing one’s identity and empowerment. Throughout the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie exists as both the protagonist and narrator of her story, portraying the various life experiences she endured to her lifelong friend, Pheoby. Janie’s experiences as a