Joe's Use Of Imagery In The Picture Talker

Janie describes those “pictures” as “crayon enlargements of life” (p.81). The poverty represented in them is contrasted and replaced by humor. Indeed, the images such has the sides of the mule serving as a wash-board, or its bones used as a hanger are comical enough to forget the sadness of this hungry animal. The porch is then reserved for “big-picture talkers”, and Janie likes how they “pass around the pictures of their thoughts for the others to look at and see […] (p.81). Within this space, the storytellers exhibit their creative capacities and our protagonist would like to share with them. Unfortunately, even if “she thought up good stories on the mule, […] Joe had forbidden her to indulge. He didn’t want her talking after such trashy people” (p.85).

Indeed, Joe has the ability to control the people of Eatonville by haranguing them with discourses. For instance, in chapter 5, Joe uses the words “let it shine, let it shine, let it shine” (p.73) at the end of his speech to refer to the street lights he bought for the town. It could be a reference to a gospel hymn about Jesus as the Light of the World, or even as the Genesis when God says “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3). In each case, the religious reference that Joe makes in his speech is not destined to create any kind of pictures for the people to see, but a way to create a parallel between him and God. Thereby, with his money and ambition, he positions himself as superior to the rest of the town and demonstrates a form of hubris that differentiates him from the other storytellers. Indeed, as Maria Tai Wolff says: “for telling to be successful, it must become a presentation of sights with words. The best talkers are big picture talkers”. Hurston clearly shares this vision about language and transmit it through Janie’s