Their Eyes Were Watching God Analysis

Imagery Analysis
The terrestrial imagery in this passage develops Baptiste’s character and unfurls the theme of the natural world. The passage begins, “Louise, he whispered. Her name was thick in his mouth.” Using Louise’s sense of hearing, the author creates the image that Baptiste appears to have an alluring demeanor. The adjective “thick” makes it sound like his words are swells of smoke emerging from his throat. Ceasing to offer Baptiste a response, Louise instead chose to focus on how “she could feel a wet heat rising from his body.” The words “wet heat” depict the image of Baptiste's body producing a haze of steam off into the torrid summer air. This reminds me a rainy day when rays of sunlight poke through a curtain of gray clouds and raise water droplets into the sky through

Louise found that Baptiste’s skin “tasted sour with old body salts.” The use of the word “salt” evokes the association of minerals pertaining to the earth. I immediately begin to think about elements and in turn affiliate Baptiste’s character with natural substances. After Louise got close to Baptiste, she noticed that he smelt like the “sweet, warm earth and the faint, odd smell of lime that covered anything unclean.” Baptiste has a paradoxical scent because he smells both like the “warm earth” and “anything unclean” at the same time. The description of “warm earth” makes me think of the nature and all things fresh. However, fresh and “unclean” are words that fail to coincide with one another. This presents Baptiste’s character as a mystery because it’s difficult to explain the inner working of a