"After that night Jody moved his things and slept in a room downstairs. He didn't really hate Janie, but he wanted her to think so. He had crawled off to lick his wounds. They didn't talk too much around the store either. Anybody that didn't know would have thought that things had blown over, it looked so quiet and peaceful around. But the stillness was the sleep of swords"(81).
Hurston uses syntax and word choice to make this passage seem very black and white. There are no fluffy words to help sugar coat the meanings. Joe and Janie do not really talk anymore, and Hurston emphasized the simplicity of the fact by using very simple words and many very matter-of-fact statements in a row.
The tone of the passage seems very ominous. Hurston describes the scene as quiet and peaceful, but suggests that the silence was foreshadowing that something bad was going to happen.
Hurston also uses consonance in the sentence "But the stillness was the sleep of swords"(81), to emphasize a feeling of foreboding. Repetition of the "s" sound adds a feeling of suspense to the sentence, which adds depth to the passage.
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