Setting and Location

" The sun was gone, but he had left his footprints in the sky. It was the time for sitting on porches beside the road. It was the time to hear things and talk. These sitters had been toungless, earless, eyeless conveniences all day long. Mules and other brutes had occupied their skins. But now, the sun and the bossman where gone, so the skins felt powerful and human. They became lords of sounds and lesser things. They passed nations through their mouths. They sat in judgment. " page 1


This quote is the first description of the southern town in which the beginning of the story takes place. Therefore, it is the first impression for the reader to begin it's own judgment of the town. First this quote describes the time of day, dusk, using imagery of not only the sky but the people themselves. It simultaneously describes the location and the people. One can infer that the town is composed of workers because they are described as "toungless, earless, eyeless conveniences" throughout the day and it is implied that they are not human during the day, as workers are often thought of. The sun and bossman also control the people, which implies they work out laboring in the sun all day, so you know that where they live and work is hot so it is probably the south. This shows the reader that it is a poor southern town. The reader can also see that it is a small close knit town because the people are described to be sitting on their porches and talking and listening to each other which is what one would do in a small town, rather than a large town or city where everyone would not know each other.
More importantly, this quote describes the mood of the town, and sets a cautious tone in which the story will take place. The people in the town are described in a manner that makes them appear regal and proud. They are described as "powerful" and "lords". While reading this quote you can almost hear their powerful voices and strong, unmovable opinions. You can see their hard, well-worked bodies and their rough skin. Then it says that they sat in judgment. This adds to the feeling of a negatively proud air to the people. It makes them appear as if they are sitting on their porches made confident by the darkness criticizing the things in the world they find themselves above. The connotation of judgment is that to judge is wrong, and that give the reader a negative and hesitant or cautious feeling towards the people. Judgments also are known to be opinions formed with incorrect knowledge or a lack of knowledge. This sets the stage so that when the character Janie enters the reader sympathizes with her rather than assuming the worst as the town does, as the reader by now has a negative opinion of the towns as a whole.