When we first discussed the narrative voice and the dialogue of Their Eyes Were Watching God in class, we were mostly going off of first impressions since we hadn't read very far into the book yet. We were examining the distinct differences between the two, and found most obviously that the narrator tended to talk in a literary voice that we as readers were very used to, whereas the dialogue in the book was very dialect-oriented. The contrast was pretty striking. We also talked about how the narrator used free indirect discourse and spoke in a very human voice, indicating that they probably had some connection to the setting of the book. Finally, we touched on how the dialogue could potentially be seen as being very condescending with its phonetic vernacular, especially in contrast to the explaining voice of the narrator.
I still haven't read especially far into the book, but I've noticed that my initially very slow reading of the dialogue has begun to gradually pick up speed as I get used to it. To a certain extent I find myself reading the dialogue with just as much fluidity as I read the narrative voice. It makes me feel like the striking differences between them are becoming less significant and I definitely see them as closer together. The dialogue also continues to feel less forced as I read, and I find it a whole lot easier to visualize actual people in these scenarios. I think the whole dynamic incredibly interesting and I hope I continue to feel this way for the duration for the novel.
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