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One of the most memorable images of the novel is the image of Janie "starching and ironing" her face. It first occurred in the previous chapter, but it recurs in this chapter:
"Janie starched and ironed her face and came set in the funeral behind her veil. It was like a wall of stone and steel. The funeral was going on outside. All things concerning death and burial were said and done. Finish. End. Nevermore. Darkness. Deep hole. Dissolution. Eternity. Weeping and wailing outside. Inside the expensive black folds were resurrection and life...She send her face to Joe's funeral and herself went rollicking with the springtime across the world."
One of the interesting techniques that Hurston uses here is ambiguity. The first sentence says that Janie "starched and ironed her face" and came to the funeral "behind her veil." Because "face" and "veil" are both used in the sentence, the reader is led to believe that Janie is wearing a veil over her face. But, the next sentence reads: "It was like a wall of stone and steel." Here, the use of "it" is ambiguous. Does "it" refer to Janie's face, or the veil? In fact, "it" seems to indicate that there is no veil at all, but rather just a face. The veil is simply a metaphor. Check more out at the GradeSaver link below,