[Mixon teasing Janie about her lack of skills with a ... knife]: "Looka heah, Brother Mayor, whut yo’ wife done took and done." It was cut comical, so everybody laughed at it. "Uh woman and uh knife – no kind of uh knife, don’t b’long tuhgether." There was some more good-natured laughter at the expense of women.
this quote means that Knives and weapons of any kind are usually considered a product of a masculine realm and Janie’s clumsiness with the knife is caused by a female venturing into male territory – or so they assume. Everyone assumes that women cannot do what men do and thus they laugh "at the expense of women."
[Janie when Joe implies she is old]: "Naw, Ah ain’t ... no young gal no mo’ but den Ah ain’t no old woman neither. Ah reckon Ah looks mah age too. But Ah’m uh woman every inch of me, and Ah know it. Dat’s uh whole lot more’n you kin say. You big-bellies round here and put out a lot of brag, but ‘tain’t nothin’ to it but yo’ big voice. Humph! Talkin’ ‘bout me lookin’ old! When you pull down yo’ britches, you look lak de change uh life."
this quote means that Both Joe and Janie try to get under each other’s skin by attacking each other’s sexuality. Joe, by suggesting Janie has become an old hag, implies that she has lost her characteristic beauty. Janie retorts by directly insulting Joe’s manhood and stripping him of his pride in front of his peers.
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