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The story is set in the early 1930s in the United States’ first all-Black town: Eatonville, Florida, a real place founded in the aftermath of the Civil War and the childhood home of Zora Neale Hurston. The setting allows Joe and Missie May’s lives and struggles as individuals to take center stage in the narrative. In parallel, Hurston employs the use of Black southern dialect in her dialogue, using phonetic spellings and slang for the words Missie May and Joe speak. The use of dialect creates an immersive, authentic world in Eatonville and reveals the author’s intimate familiarity with the community. Dialogue is prominent throughout the story to illustrate the private life contained within Joe and Missie May’s marriage. The dialogue paints their relationship as playful, affectionate, and mischievous. In contrast, after Missie May’s betrayal, the dialogue is sparse and limited. The limited dialogue helps to reveal the heartbreak and pain contained between what Missie May and Joe say and don’t say to each other. The dialogue also reveals the irony that though the couple talks constantly, they do not communicate their true feelings, a significant factor in the fracturing of their bond.

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