IOP Journal #2

The next animal Hurston focuses on is the vultures. These are present after the burial of the mule and they pick at the mules flesh. These birds do not kill their prey, nor do they rarely attack healthy vibrant animals. This shows that they are dependant on the suffering of other creatures in order to survive and gain sustenance. The vultures represent rumors and gossip spread by other women. Rumors do not come from happy marriages and well meaning citizens but they spawn from suffering and pain. Rumors live off of the pain of others and they need that pain in order to survive and grow. Also Hurston shows that rumors are greater than humans because of the personification of vultures in that scene. No other animal is given the power to speak like humans do and so this shows that they have more power than the other animals, and the animals represent human things, so it shows how destructive rumors can be. Even though they do not cause the death or the direct pain, they do nothing to stop what is happening.