Examine the way that Hurston develops the exposition of the novel. How does she establish the setting of the book? How are the characters of Janie Turner and Tea Cake introduced? Whose voices do you hear first?

The setting is established as a southern town where the people love to gossip and criticize and judge each other. The protagonist is Janie Mae Crawford and the voices you hear first are the townspeople gossiping as Janie is coming back to town. That is how she is introduced, as is Tea Cake her younger husband as well.

Explanation:

Hurston develops the exposition or frame of the novel by describing that Janie comes back in her southern hometown after her husband Tea Cake has died. The names of these characters are known from the gossip and people from the town talking, they are the voices that are heard first as the mysterious person walking into town is actually known. The character Janie starts telling her friend Pheoby about what had happened in her absence and where she was coming from. The first voices are from the people of the town, we hear about there comments and the way they judge people. Speech is important in the novel and it is how the book is framed through telling and gossip.