The selected passage of Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston mocks death. The selection takes place right outside of the town of Eatonville, FL. The town's mule has died, and its funeral has just ended.
Zora Neale Hurston makes fun of death. The line "With that the sister got mock-happy[...]" is telling the reader that the funeral of the mule was not taken seriously. It also tells the reader that it is making fun of life and death and the difference between them.
The author uses anthropomorphism as one of her techniques to convey her theme. "A circle, a swoop and a hop [...]. Close in, close in [...]" has a very rhythmic feeling. It calls to mind the chant in The Lord of the Flies when the boys are on the beach chanting "Kill the beast, slit his throat, spill the blood". In both cases, it reminds the reader of a war chant that the Native Americans did. Bringing humans away from the sophisticated, technologically advanced society we live in and taking us back to our roots as savage, primitive hunters. Hurston uses this rhythm to anthropomorphise the buzzards and make humans relate to them.
Hurston uses the idea of life to mock death as well. "[...] they closed in circles" gives this feeling of death being unavoidable and getting closer as one gets older. Also, the word circles gets one thinking about the circle of life, how one animal or plant's death can bring about the life of another. With the buzzards, the death of the mule brings about a carcass for them to eat. Thus the death of the mule brings life to the buzzards by giving them food. Once again mocking death.
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