Janie’s husband Joe has a god-complex. He uses the phrase “I god” frequently, in the same why that other people might say “my god.” He also tells Janie “Ah told you in de very first beginnin’ dat Ah aimed tuh be uh big voice.” This reference to the beginning sounds a bit like Genesis and the “big voice” he mentions can be associated with representations of God from the bible. In the same chapter where this sentence appears, Hurston notes that the phrase “Our beloved mayor” is something people say but don’t mean, much like they say “God is everywhere.” A couple pages after this point is made, a character describes Joe as loving “obedience out of everybody under de sound of his voice.”