Introspection (noun)

According to MerriamWebster, introspection means “a reflective looking inward : an examination of one’s own thoughts and feelings.” This word can be found in the story “Sweat” by Zora Neale Hurston. For example, “A period of introspection, a space of retrospection, then a mixture of both.” When I first came across this word, I used context clues from the sentences before and realized that introspection had to be a sense of how she felt during that time period. Also with her sitting in silence, she thought about the snake and her husband Sykes. This is where she also brings up the word retrospection meaning she looked back on past experiences with Sykes and finally coming to the conclusion of doing all that she could.