The search for love is what inspires Janie’s epic journey through life. As a young girl Janie is already searching for her true love, but unfortunately her dreams are crushed by Nanny. Nanny tells Janie that she must marry now, despite not being in love. Her first marriage to an older man by the name of Logan Hillicks is where Janie first questions her role in society; Janie questions whether she belongs in the house or should be doing manual labor in the hot Florida sun. Janie soon grows unhappy in her first marriage and runs away with a man with big dreams, Jody Starks. In her second marriage Janie again questions her role in society. Is she really upper class? Should she really be running a store? Is it right for Jody to treat her in this …show more content…
In the hurricane scene, the symbols are the dog and Tea Cake. “The dog stood up and growled like a lion,” is a simile used to show the ferocity of the wild dog. The dog also generally symbolizes hate and the reality that hard times are a part of life. “Tea Cake split the water like an otter,” is a simile used for the purpose of indicating that Tea Cake urgently jumped into the water to save Janie in a heroic manner. Also the otter usually symbolize transitions and Tea Cake’s decision to save Janie sparked the transition into a new life and role in society for Janie. In Chapter 2, Nanny compares a woman of color to a mule. This symbolization of animal motifs exposes that their supposed role in society is doing all the hard work and being bossed around by men, especially white men. The animal motifs in the form of symbolism are used to manifest the lessons about life that the reader is assumed to grasp from reading the