Symbolism And Imagery In Their Eyes Were Watching God

The use of symbolism and imagery is a prominent technique used by many authors in their novels in order to convey complex ideas and create a unique experience for readers. Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God is filled with images of nature that play an important role in the progression of the story. In the novel, the imagery and symbolism related to nature represents Janie’s hopes as a young woman, her hopes as she is more mature, and her growth by the end of her journey. This essay will demonstrate this by examining her hopes involving love and her sexuality when she first discovers them as a young woman. Then, her hopes as she is older and mature after she gains a deeper understanding while she is in her relationships,

She marries Logan Killicks at a young age and realizes the harsh reality of being in a relationship. Hurston describes Logan’s home by saying, “It was a lonesome place like a stump in the middle of the woods where nobody had ever been. The house was absent of flavor, too. But anyhow Janie went on inside to wait for love to begin” (21-22). Logan’s home is being compared to a lonely tree stump. It is expressed how nobody visits the house and that it feels empty, yet Janie still continues to stay with him. The comparison conveys how Janie feels alone and dull in her relationship, when she believed that being in a relationship would be fun and full of life. Her desire for marriage feels shattered and she realizes how disappointing her reality is. This allows her to learn more, thus letting her mature since she no longer completely believes in her teenage hopes. Years later, Janie starts a relationship with Joe Starks, believing he is the perfect man for her. However, their relationship does not prove to achieve Janie’s dreams. As their relationship begins to deteriorate, it is stated, “The bed was no longer a daisy-field for her and Joe to play in. It was a place where she went and laid down when she was sleepy and tired” (71). Janie emphasizes the lack of physical intimacy and passion in her marriage with Joe. She used to find joy and

After Tea Cake’s death, Janie must move on with her life. As she is moving out of the home she shared with him, the novel states, “She had given away everything in their little house except a package of garden seed that Tea Cake had bought to plant…The seeds reminded Janie of Tea Cake more than anything else because he was always planting things” (191). Janie gets rid of everything except the seeds in remembrance of Tea Cake. She wishes to plant them as a symbol of the love they shared together. By this point of the novel, Janie’s journey has ended. It started at the pear tree where she first discovered love and her sexuality, and concludes with the package of the seeds. Concluding with the package of seeds symbolizes Janie’s opportunity to start a new journey, one that no longer has to do with her fulfilling her teenage hopes. To wrap up her journey, Janie tells her life story to her friend Pheoby. As Janie is speaking to Pheoby, she says, “So Ah’m back home agin and Ah’m satisfied tuh be heah. Ah done been tuh de horizon and back and now Ah kin set heah in mah house and live by comparisons” (191). The horizon symbolizes the realm of possibilities that Janie dreams about and her future. It is repeatedly brought up and by the end of the novel Janie says how she has now been provided with access to the horizon. She has now completed her goal that she set out