ipl-logo

Symbolism In Their Eyes Were Watching God

1200 Words5 Pages

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is a story written about a woman by a woman. It is often looked at from a feminist point of view. It is often thought that Hurston wrote the novel with that intention. In the novel readers see Janie develop into a strong woman through the trials that she endured. Janie worked hard to overcome the oppression of being an African American woman in the early 1900s. Hurston uses a mule, more specifically Matt Bonner’s mule, to symbolize Janie and all African American women because like African American women, mules are not held in high regard and work from the bottom, bearing the weight of many other that rely on them and their work. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Matt Bonner’s mule is used to …show more content…

For this reason it is believed that it was written for readers to see that Janie saw bits and pieces of herself in the mule. Janie is the one who pushed Joe to buy the mule. It is possible that Janie’s sympathy towards the mule was based on seeing herself in the mule. It is ironic that Joe saw himself as “liberating” Matt Bonner’s mule in the same way that he saw himself “rescuing” Janie.That, along with other similarities between Janie and the mule further solidifies the symbolism between Janie and Matt Bonner’s mule. Joe felt that he was helping them by saving them from what he believed was wrong, but Joe saving them was just away for him to have more control. For example, he forced Janie to tie her hair up and dictated where she could go. After Joe saved the mule and it died he threw the mule a mock funeral. Joe even restricted Janie from going to the funeral for the mule that she wanted to save.Due to the opinions of Joe Starks about women or Janie that he himself states it can be inferred that Joe feels the same way about them both. The actions and opinions of Joe Starks throughout Their Eyes Were Watching God supports the idea that Matt Bonner’s mule is being used to symbolize Janie, therefor supporting the idea that Matt Bonner’s mule symbolizes African American women of the time as a

Show More
Related
383 Words | 2 Pages

Julie A. Haurykiewicz addresses the symbol of the mule in Their Eyes Were Watching God by comparing it to the silencing of the main protagonist Janie Crawford. Attention is also brought to the idea of muliebrity or the state or condition of being a woman, throughout the article. Haurykiewicz recognizes that Janie is often unheard or silenced before demonstrating her points, and that during these acts, the mule is often present. The first time the mule is presented in the story is when Janie’s Grandmother states that “the black women is de mule uh de world.” Janie’s Grandmother has first handily experienced the oppressions of blacks before and after the Civil War.

Read More
293 Words | 2 Pages

The significance of the yellow mule in “Their Eyes Were Watching God” shows the relationship of Janie with Joe. It significantly implies the repression of Janie by her husband Jody. In the story, “Janie loved the conversations.... but Joe had forbidden her to indulge,” reveals that Joe didn’t allow her to participate in conversation with other people. He enjoyed in whatever he likes, but she didn’t allow to do so.

Read More
1354 Words | 6 Pages

Matt Bonner scarcely fed the mule and worked him constantly. Matt Bonner treats his mule much in the way Jody treats his wife. “The mule story serves to illustrate the strained relationship between Janie and Joe Starks” (Kendall). Joe almost never lets Janie interact with the townspeople. Janie like the mule stubbornly tried to escape Jody’s oppression.

Read More
642 Words | 3 Pages

As time pass Janie grows tired of waiting and being with Joe. Still she stays with him because she has the hope that he will change. Joe Starks in the other hand sees Janie as his ticket to get know by more people, including the porch people, and to recieve more property. He like demanding Janie, “Janie, Ah reekon you better go fetch me dem old black gaiters,”(C.6 P.57) but deep inside he still feels something for Janie. Their respected because Joe is mayor and Janie is Mrs.Mayor Janie.

Read More
736 Words | 3 Pages

He becomes Mayor of the town he started and tries to makes Janie suppress her spirit. A symbol of the suppression is the head rag that he insists that Janie wears in the store. She as not to show people her hair and Joe did not want her talking to the townspeople. “He didn't want her talking after such trashy people. “ You’se Mrs. Mayor Starks, Janie.”

Read More
799 Words | 4 Pages

Being a woman of color in the 1920’s was no easy task. Gender and racial inequalities have made progress throughout history, however during the time of this novel, and even in our modern day world they are still present and causing conflict. This is an issue that should be focused on and taken more seriously. In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie does a fantastic job overcoming several of these inequalities in order to pursue her own happiness, overall depicting her as an extremely powerful role model for young

Read More
769 Words | 4 Pages

In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston uses speech as a tool to show the progression of the story. Janie Crawford, the main character of the novel, finds her true identity and ability to control her voice through many hardships. When Janie’s grandmother dies she is married off, to be taken care of. In each marriage that follows, she learns what it is to be a woman with a will and a voice. Throughout the book, Janie finds herself struggling against intimidating men who attempt to victimize her into a powerless role.

Read More
543 Words | 3 Pages

In Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie suffers from hardship in two relationships before she can find her true love. Janie explains to her best friend, Pheoby, how she searches for love. Therefore Pheoby wants to hear the true story, rather than listening to the porch sitters. Throughout the book Janie experiences different types of love with three different men; Logan Killicks, Joe Starks, and Vergible "Tea Cake" Woods. At 16 Janie marries Logan Killicks.

Read More
722 Words | 3 Pages

“Their Eyes Were Watching God” is a novel written by Zora Neale Hurston. The novel portrays Janie, a middle aged black woman who tells her friend Pheoby Watson what has happened to her husband Tea Cake and her adventure. The resulting telling of her story portrays most of the novel. Throughout the novel, Zora Neale Hurston presents the theme of love, or being in a relationship versus freedom and independence, that being in a relationship may hinder one’s freedom and independence. Janie loves to be outgoing and to be able to do what she wants, but throughout the book the relationships that she is in with Logan,Jody and Tea Cake, does not allow her to do that.

Read More
1657 Words | 7 Pages

Hurston tells the story of Janie, a black woman who because of her grandmother experiences and beliefs was forced to marry into a loveless marriage with Logan Killicks, a hard-working farmer who had 60 acres of land and could provide for Janie. This marriage ended when Janie ran away with Joe Stark, a man that she fell in love with and thought could give her the love absent between her and Logan. But Janie soon realized that her second marriage wouldn’t turn out better than her first. Joe was just as controlling and degrading as Logan. He hardly expressed his love for Janie and spoke to her like an incompetent child.

Read More
1166 Words | 5 Pages

Joe feels threatened by his wife possessing the same education as he does and he embarrasses her by making her feel inferior. Janie feels trapped and unlike herself at this point and continues to feel like this throughout their marriage. She “…pressed her teeth together and learned to hush” (71). Joe wants Janie to look down on the townspeople like he does but she like being a normal person and playing checkers with them. She keeps quiet about her opinion and denies herself and of her own ideas, making it hard to live this way and still be happy.

Read More
118 Words | 1 Pages

Their Eyes were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is a story rich with meaning and significance. The author being one of the greatest folkloric authors in history has filled this novel with countless examples of folklore and culture, each with a meaning and purpose. Even though all of the author’s examples have merit I have came to the conclusion that I have found the three best ones: the cultural references to mules, the clash of differing cultures/ people and the overall form of the novel. If I make the statement that mules are a cultural significance to a story one might think the story isn't as great as this one is unless they have read this

Read More
734 Words | 3 Pages

The scholars I have used so far to talk about Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, Dilbeck and Ashmawi, bring up good points about Janie’s characterization as well as about her husbands’ characterizations (particularly Tea Cake’s). They particularly focus on the role of gender in the novel, but they do not really bring up how race is depicted in Hurston’s book. Julie Roemer does, however, in her article titled “Celebrating the Black Female Self: Zora Neale Hurston 's American Classic”. She explains that race is something that characters in the Hurston’s novel consider when have opinions on something.

Read More
713 Words | 3 Pages

Zora Neale Hurston’s writing in Their Eyes Were Watching God, reflects the Harlem Renaissance through Janie 's individuality, and departs from the Harlem Renaissance with the common recurrence of black woman empowerment. In the novel, Hurston reflects the ideas of the Harlem renaissance with the ways in which Janie rebels and goes against norms for women.

Read More
957 Words | 4 Pages

(Hurston 8-9).” This really starts the search for identity within her. It fuels the fire to her wanting to know who she is, where she came from, and where she is going to go. Hurston is using this message to convey the theme of Identity. She uses Janie as the main representation of that theme.

Read More

More about Symbolism In Their Eyes Were Watching God

Related Topics

Open Document