Symbolism In Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neale Hurston

Known to be an idea or concept, a symbol is a concrete form that in which represents an abstraction. It is an object, person, or place that has meaning in itself; a symbol is capable of conveying new concepts in one’s mind through imagery and imagination. A central symbol found in the literary work, Their Eyes Were Watching God, is that of the pear tree. The author, Zora Neale Hurston utilizes the pear tree throughout the novel to project the blossoming of main character, Janie Mae Crawford’s womanhood and spirituality; she does this by successfully capturing the significance of the pear tree through the accounts of Janie’s life. Janie’s initial encounter with the pear tree in the beginning of the novel later embodies her basis of love for

By curating her own path, she meets three distinctive personalities, each teaching her valuable life lessons and contributing to her most crucial revelation: self-discovery within herself. Along Janie’s quest for self-fulfillment and discovery, she battles gender stereotypes, racism, as well as gossip. To live her best life, she moves to a different city, one very different from Eatonville. In that city, she spends her days along with one of her significant others; however, nearing the end of her journey, Janie has no choice but to take caution and sacrifice her love to ensure her own safety and betterment. Although she loses the one she truly loves to disease, she remains humble and grateful for the blessings brought with that very love. The symbolic meaning of the pear tree in the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God is sexuality, as Janie’s ideas of love are manifested and developed through her various relationships; each in which she hopes to truly find the best and most candid love; one she had not felt ever

As Janie sees “a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom”, she witnesses the “thousand sister-calyxes arch to meet the love embrace and the ecstatic shiver of the tree from root to tiniest branch creaming in every blossom.” (Hurston 11) To her, this is deemed “marriage” ; it is a merger of two, a union of matrimony and she aims to fully grasp such a sensation. Taken back by the thrill of it all, Janie manages to formulate her own perceptions of what true love must be like; raw and passionate within the moment, like the bees and pear blossoms. Elated at most, she then shares a brief moment with neighborhood-friendly, Johnny Taylor, a young man who she begins to develop sexual feelings for. Reprimanded by her Nanny for being too sensual, Janie is advertently manipulated into believing her notions are un-ladylike and far too unattainable in a reality where blanched, male skin rules all. Growing up in such an environment where male dominance proceeds, she is stripped from feeling empowered and wanted; her short, yet pertinent moment of weakness in the backyard is what indeed sparks a broader scope revolving around Janie and her sexuality. In Janie’s wayward reality, the pear tree represents a greater good; one that allows her to love and feel accordingly. Once Janie’s feelings of passion are discovered, she is