Symbolism In Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neal Hurston

How important is independence to you? If a life of finically security was promised to you in exchange for own freedom, would you take it? This is what the main character of Their Eyes Were Watching God, an American southern spiritual novel by Zora Neal Hurston, had to ask herself. This novel tells the story of Janie Crawford as she searches for true love and her own independence. She experiences many different relationships throughout her life, and with each of her marriages learns more about herself and what it means to love and be loved. To show this spiritual journey, Zora Neal Hurston uses many symbols throughout the story. In the novel, Hurston uses the symbols of the horizon, the mule and the pear tree to express the theme of the importance

For Janie, the horizon was her dream of being in love when married to someone, which was considered childish of her to dream, but will come true for Janie eventually. A prime example of this symbol was when Joe Starks, Janie’s second husband, started to talk to her during the time of her first marriage with Logan Killicks. “Janie pulled back a long time because he did not represent sun-up and pollen and blooming trees, but he spoke for far horizon. He spoke for change and chance” (Hurston 29). This line shows that in the beginning, Janie was searching for something new and promising, a way to reach her child-like dream of love in a marriage with Joe. Another example of the horizon symbolizing Janie’s dream is at the end of the story when Hurston writes, “The kiss of his memory made pictures of love and light against the wall. Here was peace. She pulled in her horizon like a great fish net…She called in her soul to come and see” (Hurston 193). This quote shows that at the end of story and after all that Janie has been through, she had reached the horizon, the dream of true love in her relationship with Tea Cake, her third husband. Altogether, this symbol of the horizon shows the “love and relationship” part of the theme that Hurston was trying to express. However, as Janie chased after her dreams of love, she had to overcome some burdens, which Hurston also uses a symbol for

Janie’s burden is fighting for her independence as a woman in the relationships she had. To reason Janie into marrying Logan Killicks, Janie’s grandmother says, “De nigger woman is da mule of the world as far as ah can see. Ah been prayin’ fuh it tah be different wid you” (Hurston). This line shows that black woman like Janie were forced to carry to workload of everyone, and when Janie is married to Logan and eventually Joe, the reader can see that she is treated as a mule. Logan made her work without showing much love towards her, like how a farmer treats his animals. Joe Starks also treated Janie like a mule, to the point where she started to relate to the town mule and when that mule died, felt that she died herself. When she reaches her third marriage with Tea Cake, he released the burden that was placed on Janie and let her become her own person. These events and quotes enforcing the independence part of the theme, because they show the conflict Janie had between being loyal to her husbands and being her own person. By battling these burdens, Janie has grown as a person and learns more about what it means to truly love