ipl-logo

Their Eyes Were Watching God Pear Tree Analysis

410 Words2 Pages

In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, home to Janie is a place that has both positive and negative associations- the pear tree. Janie constantly goes to the pear tree for comfort; it is her place of happiness, peace and her love life. At the same time, Janie has the pear tree embedded in her mind. She constantly compares her partners to the pear tree and what their love should be like; so when the thought of an unwelcoming incident pops up in her head, he is tarnishing her pear tree. At sixteen, Janie’s grandmother caught her kissing Johnny Taylor; Janie spends most of her day under the pear tree in her backyard with her mind-boggling questions on virginity, love and marriage. While lying under the pear tree, she witnesses a bee pollinate a flower and immediately after …show more content…

Janie’s first dream was dead, so she became a woman.” At the age of sixteen, Janie sat under the pear tree and discovers what marriage is- well at least she thought she did. Once married to her first husband, Logan, she realized that marriage does not necessarily entail love. After actually being married, it’s something different.

“He could be a bee to a blossom-a pear tree blossom in the spring.” When the thought of Janie’s lover comes into her head, she always thinks of the pear tree no matter where she is. In this situation she is speaking of her third husband, Tea Cake. Janie believed Tea Cake was perfect; he surely wasn’t ruining her pear tree. In conclusion, Janie’s home was the pear tree; it influenced her love life and she always found a way to take it with her. After her three marriages, rather than love coming along with the marriage, Janie learned that marriage changes with the partners you choose and you must find one with who you are harmonious with. With the pear tree being in her life from her first kiss to her third husband, the pear tree remained significant to

Show More
Related
976 Words | 4 Pages

1. Unlike Janie’s previous husbands, Tea Cake treats Janie with compassion and respect. In addition, he loves Janie for her personality instead of her looks and her role as a woman (housewife). 2. The speech characteristic that Tea Cake encourages Janie with is truth.

Read More
490 Words | 2 Pages

Janie's "tree" gets cut down and strangled and destroyed throughout the book in several different events until the day someone walks in and takes the time to repair it. c. THESIS STATEMENT: Janie experiences love in harsh words and beaten down sprit. Never in her marriages has she experienced the unconditional love she desperately craves, until Tea Cake walks in and shows her true love. II. FIRST POINT- MARRIAGE TO LOGAN a. The marriage to Logan began sweet but ended with bitterness.

Read More
1046 Words | 5 Pages

But try as she might, “She couldn’t make him look just like any other man to her. He looked like the love thoughts of women. He could be a bee to a blossom-a pear tree blossom in the spring.” (106) This was a new kind of love, a more dangerous type of love that Janie had never before experienced and as she so aptly says, “Ah done lived Grandma’s way, now Ah means tuh live mine” (114) No longer will security dictate Janie’s definition of love, it is time for her to make her own interpretation. Tea Cake and Janie soon get married and start their lives anew in the Everglades, blissfully coexisting and enjoying the others company.

Read More
1256 Words | 6 Pages

Throughout the book, we see Janie growing up and going through similar stages in her own life. In a way, the tree and Janie’s journey mirror each other in the way that they grow. Janie also is gaining a new perspective on life in this moment. This scene is a revelation for Janie, one where she’s waking up to the beauty of life and how she personally wants to live. Shortly after, she also says, “She was seeking confirmation of the voice and vision, and everywhere she found and acknowledged answers.

Read More
869 Words | 4 Pages

This leads her and others in her life to be at odds. Furthermore, illustrating Jaine's idealism of love by seeing the world in such detail and viewing it differently than most people, especially when considering a pear tree coming into bloom, as Jaine sees it as "every blossom frothing with delight," (Page 11) which helps to paint a detailed picture of the

Read More
232 Words | 1 Pages

In her epiphany from Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie realizes her intrinsic capacity as an individual, and frees herself from Jody’s covetous ways in the act of letting down her hair. In the quote, “She tore off the kerchief from her plentiful hair... the glory was there,” Janie’s hair symbolizes her power and strength because it holds glory. By Janie releasing her hair, she finally notices the greatness that she has, which allows her to now view herself as eminent individual whom has independence. Because Jody made her tie her hair up as a device to hinder her individuality and identity in their marriage, he is intimidated by her reluctance to comply with his controlling demands.

Read More
733 Words | 3 Pages

Throughout the book, we see an idealistic view of love linked also very closely with innocence and youth. This is illustrated when Janie says, “‘Ah wants things sweet wid mah marriage lak when you sit under a pear tree and think.”’ (Page 24). In this quote, Janie expresses her idealistic desires surrounding marriage. Her reference to the pear tree perpetuates the theme that we see in the novel of Janie’s youth, and perception of love, evoking a reference to

Read More
769 Words | 4 Pages

Before Janie and Logan go to sleep one night, Janie finally releases her feelings about the relationship and says, “S’posin’ Ah wuz to run off and leave yuh sometime”(Hurston 30). Here, Janie bravely declared her liberation and took her first step away from Logan and towards a stronger

Read More
543 Words | 3 Pages

In the beginning Janie feels as if Tea Cake’s age would effect their relationship. She has strong feelings for him, but on the other hand people are saying he will run off with her money. Janie proves them wrong and runs off and gets married to Tea Cake. He makes Janie feel wanted, she feels like she could be herself. Janie states, "We been tuhgether round two years.

Read More
920 Words | 4 Pages

Janie Crawford Killiks Starks Woods is the main character in the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, where she learns what's it's like to go from marriage to marriage looking for love. In the novel, Hurston utilizes the pivotal moment when Janie realizes that marriage doesn’t always mean love to show Janie's coming of age and psychological development which is used to show that love doesn't always come first. Logan Killicks was Janie's first marriage, which was brought about after Nanny (her grandmother) decided that she need to be married after she caught Janie and a young boy kissing when she was 16. After that Janie finds herself being thrown into some random marriage with some man she barely knew, and for a reason

Read More
354 Words | 2 Pages

Being mature is usually correlated with older age, but that’s not necessarily correct. Everyone has been told to “grow up” at some point, have been expected to be sophisticated no matter their age. Maturity does not depend on age because parents raise children in varying ways and have experienced unique learning opportunities, and strive for incomparable goals in life Someone’s childhood can affect the way they act in the long run. As a child, my parents took me to fancy restaurants and museums which taught me how to behave in a mature manner and, by forcing me into “adult” settings, I learned how to be mature even as a preadolescent.

Read More
774 Words | 4 Pages

When first discovering her womanhood under the pear tree, Janie describes how “she wanted to struggle in life but it seemed to elude her” (11). Struggle seemed to be all around Janie, yet she didn’t let it affect her. After a pressured marriage to a man that she wasn’t attracted to, Janie kept looking forward and found a way out. However, that way out was even more difficult than the first. For 20 years, Janie waited for something to change in her abusive relationship to Jody, except it only ended when he died.

Read More
697 Words | 3 Pages

Porch. A covered shelter projecting in front of the entrance of a building. This inanimate object served to develop various themes throughout the book, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. She reveals the theme of jealousy and envy, gender inequality and a sense of community with the help of the porch.

Read More
739 Words | 3 Pages

On page 11 of Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston writes, “Oh to be a pear tree—any tree in bloom! With kissing bees singing of the beginning of the world! She was sixteen. She had glossy leaves and bursting buds and she wanted to struggle with life but it seemed to elude her.” This quote represents how Janie sees herself; she sees herself as a young tree in bloom.

Read More
983 Words | 4 Pages

Janie’s continuous interactions and experiences with nature prove its influential role in Janie’s life throughout Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. Nature is Janie’s pathway into womanhood and played a big role in starting her journey through life as a woman. Janie’s experience with the pear tree provokes this shift from childhood to womanhood for Janie. “She saw a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom [...] the tree from root to tiniest branch creaming in every blossom and frothing with delight. [...] Then Janie felt a pain remorseless sweet that left her limp and languid” (11).

Read More

More about Their Eyes Were Watching God Pear Tree Analysis

Related Topics

Open Document