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Their Eyes Were Watching God Road Symbolism

1220 Words5 Pages

Olivia Lea
Mr. Dart
Honors Perspectives in American Literature
25 Jan 2023
The Pursuance of Dreams in Their Eyes Were Watching God
“...For no matter how far a person can go the horizon is still way behind you…” (Hurston 89). Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston follows Janie, a beautiful Black woman living in the South during the twentieth century. In a search for true love within marriage, Janie experiences life with three strikingly different husbands. In the novel, Hurston uses roads and horizons to symbolize Janie’s pursuit of possibilities, love, and independence. The horizon represents the life changing possibilities that Janie sees in her future. Hurston uses the horizon as a symbol for the captivating, but seemingly …show more content…

Janie begins the said encounter following her experience under the pear tree, realizing her desires for future relationships. “She searched as much of the world as she could from the top of the front steps and then went on down to the front gate and leaned over to gaze up and down the road” (Hurston 11). Hurston’s repeated concept of Janie gazing up the road explains Janie's willingness to search for what she yearns for. The road is Janie’s escape from unhappiness and oftentimes, reality. Following the conversation between Janie and Nanny the text states that “The familiar people and things had failed her so she hung over the gate and looked up the road towards way off” (Hurston 25). Janie pauses her search for love during her marriage with Logan Killicks, her first husband. She is aware that she won’t find what she is looking for anytime soon, so she begins her journey of womanhood and independence. When Janie first meets Jody, she is attracted to his imminent possibilities for the future. Willing to take a chance with him, Janie chooses to leave her marriage with Logan and travel to Eatonville with Jody. Hurston describes how Janie feels rejuvenated by her decision, “The morning road air was like a new dress” (Hurston 32). By comparing the ‘morning road air’ to a new dress, Hurston indicates Janie's excitement to begin a new phase in her life. Once …show more content…

Janie experiences a loss of independence during her first marriage, and that loss is magnified with her marriage to Jody. Jody exhibits a controlling, narcissistic, and dominating personality which leaves Janie powerless and oppressed. “She was a rut in the road. Plenty of life left beneath the surface but it was kept beaten down by the wheels” (Hurston 76). Hurston illustrates how Janie is affected by Jody’s treatment during the marriage. Jody suppresses Janie’s emotions and opinions, often with a physical beating, comparable to the damage inflicted to a rut in the road. Janie is able to bring her life back to the surface after Jody’s death, no longer experiencing the domination of a powerful man in her life. Janie expresses her anger and disappointment towards Jody in the final moments of his life, “‘All dis bowin’ down, all dis obedience under yo’ voice—dat ain’t whut Ah rushed off down de road tuh find out about you’” (Hurston 87). Therefore, when he dies, Janie feels a sense of liberation and freedom. Hurston showcases Janie’s independence as she takes over management of the store. In the succeeding months, Janie meets a younger man named Tea Cake, who helps Janie discover herself. Hurston uses Tea Cake to demonstrate a healthy, balanced relationship between a married couple. Tea Cake never forces Janie to do anything against her own free will and encourages her to try

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Jody often puts down Janie for being a woman. She felt like she was always looked down upon. “Somebody got to think for woman and chillun and chickens and cows. I god, they sho don’t think none theirselves.” (Page 71).

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Her grandmother wants Janie to live the life that she herself could not live. Janie’s grandmother says, “Ah been waitin’ a long time, Janie, but nothin’ Ah been through ain’t too much if you just take a stand on high ground lak Ah dreamed” (Hurston 16). This is only the beginning of Janie’s journey. By listening to her grandmother’s advice, Janie is able to realize what she truly wants out of life and continues her quest to find

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Janie, however, now cares less about the judgment of the townspeople and more about her relationship with Tea Cake and decides to go as far as to marry him and go with him to Jacksonville. Once she begins prioritizing her husband over society’s judgment, she allows herself to be placed under the authority of another

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(Hurston 55). Jody’s determination to keep Janie safe and protect her from other men causes Janie to be upset. Janie feels as if her only purpose “was there in the store for him to look at, not those others'' (55).

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Janie takes a progressive, personal approach to growth and self-expression. She moves through her three marriages as they increase in opportunity and

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Janie states that her “‘own mind had tuh be squeezed and crowded out tuh make room for yours in me’”(Hurston 87) portraying the relationship and power dynamics Janie has with her second husband. There is a shift in power dynamics because Janie chose to express her feelings in the most vulnerable state that Joe Starks was in. She makes her way towards the mirror and “had told her girl self to wait for her.” The little girl that she once saw had now become “a handsome woman” that “had taken her place”(Hurston 87). For Janie, Joe Starks was a lesson and a stepping stone to guide her path to finding herself in her relationships and where she stands as an individual.

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Janie felt,“This business of the head-rag irked her endlessly. But [Joe] was set on it. Her hair was NOT going to show in the store. It didn’t seem sensible at all. That was because Joe never told Janie how jealous he was.”

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Finding her identity was a very difficult and powerful process and Janie is deemed as a strong independent woman because of it. Janie shows this when the novel states that “She was looking for the kiss of life. She was searching for something that was inside herself, and always had been” (Hurston 9). This proves Janie’s quest to find herself and who she is because she knows she has a purpose and that her life has meaning. Janie’s determination shows how she’s trying to fight the expectations for her and doesn’t want to die just being a normal woman.

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Next, Janie continues on her determined journey for love when she goes off to marry Tea Cake. In the quote,

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Instead, she runs away with a new acquaintance named Jody even against her grandmother's wishes. In her second marriage to Jody Starks, Janie is stuck in the same loop oppressed again. Her husband Jody seeks to control every aspect of her life, from the way she dresses to the people she associates

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With Joe’s death also came Janie’s freedom, although Joe’s lasting influence on her made it hard to let loose and show her beauty again as she “had tried to show her shine”(90), but she is so unconfident with herself from the impact of Joe. Additionally with Joe gone, it leaves Janie alone with a huge fortune and in a vulnerable position with many people wanting to take advantage of her, causing men to question her as a woman if she can do it “by herself”(90) or if she “needs aid”(90). Lastly, Janie shows to still be affected by Joe’s efforts to keep Janie’s life mostly revolving around the marketplace, as Tea Cake brings up that she still doesn’t go watch baseball games or learn new things because she's in “uh jug”(104), that's constrained her from living. With Joe leaving Janie in a state of vulnerability, Tea Cake offered her new opportunities and made her feel wanted which led her out of Joe’s jug and into becoming an independent and willful character. In the early relationship of Janie and Tea Cake, he asks her to play checkers with him and she starts “glowing inside”(96), after the realization that she is wanted, and learns that it's okay and “natural”(96) to try something new and

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In the first instance, Tea Cake is alive and physically sleeping beside Janie. However, at the end of the story, after Tea Cake has died, Janie’s adoring and loving memories of Tea Cake continue to live on and that in itself is enough to make her feel at ease. By paralleling Janie’s soul in these two moments, Hurston highlights the

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Janie is by herself when we first and last see her. The book is about her quest for a stable sense of independence rather than her search for a romantic relationship. Analyzing Janie's language use and relationship to her own voice allows you to see how she changes over time. The unusual linguistic style of Hurston's novel, especially her command of the rural Southern Black speech, is much recognized.

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Jody’s image of Janie changes her into someone who she is not, submissive and non independent. Again, Janie’s marriage was not made in love and she was trapped. Unlike Logan, Janie puts up with Jody for 20 miserable years before she is finally freed by his death. To Janie, Jody’s death is an eye-opener. Janie is no longer going to settle for less than what

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Jody controlled major aspects of Janie’s life, such as her appearance, when he forces her to keep her hair up. Janie does not like that Jody feels the need to control her: “This business of the head-rag irked her endlessly. But Jody was set on it... that was because Joe never told Janie how jealous he was” (Hurston 55).

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