Their Eyes Were Watching God Symbolism

Their Eyes Were Watching God: A Look into a Woman’s Perspective

Often overlooked, the female perspective is one that is unique and different from typical male perspectives. Author Zora Neale Hurston reveals such a perspective to readers in her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. Within this work, Hurston centers the story around main character Janie Mae Crawford and her life throughout the years. From adolescence to adulthood, Hurston uses symbolism to represent Janie’s perspective as she navigates through her journeys of joy and sorrow. In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston uses the pear tree, the horizon, and the bee and blossom as symbols of Janie’s ideals and dreams.

Throughout her life, Janie constantly refers to trees

When Janie first meets Joe Starks, the horizon represents the change that Janie wants from her current life. While Joe does “...not represent sun-up and pollen and blooming trees…he spoke for far horizon. He spoke for change and chance.” (Hurston, 29) By definition, a horizon is a limit to a person’s ability. Hurston uses the horizon as a symbol of change for Janie. Hurston clarifies that while Joe does not comply with Janie’s vision of love, the change he speaks for is enough to convince Janie to run away with him. In her first marriage with Logan, Janie lives a monotonous life and is unhappy with him. With Joe, Janie sees a far horizon or a new change from her unfulfilling life. In addition to change, Hurston uses the horizon to represent new beginnings. When Janie runs away with Joe, “They sat on the boarding house porch and saw the sun plunge into the same crack in the earth from which the night emerged.” (Hurston, 33) The “crack in the earth” refers to the horizon and how night and day change starting at that point. Hurston describes one setting that changes at the horizon into another to represent the new change in Janie’s life. With Joe, Janie is starting a new life with new opportunities. She is running away from her first marriage with Logan and is now starting another with Joe. Hurston uses the changing of night and day on the horizon to highlight Janie’s transition from one stage to another.

The pear tree from Janie’s past represents Janie’s longing for fulfillment and growth. She witnesses the transformation of the tree and longs to undergo the same process and feel complete like the tree. However, this ideal is not upheld in her first marriage as she is unhappy. Wishing for a change, Janie runs away from her first marriage and enters into her second, where her horizon is used as a symbol for change and opportunity. Later in her life, the horizon represents her life experiences as a whole. Having lived and lost, Janie’s horizon is complete and ready to be “pulled in.” Along with the pear tree and horizon, Hurston uses the bees and blossoms as symbols for Janie’s desires. Like the bees and blossoms, Janie wishes to be in a relationship where she is equal to her partner and experiences mutual pleasure. She wishes to see the same passion from the bees and bloom in her marriage and finally gets her desires fulfilled by Tea Cake. After living through her first two marriages, each filled with their own issues, Janie finally gets to live her dreams with Tea Cake. All throughout the book, Hurston reveals her perspective to readers through the use of symbolism. She uses the pear tree, horizon, and the bees and blossoms to reveal the ideals and dreams that Janie holds dear as she navigates through her journey of love and