Their Eyes were Watching God – Symbols and Motifs

SYMBOLS

Janie’s Hair

Unlike many African-American people, Janie has Caucasian straight hair given by her white grandfather and father. Her hair is a symbol of her femininity and strength in the novel. Janie’s hair is so feminine, rare, and beautiful that most of the men interacting with her finds it sexually attractive, which reflects her equally attractive character and identity. The straightness of her hair is a symbol of her purity and strength, where she is strong and will not bend down to what the others say to her or want her to do. This gives her an almost masculine power, which helps her transcend gender and the male-over-female structure of the society then.

In the novel, Joey is so jealous of the other men exposed to Janie’s sexually attractive hair that he orders her to tie up and conceal her hear. This action symbolizes Joey’s out-ward dominance over her, and Janie’s resistance shows how she desires to be accepted and loved by the community as her true self, without anything concealed.

Pear Tree, Flower, and Pollen

The pear tree symbolizes Janie’s ideal form of nature, where love and passion leads to perfect harmony and union. When sitting under the pear tree in her grandmother’s garden, Janie witnessed a bee burying itself into a pear flower for its pollen. In this she saw the perfect moment in nature, full of erotic energy, passionate interaction, and blissful harmony. This then became her ideal, where love and passion did not lead to possession or domination, but harmony and union. The pear tree, flower, and pollen are symbols that come up repetitively throughout the novel. Janie seeks for this ideal through her marriages, which is why she rejected Logan and Joey but accepted Tea Cake.

Horizon and Road

The horizon is also a symbol of Janie’s ideal nature; the part that reflects her dreams and wishes. The far-off, mysterious image of the horizon brings Janie the hope of improvement and the possibilities of change, which Janie longs to reach and achieve. The road is a symbol often seen together with the horizon, and it is what connects Janie and the horizon. For example, figures related to Janie’s change such as Johnny Taylor and Joey, first appears in the novel walking down the road.

Hurricane

Opposing the pear tree and the horizon, the hurricane symbolizes the destructive and malicious side of nature. It represents the chaotic and fickle world in contrast to Janie’s ideals, and makes the characters question their presence: whether if they are in conflict with the world around them, and whether if the they are actually under the protection of God. Also, the hurricane marks the change of Janie and Tea Cake’s life from the happy days to Tea Cake’s miserable death.

MOTIFS

The Folklore Quality of Religion

As the title of the book indicatesTheir Eyes Were Watching God, God plays an important roll within the story. However, God does not exist as a one, rather the surrounding environments represents the power of God and spirituality. Things like the sun, the moon, the sky, the sea, the horizon all represented God on the title of the book. Main character Janie uses these spiritual objects to understand her place in the world. Hurston collected many African mythology and folklore, which are the source of the ideas of spirituality within the book.

Community

Community is a very important factor in Their Eyes Were Watching God, and both Eatonville and Everglades are two very important setting in the novel. The main character, Janie, interacted many times with these communities, but she also has two different perspectives towards these communities. Sometimes Janie wants to be part of the community, such as when she was in the middle of a hurricane and she seeks shelter from the storm. The book describes, “sat in company with the others in other shanties”, which shows the bond between people of the community. In other times, Janie dislikes how the communities neglect unity as well as the gossips and rumors towards her.

Bibliography

"Their Eyes Were Watching God: Themes, Motifs & Symbols." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 25 Aug. 2013. <

Kendall, Emily. "Symbols and Metaphors." Symbols and Metaphors. N.p., 2005. Web. 25 Aug. 2013. <