What symbols are used in Their Eyes Were Watching God?

Symbols

Hair. Janie’s hair is a symbol of her power and unconventional identity; it represents her strength and individuality in three ways.
The Pear Tree and the Horizon. The pear tree and the horizon represent Janie’s idealized views of nature.
The Hurricane. The hurricane represents the destructive fury of nature.

What does the eyes symbolize in Their Eyes Were Watching God?

These recurrent motifs serve to illustrate abstract concepts that are important in the novel. Hurston’s powerful use of imagery clarifies and intensifies the telling of Janie’s story. Their Eyes Were Watching God opens with the motif of wishing or dreaming.

What is the mule a symbol of In Their Eyes Were Watching God?

When Jody purchases the mule to appease Janie’s sense of pity for it, the town regards Jody as a savior, and adopts the freed mule as a kind of emblem. Throughout the novel, the mule symbolizes victimization, a theme that appears throughout the novel in various ways.

What is the irony in Their Eyes Were Watching God?

In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston uses irony to illustrate that women are much more probable to reach their dreams in love than men. Hurston begins her novel by using the metaphor of ships for love: “Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board. For some they come with the tide.

What kind of God are the eyes watching?

The eyes are looking toward an omniscient, omnipotent God to share their fate with them.

What made Janie a woman?

However, Janie yearns for a marriage filled with unconditional love. She now understands that “marriage did not make love.” At this point, Janie’s dream of love and happiness dies, causing her to leave the naïve young girl that she was when she married Logan and to become a woman.

Why is Tea Cake’s death ironic?

The irony is that (1) Tea Cake received his death sentence, the bite, while rescuing Janie; (2) he could both beat her and rescue her; (3) she killed him with a skill he taught her and (4) the end result of his physical attacks on her was his death at her hands.

Who does Janie marry in Their Eyes Were Watching God?

Janie’s first husband was an older man, Logan Killicks. The marriage began with an arrangement by Nanny, Janie’s grandmother, and ended when Janie left with Joe Starks, her second husband. The marriage to Joe Starks ended when Starks died. Janie’s third husband was Vergible Woods, or Tea Cake.

What race is Joe Starks?

Joe resembles a white slave master in more than one way. He is well fed (read: he’s a tad chubby), like the well-to-do bourgeois Caucasians. He also carries himself with all of the confidence and authority of a man sure to get what he wants.

What does the mule in their eyes were watching God symbolize?

The animal with the greatest symbolic charge in this novel is the mule. Mentioned frequently throughout “Their Eyes Were Watching God”, the mule obviously represents the carrier of heavy loads and burdens, but it can also—and does—represent stubborn resistance.

What does the porch symbolize in their eyes were watching God?

The use of the metaphor that describes the porch as a throne (and hence the porch-sitters as royalty) reinforces the idea of an elevated social status and its implied protection. Similar to Avray’s porch, Phoeby’s porch in Their Eyes Were Watching God is a social place.

Is there irony in ‘their eyes were watching God’?

The literary device used throughout “Their Eyes Were Watching God” is irony. Irony is defined as a reality different from what appears to be true. All creative novels must use irony in some form. Hurston uses all tree forms of irony in her story. She uses Verbal Irony in the beginning when the old women are gossiping…

Who are the characters in their eyes were watching God?

See a complete list of the characters in Their Eyes Were Watching God and in-depth analyses of Janie Mae Crawford, Tea Cake, Jody Starks, Nanny Crawford, and Mrs. Turner. Character List Janie Mae Crawford Tea Cake Jody Starks Nanny Crawford Mrs. Turner

What symbols are used in Their Eyes Were Watching God? Symbols Hair. Janie’s hair is a symbol of her power and unconventional identity; it represents her strength and individuality in three ways. The Pear Tree and the Horizon. The pear tree and the horizon represent Janie’s idealized views of nature. The Hurricane. The hurricane represents…