Saturday, April 30, 2011

Symbolism in "Their Eyes Were Watching God"


  • Pear trees represents Janie's development into a women.
  • The mule symbolizes black women because the work of everyone else is dumped on them. In the story,Logan buys a mule for Janie to use to do his work for him.
  • Relating to the metaphor at the beginning of the story the gate and the road symbolize opportunity.
  • Eatonville general store represents the town becoming official.
  • Lights in the town are illuminating the town's victory. They have moved up in power and so has Joe Starks.
  • Joe and Janie's house is big while all the other homes are tiny. He looks like a plantation owner and all the towns people are his slaves.
  • The tobacco spittoons represents Joe's power.
  • The guitar shows the playful side of people.
  • Overalls represent the working class.
  • Janie's head rag symbolizes her bondage to Joe.
  • Janie's braid symbolizes her freedom.
  • The color blue represents Janie's proof of love to Tea Cake because he likes the color on her and she wears it for him.
  • Hunting and fishing  is symbolic of Janie and Tea Cake's ability to give and take in their relationship.
  • Checkers  represent Janie's equality with Tea Cake.
  • The packet of seeds represents new life.
  • The muck symbolizes rich culture.
  • Hurricanes represents God's power.

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