Symbol Of Janie's Expectation example essay topic

Zora Neale Hurston, the author of "Their Eyes Were Watching God", uses symbolism and metaphors frequently throughout the novel. Symbols and metaphors in essence are unifying ideas that are recurrent elements in a literary work, and are used in this novel for numerous reasons. The main reason why these elements are used is to convey the story's themes and their purposes. A few examples of symbols and metaphors introduced in this novel include the pear tree, horizon, death, mules, and hair. The symbols used by Hurston represent the experiences and growth of the main character Janie in the novel who searches for a sense of self and her place in the world. An image of the blossoming pear tree is depicted several times in the novel.

For instance, in Nanny's back yard, Janie lies beneath a pear tree when, "the inaudible voice of it all came to her. She saw a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom; the thousand sister-calyxes arch to meet the love embrace and the ecstatic shiver of the tree from root to tiniest branch creaming in every blossom and frothing with delight. So this was marriage! She had been summoned to behold a revelation". (pg. 10 and 11).

Janie's youthful thoughts lead her to believe that this intense sensuality must be similar to the intimacy between lovers, and she then wished to become the image of a pear tree in bloom. This image to her suggested wholeness, it paralleled the idea of human sexual intercourse, which was lacking in Janie's marriage to Logan Killick's and Joe Starks. Finally, in her relationship to Tea Cake this apparent phenomenon became active. The ideal affect of this brought about Janie reaching womanhood. The pair tree's growth and changes it undergoes symbolizes Janie's transformation and the realization of her hopes and dreams. An image of a mule is also portrayed in the novel.

Janie's grandmother initiates comparison between black women and mules, stating "De nigger woman is de mule uh de world so fur as Ah can see". (pg. 14). Both Joe and Tea Cake treated Janie as if she were a mule, due to the fact that she received little respect. This gave insight that the men had supremacy over Janie and held high expectations for her. In both of the marriages Janie was a victim of abuse, Joe emphasizes his power verbally, but he occasionally would hit her in front of his friends. However, Tea Cake hits Janie due to the fact that the other workers at muck expected men to strike women. Janie's hair is also symbolic.

Her hair functioned as a symbol of the submission Joe demanded for her. Joe Starks forced Janie to have her hair worn up under a head rag throughout their marriage. Janie surrenders to Joe's authority externally by wearing the head rag. After Joe's death, Janie burns all of her head rags in a symbolic act of liberation.

During Janie's life, her grandmother, Joe, and Tea Cake all died. Each death represented an end to a past and a new beginning to search for a new horizon. Janie became a woman in each instance a person willing to accept the loss of a dream and to move on, knowing that something was gained in the process. She discovers that the only way to reach her goals is to go out and experience life her own way. Death, just as in everyday life is a right of passage. It allowed Janie to grow as an individual.

How far can your sight allow you to see? Far, way off into the distance? But there is one sight always at the end of your vision: the horizon. Doesn't matter how far North, South, East, or West you go you are never going to get past the horizon. Throughout the book the concept of the horizon comes up, both figuratively and metaphorically. The horizon represents the ultimate goal, never to be reached; it contains everything we ever wanted, only some of which we can receive.

The horizon symbolizes what people want and the ships on it symbolize our individual hopes and dreams. For example, the novel begins: Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sale forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men.

Now, women forget all those things they want to remember, and remember everything they don't want to forget. The dream is the truth. Then they act and do things accordingly. (pg. 1). In this passage the ships represent hopes and dreams in the story, where the horizon is the ultimate goal, never to be reached. Men concentrate solely on the dreams themselves, never satisfied until they have accomplished whatever it is the goal, which they have set out to reach. Women, however, know that it is not where you end up, but what you gain from the journey, that counts.

The women can live without the fulfillment of their dreams as long as they gained something trying to get there. The horizon represents Janie's future and her journey to find love and happiness. While married to Joe Starks, her second husband, the image of the horizon appears while watching the sunset on the porch. The reoccurrence of this image portrays the fact that Janie is not satisfied with the relationship she has with Joe. After Joe's death, Janie goes to the train station at sunrise to meet and marry Tea Cake. The train supports the symbol of Janie's expectation that it will lead to the horizon.

The principal theme in "Their Eyes Were Watching God", the horizon, is created through Janie's experiences in trying to find the future. At the very end of the novel, Janie looks back at her life and is content. Janie states, "Here was peace, "She pulled in her horizon like a great fish-net."Pulled it from around the waist of the world and draped it over her shoulder."So much of life in its meshes!"She called in her soul to come and see". (pg. 184). Finally, Janie had reached her goals in life and could carry them around in her mind.

Janie instills in the reader a message of hope, that you can achieve your goals if you so desire. So the horizon is there at the end of sight, taunting us. Waving what we want in front of our faces. But that is only half of the story.

The horizon is there to be reached, not to be forbidden. It's constant motivation that allows us to know that there is hope and you can get to where you want to be someday.