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Their Eyes Were Watching God Pear Tree

Decent Essays

Meredith Mannion
Mrs. Worrall
Literature of Controversy En 137-2
8 October 2014
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Symbols represent something of a higher meaning. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, the pear tree to Janie represents all of her dreams, hopes, and plans for the future. The pear tree is the exemplary love for Janie in her lifetime. Janie grows throughout the book and her life is shaped around finding true love and finding herself through love.
The pear tree is a reoccurring symbol in the book. The first instance of the pear tree in the book is when Janie watches a bee pollinate from a blossom. The pear tree represents what Janie thinks marriage and love should be like and she compares the bee pollinating on the …show more content…

By deaths, Janie means failed dreams or not reaching true love. Janie feels incomplete when she can’t find significant love in her life. Janie runs away from Logan Killicks. Next, Janie marries Joe Starks. Joe seems very handsome and genuine at first but Janie’s opinion of him quickly changes. She feels like she is just playing the part as a wife. She does the cliché duties of a wife. She works in his store, cleans, and cooks for him. “She wasn’t petal open with him anymore” (Hurston 67). Janie and Joe became no longer intimate with each other. There is no connection between them. Joe eventually dies and Janie has to starch her face to mask her true feelings for Joe. She is actually relieved and feels free. The deaths of Janie’s dreams change her outlook on men and life. After her two mediocre marriages, Janie feels lost and feels like there is no one out there to meet her expectations. Janie’s entire image of love changes when she meets Tea Cake. He is everything she ever wanted. He is the “pear tree marriage,” that Janie has been looking for in life. According to Mrs. Worrall, “Tea Cake makes Janie feel virginal.” He makes her forget about her two previous marriages. “Janie awoke next morning by feeling Tea Cake almost kissing her breath away” (Hurston 108).Tea Cake and Janie practice intercourse and Janie feels extreme joy and bliss. She finally feels complete. After he dies, she feels like she doesn’t have to

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