What Is Janie's Relationship With Nature In Their Eyes Were Watching God

As the book, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora N Hurston, goes on Janie has a lot of changes that influence how she feels about her surroundings. Like how she became more and more “docile” to her soundings. And how she seemed to define love. Her ability to sympathize has also grown along her life.

With Hurston’s unique format and very symbolic tone, the novel clearly sets up the connection between Janie’s own life path and nature. As this was shown through sunny Eatonville in the summer and through the cow fighting for its life through the hurricane, there is no shortage of connections, which were excellent at aiding the telling of the novel. One specific connection that describes Janie is the connection of love and self-discovery that is shown through her and the pear tree.

Tea Cake’s actions leave Janie distraught and increases the feeling of angst in Janie when she has an epiphany that Tea Cake might have run off with a younger

For the first time in her life she worries about someone’s well being when Tea Cake goes missing. “But oh God, don’t let Tea Cake be off somewhere hurt and Ah not know nothing about it. And God, please suh, don’t let him love nobody else but me.” (Hurston, 120) She learns what it’s like to be jealous when Tea Cake was teasing some girl in the fields. Janie also learned that a couple has to face issues together. “From now on, you gointuh eat whatever mah money can buy yuh…” (Hurston, 128). If Tea Cake didn’t get work they didn’t eat. During the hurricane when Lias came to ask them to leave Tea Cake said “Thank yuh ever so much, Lias. But we ‘bout decided tuh stay.” (Hurston, 156). In this situation Janie could’ve left Tea Cake for her own safety but she decided to face the storm with him. Again later after the storm when Tea Cake get sick from the rabies, she could’ve left or sent him to the hospital but she risked her life everyday to be with

Socially and mentally that breaks down her self-image, she realized that this wasn't what she wanted or needed. “Janie pulled back a long time because he did not represent sun-up and pollen and blooming trees, but he spoke for far horizon”. (Hurston 29) This nature imagery emphasized how Janie realizes that the choice she made wasn't what she insinuated it would be, he wasn't true to his word and gave Janie a different season every day, he didn't give her that beautiful blossoming

In this novel Janie searches for fulfillment and independence in her relationships to find the life she dreamed for herself, not the one someone else thought she ought to have. The beginning of Their Eyes Were Watching God details

As a young woman, Janie wanted love, true love. In the beginning of the novel and Janie 's journey, she is under a blossoming pear tree where she spends most of her days. She is watching the bees fly to the blossoms, when she has an epiphany. “So this was a marriage! She had been summoned to behold a revelation. Then

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston follows a young African-American woman named Janie as she tells her friend Pheoby about her past experiences. It can be assumed that nature as well higher being or unknown force drives Janie’s morals and shapes her experiences. The first instance where Janie connects with nature in a significant way was an experience she had when she was sixteen. She was lying under the pear tree in her backyard when she noticed the bees around the tree. “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 a marriage! She had been summoned to behold a revelation (Hurston 10). Something out of Janie’s control brought

As a young girl Janie had some romantic bones in her body. Her introduction to love—watching a bee pollinate a flower while lying underneath a blossoming

[she longed] to be a pear tree - any tree in bloom! With kissing bees singing of the beginning of the world! She had glossy leaves and bursting buds and she... [was] waiting for the world to be made" (11). Janie, feeling herself opening like the petals of a flower, yearns to delve into the unfamiliar - to find the sweet marriage represented by the bees and blossoms.

The first type of the love that Janie experiences are protective love from her Nanny (her grandmother). Her Nanny strives for her to have a better life than she ever did, and wants to make sure that Janie is well taken car of. This protective love that Nanny bestows to Janie is the way Nanny forces the arranged marriage with Logan Killicks. With Logan, Janie had the similar protective love much like Nanny had provided her. Logan owned a 60-acre potato farm, which represents a sense of security for Janie. Living on such a large acre Janie had to put it a lot of work on the farm. Janie was getting tired of working on the farm and wanted to be able to travel to the town with Logan but he never allowed because there was work that needed to be done on the farm. Even though Janie was given protection and land this type of love is not the one she had always desired.

Although her English is still mispronounced and broken, Janie’s thoughts become more abstract. Janie proclaims, "Love is lak de sea. It's uh movin' thing, but still and all, it takes its shape from de shore it meets, and it's different with every shore" (191). Because of her relationship with Tea Cake, Janie is capable of defining what love truly is, which is a complex idea. Although she is saddened to shoot him when he is rabid, Janie frees herself from the limitations of being a woman in society. She is able to focus on herself and find out who she truly is on the inside. Janie further states, “Two things everybody's got tuh do fuh theyselves. They got tuh go tuh God, and they got tuf find out about livin' fuh theyselves" (192). Janie’s newfound freedom causes her to realize the importance of focusing on oneself. Her simple, concrete thoughts as a young woman developed into abstract ideas, similar to the

Janie’s horizon epitomized her land of the possibility, to bring change and to open her eyes to the world around her. Although her relationships with Logan and Joe obstructed her for half of her life, her time with Tea Cake illuminated her to a world where she could explore and enjoy herself. Moreover, her delight in the thoughts of the pear tree expressed her desire to find pleasure in life and to pursue that in the marriages she had experienced. Although, spending her life with Logan and Joe had impeded her from earning the love she deserved, Tea Cake’s presence blessed her with the bliss that life brings in one’s journey. Consequently, her bee and blossom dream being undermined many times due to dismal relationships and neglected feelings finally brought her to Tea Cake, her true love. He cherished every moment with her and motivated her to carry on her life with the same happiness, joy and affection she once received from him. Janie’s life-long experiences and sufferings have brought her to a place where she can connect her memories, her future ambitions and be herself. Despite her past, she will continue to cherish it as her life has ripened from the spirited yet restricted teenager she once was, into a woman who has fulfilled her own destiny and one who will not

Janie's first dream was dead, so she became a woman" (24). Janie's prayer is her final plea for a change in her life. She says "Lawd, you know mah heart. Ah done de best Ah could do. De rest is left to you" (23).

Tea Cake returns home after Janie has a panic attack regarding the two hundred dollars she thought he stole. She assumed he had run off, but he returned with it. This sets up trust between the two parties. Additionally, there is understanding between the two of them, as Tea Cake accepts that she wishes to accompany him to future events. This also sets them up to spend time with each other instead of Janie being isolated like she was with Jody.