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Symbolism In Their Eyes Were Watching God

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Many literary narratives embody the concept of symbolism. It can evoke striking feelings and communicate prominent ideas through its abstract language. A profound author, Zora Neale Hurston, known for her use of symbolism in the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, conveys symbols to communicate the experiences of a beautiful yet determined black woman, Janie Crawford. Janie seeks to find her spirit, her euphoria, and her perception of self-recognition and love. What comes with her journey of her womanhood is her undying struggle and misery in discovering her aspirations from various marriages to realize her unconditional love that completes her. In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston uses the horizon, the pear tree, and the bee and blossom as symbols of Janie’s ideals and dreams.
Hurston conveys the horizon as a symbol for Janie’s land of opportunity, creating her longing desire for the life she dreams for. When Joe Starks, a young man, comes into her sight, Janie reconsiders her whole life in front of her. She “pulled back a long time because [Joe] did not represent sun-up and pollen and blooming trees, but he spoke for far horizon. He spoke for change and chance” (p 29). Hurston exudes how Janie admires Joe for the opportunity he gives to her, a chance to grow. Although the reader observes that Joe is more romantic than Logan Killicks, her first husband, the audience understands that Janie is still a little cautious of giving her all to him. He does not really

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