Their Eyes Were Watching God Literary Devices

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Driving Moments Behind Janie’s Approach to Love in Their Eyes Were Watching God
The clashing views on love and marriage between conformity and that of a young woman’s idealistic dream is developed throughout Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God. Early in the novel, Janie is quickly swept from one aspect of love and marriage (the young woman’s dream) to the other (conformity). The passages on page 11 and 21 show Janie’s early exposure to both sides of love and ultimate the beginning of her path towards her self-actualization. The first passage, taking place on page 11, shows Janie’s first experience through her views of the pair tree. Hurston uses vivid symbolism and description to imprint this memory of nature and what love must be onto Janie. The embrace of the bee (a classic symbol of fertility) by the blooming flower among the backdrop of the spring afternoon sparks the beginning of Janie’s exploration of sexuality and love. The “ecstatic shiver of the tree . . . frothing with delight” has Janie seeing love and embrace as that of an extremely pleasing moment (11). The sentence, “So this was a marriage.” shows Janie’s innocent view on the world. From …show more content…
However, Janie’s wedding day can be summed up in one passage depicting Janie’s arrival to her new home. Janie remembers the wagon ride stating, “nobody put anything on the seat” showing that her marriage was already rough and unpleasant (21). Additionally, instead of the frothing delight and loving embrace, the description of the home is, “a lonesome place like a stump in the middle of the woods (21).” This stump could be compared to that very same pear tree from her initial experience. Whereas the pear tree represented pleasure and joy Janie has for marriage, the stump represents the sheer dread Janie has come to view her marriage with. Instead of that joy, Janie is left to, “wait for love to begin
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