List of Symbolism in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Are Watching God

Zora Neale Hurston

1. Tree Roots- African people without any roots
2. The Pear Tree- Janie's budding womanhood
3. The Mule- The black woman's experience. She does the worst jobs for the white people and black men. She gets "walked on." Logan buys Janie a mule to represent how he is tired of treating her like a princess or white woman, and now he wants her to do the heavy labor jobs around the farm.

4. The Gate and the Road- Related to the metaphor at the beginning. The Gate is he shore and the Road represents the waves as Janie looks down the road to find a new dream.

5. The Horizon- Janie keeps looking down the gate post to a new horizon, or a new start. Joe Starks had appeared on that new horizon.
6. The Eatonville general store- represents the center of this first all-black town.
7. The illumination of the lamp post represents the start of a new all-black town. It also shows that Joe Starks is all-powerful and likes others to bow down to him, including Janie.
8. Joe and Janie's house is 2-story and looks like a plantation owner's house- it seems to represent his tyrant-like behavior, almost like the plantation owner, with the people of the town living in homes that are not as nice as his, almost like slave or servant quarters.
9. Tobacco spittoon- This represents again how wealthy Joe is.
10. Mule's funeral- represented everything in Janie's old life, and when Joe wouldn't let her go, it showed that he wasn't going to let her live like that anymore.
11. Guitar- playful side of people
12. Overalls- working side of people
13. Janie's head rag- her bondage to Joe, that he has ultimate control over who she is and what she does
14. Janie's long hair- Janie's freedom from Joe- that he doesn't actually control her anymore, and she is free to be who she wants
15. The color blue- the proof of Janie and Tea Cake's love
16. Fishing- Shows a sharing relationship between two people
17. Checkers- Janie was never allowed to play checkers when she was with Joe, so she was not seen as equal until Tea Cake asked her to play after Joe had died
18. Rabid dog- The change in Janie's good life with Tea Cake
19. The dirt in The Muck- The working class' growth and strength that was gained during the time

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