Their Eyes Were Watching God Symbolism Essay

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In the 1930s, women were still fighting for equality, but they were not being viewed as independent people. Women were often used as symbols in a family to show the power the man had by the control he had over his wife and her beauty. In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, the author includes symbolism and heavy description about finding love and independence as a woman in the 1930s through her carefully crafted characters. In the novel, the main character, Janie, undergoes several relationships of which she learns how to find her independence and eventually finds her true love. After being under a tight reign between what she can say and do from her first two husbands, Janie’s voice is finally liberated when she finds her true pear tree image of love.
In the beginning of the novel, Janie’s first husband, Logan Killicks, is not her ideal choice to represent her love. Logan was chosen as Janie’s husband by her grandmother, who had the best intentions. However, Logan seems to think that Janie should be the one doing all the work and even says, “‘you ain’t in no particular place. It’s wherever Ah need yuh. Git uh move on yuh, and dat quick’” (Hurston 31). During
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While Janie was able find refuge by leaving her silencing husbands, many others are not able to do this due to their conditions. A common piece of advice a woman would here in the 1930s about their marriage would be “don’t answer back; don’t spend money on yourself, don’t do anything he doesn’t want you to do,” and “if you are not a happy woman, your husband at least will be comfortable.” Fortunately, Janie found her love that broke these rules and the stereotype of marriage in order to make herself be heard. This novel proves how strong a woman’s voice can and should be in their relationship, even though it may have taken Janie over thirty years to find

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