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Each symbol is related to the condition of Janie’s life at that time. Janie is very beautiful and innocent to the ways of men and sexuality. Janie has her first sexual feelings one afternoon beneath a pear tree. She sees a “bee sinking into the sanctum of a bloom; the thousand sister calyxes arch to meet the love embrace (Hurston 11)” and she comments on how happy the tree must be to have such a feeling. Janie believes she is privy to a “revelation (Hurston 11)” and she thinks “So this [is] a marriage (Hurston 11)!” The pear tree and the bee working together in harmony represent new love and desire for Janie. She realizes she has neither in her life but she thinks about the possibilities for the future and she “[feels] a pain remorseless sweet that [leaves] limp and languid (Hurston
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One of the townsmen’s mule( Matt Bonner’s mule) was getting old and Matt did not treat him very well. He did not feed the mule often. The mule got loose and the townspeople caught up to him and were “goosing him in the sides (Hurston 56)” for fun. Janie got upset at the little “regard for helpless things (Hurston 57),” that the towns people were showing. Mayor Stark saw this and bought the mule so he could rest. The mule in the story represents Janie. Although the mule was old, tired, and a source for ridicule among the town the horse still had a “more spirit left than body (Hurston …show more content…
She starts to dress differently. She wears her hair free. She socializes with the town. Janie also falls in love again. She meets a younger man named Vergible Woods known as “Tea Cake.” Tea Cake represents inclusion, the unknown, and unconditional love for Janie. Janie was now socializing with the town but she still was not included. Tea Cake asks her to play checkers and she is so excited. “Somebody thought it natural for her to play. [That] was even nice (Hurston 96).” She even compares him to her longing. She thinks that he “could be a bee to her blossom ---- a pear tree blossom in the spring (Hurston 106).” Janie goes on to marry Tea Cake and they have some bumps along their road but Janie ultimately finds what she was searching for under the pear
One of the townsmen’s mule( Matt Bonner’s mule) was getting old and Matt did not treat him very well. He did not feed the mule often. The mule got loose and the townspeople caught up to him and were “goosing him in the sides (Hurston 56)” for fun. Janie got upset at the little “regard for helpless things (Hurston 57),” that the towns people were showing. Mayor Stark saw this and bought the mule so he could rest. The mule in the story represents Janie. Although the mule was old, tired, and a source for ridicule among the town the horse still had a “more spirit left than body (Hurston …show more content…
She starts to dress differently. She wears her hair free. She socializes with the town. Janie also falls in love again. She meets a younger man named Vergible Woods known as “Tea Cake.” Tea Cake represents inclusion, the unknown, and unconditional love for Janie. Janie was now socializing with the town but she still was not included. Tea Cake asks her to play checkers and she is so excited. “Somebody thought it natural for her to play. [That] was even nice (Hurston 96).” She even compares him to her longing. She thinks that he “could be a bee to her blossom ---- a pear tree blossom in the spring (Hurston 106).” Janie goes on to marry Tea Cake and they have some bumps along their road but Janie ultimately finds what she was searching for under the pear