Top 100 Literature Essay Topics - Ievgen Sykalo 2026
The use of symbolism in “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston
The Harvest of the Horizon
Voice, Vision, and the Symbolic Reclamation of Self in Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God
Zora Neale Hurston’s 1937 masterpiece is a study of Self-Definition through the reclamation of language. Janie Crawford’s journey is not just a search for a partner, but a search for her own "voice." Hurston uses a rich Symbolic Framework—the pear tree, the head-rag, and the horizon—to track Janie's evolution from a property of others to the sole proprietor of her own destiny. By the end, Janie doesn't just watch the horizon; she harvests it.
Chapter 2: The Pear Tree and the Standard of Love
The novel’s foundational symbol appears in Chapter 2. Under the pear tree, a sixteen-year-old Janie witnesses the "marriage" of the singing bee and the blossom. This Organic Imagery creates Janie’s personal definition of love: a mutual, ecstatic union. Throughout her marriages to Logan Killicks and Joe (Jody) Starks, the pear tree serves as an Internal Benchmark. When her reality fails to meet this standard, Hurston uses the "death" of this imagery to signal Janie’s emotional starvation.
Fact: Janie maintains an internal sovereignty that Joe cannot touch. Hurston uses the head-rag (hair-rag) that Joe forces Janie to wear in Chapter 6 as a symbol of his desire to "hide" her vibrancy from the town. When she burns the head-rags in Chapter 9, it is a literal and symbolic reclamation of her power, proving her spirit was merely suppressed, not extinguished.
The "Mule of the World": Intersectional Reality
Nanny’s foundational metaphor in Chapter 2—that the Black woman is the "mule uh de world"—is physically manifested in the Eatonville mule. Joe Starks’ "rescue" of the animal is a masterclass in Performative Benevolence. He buys the mule to showcase his power as Mayor, yet he excludes Janie from the town's folk rituals, such as the mule's mock funeral. Janie identifies with the mule as a creature whose labor and suffering are treated as a spectacle by men who refuse to see its humanity.
“Now, women forget all those things they don’t want to remember, and remember everything they don’t want to forget. The dream is the truth. Then they act and do things accordingly.”
Lake Okeechobee: Nature as the Final Arbiter
In Chapter 18, the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane serves as the "God" that the characters must watch. It represents the Indifference of Nature to human social hierarchies. In the "Muck," Janie and Vergible "Tea Cake" Woods face a force that Joe Starks' mayoral power could never control. The tragic aftermath—Tea Cake’s rabies infection and Janie’s subsequent trial—forces Janie to demonstrate the ultimate "voice": telling her story to a courtroom to secure her own freedom.
When analyzing a novel's conclusion, look for symbols of Containment or Harvest. Janie pulling in her horizon "like a great fish-net" in Chapter 20 signals that her journey is over because she has integrated her experiences into her soul. This is a common Modernist closure where internal realization replaces external resolution.
Nanny believes freedom is "security" (property and status), while Janie believes freedom is "vision" (the pear tree). In the context of 1930s Florida, which woman’s philosophy is more sustainable? Can Janie's harvest of memories survive the judgment of the Eatonville porch?
- Intro: Contrast the "Ships at a Distance" (passive dreaming) with women’s Active Sovereignty.
- Body 1: The Organic Ideal: The pear tree in Chapter 2 as the blueprint for autonomy.
- Body 2: The Social Mask: Symbolism of the head-rag and the "mule of the world" in Eatonville.
- Body 3: The Equalizer: The Okeechobee Hurricane and the "watching" of an indifferent God.
- Conclusion: The Great Fish-Net: Analyzing the final paragraph as the completion of the Frame Narrative.
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