Powerful Symbols in Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Powerful Symbols in Their Eyes Were ceremonial God by Zora Neale Hurston In 1937, upon the first publication of Their Eyes Were Watching God, the most influential black writer of his time, Richard Wright, stated that the novel carries no theme, no message, and no thought. Wrights powerful critique epitomized a nations attitude toward Zora Neale Hurstons second novel. Afro-American critics con a book that they felt satisfied the white mans stereotype of Afro-American culture and the humor which Caucasians saw in that prejudice. However, those critics and most of America unnoted the wonderful use of imagery, symbolism, and thematic application of single African-American females journeying into womanhood and self-identification in a male-dominated society. Hurston introduced Janie Crawford, a strong, articulate, and dramatic character whose lifespan was best empathized by women or by inhabitants of migrant farms and rural glum towns. Their Eyes Were Watching God is permeated w ith recurring symbols, such as a pear tree, a fence-gate, and Janies hair, that enlighten a young girls quest for self-fulfillment, as she discovers the true meaning of love and happiness through two failed marriages and one successful but tragic third. The strongest symbol in Their Eyes Were Watching God is the pear tree. The pear blossom is a representation of Janie, as she is a young girl blooming into a woman during a spring afternoon. Hurston explains this symbolism at the first of the chapter, describing Janie as a great(p) tree in leaf with the things suffered, things enjoyed, things done and undone. Dawn and doom was in the branches (Hurston 8) Janie then lies beneath the tree, observes the bees pollinate a blossom, and ex... ...ecade of prejudice against African-Americans, women, and most importantly, African-American women. Sources Cited and Consulted Donlon, Jocelyn Hazelwood. Power Spatial and Racial Intersections in Faulkner and Hurston.Journal of American hortic ulture (1996) 95-110. Online. Internet. 8 December 2001. Available httpvweb.hwwilsonweb.com/ Fetterley, Judith. Introduction to the Resisting Reader a womens rightist Approach to American Fiction. The Critical Tradition Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends. Ed. David H. Richter. capital of Massachusetts Bedford books, 1998. 991-998. Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. New York Perennial Classics, 1990. Jacobs, Karen. From Spy-glass to Horizon Tracking the anthropological Gaze in Zora Neale Hurston. Novel (1997) 329-60. Online. Internet. 8 December 2001. Available httpvweb.hwwilsonweb.com/