As you know, symbolism occurs when a person, place, or thing (such as hair) represents itself and something beyond itself. Hair, strangely enough, is a symbol in this novel. Other symbols that Hurston uses are the weather/hurricane and the pear tree. The cool thing about symbolism is that you have to figure it out. Calling all literary sleuths: How (in the world) is hair a symbol in the novel? What about the pear tree and/or hurricane? What does the title refer to? How does this passage relate to a possible theme of the novel? Hmmmm...
In the novel, Janie's hair symbolizes her unconventional identity and her strength. Her refusal to obey society's standards, for example, clearly reflects her strong, rebellious spirit. The hurricane represents the destructive force of nature, whereas the pear tree stands for beauty and serenity. The hurricane makes the characters wonder what sort of world they live in, why they are always in some sort of conflict with the world, and whether God even cares about them at all, which is incorporated to the title. Everyone yearns to find their place in the world, but sometimes one needs to pass through the toughest storm to get to where they need to be.
ReplyDeleteHer hair symbolizes beauty, strength, power, and rebellion. After Starks dies all she does is wear her hair down in rebellion that she wasn't able too wear it down when she was in the store or working in other places because it was so beautiful that the other men would gawk at it which would fill Starks with jealousy. I feel that the pear tree symbolizes her women hood and love. In some ways she is the pear tree the blossoming is her body changing the bees sinking into the blossom is the love in her marriage between a male and a female. The tree literatlly symbolizes marriage because it's the marriage in nature with out the pear tree the bee can't survive and without the bee the pear tree can't grow just like in marriage it takes two to survive and make end meets in todays society.
ReplyDeleteJanie's hair symbolizes the freedom of her relationship with her husbands. While she was married to Joe Starks,he told her to keep it tied up all the time. This was an expression of how Janie's relationship with Starks was possessive and full of jealousy. On the opposite end, Tea Cake would comb and play with Janie's hair which showed the happiness and trust in their marriage. The pear tree symbolizes what Janie wants in a perfect love. The union of the pear flowers and the bees shows how Janie wants a type of love that is not possessive, but full of mutualism, where the two people involved don't try to dominate or overshadow the other, but try to work together. The Hurricane, though literally a very destructive force, figuratively represents the power of change. Because the hurricane is so chaotic it is unsure of what the results of the change are in the next chapter of Janie's life. The title "Their Eyes Were Watching God" might represent people waiting to see what the change will bring about. Because no one knows what the future holds, they wait with baited breaths or "Watching God" for the next part of their lives to begin.
ReplyDeleteIn Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston uses Janie’s hair as a symbol of defiance and individuality. It represents how different she is in comparison to other characters. She has hopes and dreams that fall outside of the social norms. Joe tries to squash those through his insistence that she wears her hair up and covered while in the store. The hurricane is also a symbol in the novel. It’s a symbol of fate, destiny, or God. It shows that you can’t control everything around you. The title itself refers to this. The characters are always watching God because they are waiting for the next thing in life to be thrown at them to deal with.
ReplyDeleteIn the novel Janie's hair represents happiness. When she is with Joe at first her hair is down and she is happy. She was happy with being with him and all his wealth and ideas. Later on however he asks her to put her hair and stay at the store. She becomes unhappy. Then later Janie marries Teacake and is happy with him. Her hair is let down when she is married with Teacake. The Hurricane represents the end of Janie's happiness with Teacake. The hurricane cause the death of Teacake and leads to the event of Janie killing Teacake. The title "Their Eyes Were Watching God" refers to when Janie, Teacake, and Motorboat are stuck in the house.
ReplyDeleteIn Hurston's novel, Janie's hair is used as a symbol of her happiness and beauty. In the beginning of her marriage with Joe she still feels happy and beautiful and always wears her hair down. Later on in her marriage with Joe however, she is forced to keep it up which causes her to become unhappy and not feel as beautiful. Once Janie meets Teacake however she becomes happy and feels beautiful again and starts to let her hair down again. The hurricane in this book symbolizes destiny. The hurricane causes Teacake's death which Janie could not change. The title also refers to this because the people were watching for God to make his next change in their life.
ReplyDeleteEveryone already wrote down their ideas about the symbol of her hair, and I have the same opinion. But with the hurricane, it represents something out of her or anyone's control. After all this time of Janie trying to create herself and control her life, something as natural as a hurricane mixes things up. The hurricane teaches her a lesson about what she can and cannot control. The only thing she can control is how she reacts to things out of her control.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Janie’s’ hair represented her freedom and self-esteem. One of the quotes that opened this prediction up was on page 87, when the author wrote “The young girl was gone, but a handsome woman had taken her place. She tore off the kerchief from her head and let down her plentiful hair. The weight, the length, and the glory was there.” I believe this because while she was married to Jody, he made her tie it all up, symbolizing him ‘tying’ up her freedom, and owning Janie. After Jody died and Janie realized what that meant, she let go of the kerchief in her hair which symbolized letting go of the ropes holding her down by Jody. She was now a free woman and was willing to show it. Also in the novel, a hurricane struck town, I believe this symbolizes god, or power, and how nothing can ever be perfect, and sometimes change is needed. Last the pear tree symbolized the goal to life, to be happy, full of energy and spirit. She witnessed the bee and the pear tree which represented what she wanted to accomplish in her life, which in turn created her whole life story.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the novel, everyone admires Janie’s beautiful long hair. I think her hair symbolizes the strength and freedom that she possesses. In the very first chapter, she is critiqued of her hair “What dat ole forty year ole ‘oman doin’ wid her hair swingin’ down her back lak some young gal?” (2) because this time in the novel ends up being the time after she buried Tea Cake and returns to Eatonville no one knows about the new and free Janie. When she lived in Eatonville before with Jody, he always made her tie up her hair which I think symbolized her freedom being taken away. Jody never let her say her opinion or go to events with him. Once Jody dies, and Tea Cake comes into the picture, Janie wears her hair down and she is free. He takes her out fishing at night, doesn’t boss her around, and gives her the choice to work in the fields with him. I believe the pear tree symbolizes her life “Janie saw her life like a great tree in leaf with the things suffered, things enjoyed, things done and undone. Dawn and doom was in the branches” (8). The things Janie suffered were her first two marriages, and even the death of two of her husbands which relates to a tree losing its leaves in the winter. When she sees bees pollinating the blooms on the pear tree she imagines it as marriage which is all she dreams about and strives to achieve afterwards. Dawn and doom leads to another symbol in the novel, the hurricane. The hurricane symbolizes how destructive nature and the world can be. Just when everything is going good in their lives, the hurricane comes through and destroys everything. This leaves Janie wondering where she stands in the world, where her place is, and why God is allowing all this chaos and pain to occur in her life. The title “Their Eyes Were Watching God” symbolizes the change and challenges that Janie experiences with love and life that she watches over and waits for them to happen.
ReplyDeleteJanie's hair is a symbol of her freedom and defiant personality. Her long straight locks set her apart from the rest of the women and draw attention from others. When she is married to Jody, he forces her to cover it up and she has to live by his rules. But after his death she lets it down for the world to see and decides to follow her heart and ignore what others say or do.
ReplyDeleteJanie's hair is a symbol of her personality. During her marriage to Jody her hair is covered, which represents her repressed inner self. While she is married to Teacake her hair is free and beautiful. Her long hair at this point also shows how young she acts and feels, as opposed to her actual age. The pear tree symbolizes love while it's foil, the hurricane, symbolizes hate. These symbols can stand for the human race as a whole, or just the opposing factions of nature.
ReplyDeleteThe hair is significant in "Their Eyes Were Watching God" because it define's Janie's structure as a character. It shows how different she is from the traditional role in this society where she feels she needs to step out and her long hair shows its length to say that this person does not have to do what everyone else does. The pear tree and hurricane contradict each other because Janie sees this perfect day by the pear tree as how nature shall be but the hurricane shows the dangers and harm that nature can have on life. It symbolizes that there are good things in life but there are also the bad things that will oppose us and threaten us.
ReplyDeleteIn Zora Neale Hurston’s book, “Their Eyes Were Watching God”, symbolism was key to understanding the book to the fullest. Janie’s hair was arguably the most symbolic thing in the book. While she was working in the store owned by her second husband, Joe Starks, men would come in to look at her and touch her hair, hoping that it would lead to more. When Joe picked up on what was happening, her ordered Janie to always have her hair pulled up and in a head rag. When Joe died, Janie decided to let her hair down as to show her independence from him. When Janie moved back home after Tea Cake died, she walked around town with her hair down and swinging around when she walked. Her hair being down symbolized her freedom and being able to make decisions for herself. Another symbolism is the hurricane while she was in the Everglades with Tea Cake. When Janie got pulled into the water and was hanging onto the tail of a cow and the angry dog tried to attack her, so Tea Cake risked his life to come over and kill the dog for her. Although that killing a dog is the romantic thing in the world, and it wasn’t the sitting under a pear tree and thinking that Janie had wanted, it was Tea Cake’s way of showing her that he would do anything to protect her and show her how much he loved her.
ReplyDeleteIn Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie's hair symbolizes he power as a woman and her unique personality. Her hair, just as her personality, separates her from the rest of society; it represents her individuality. Janie's hair, which she keeps in a braid, is a symbol is masculinity and white power. Just by keeping her hair long and straight, she disrupts two major traditional power relationships: Men over women and white over black. While married to Jody, Janie is forced to keep her hair up and covered as a symbol of the power her husband holds over her. With Tea Cake, Janie lets her hair down and free, even though, going by the criticism that she got in the beginning of the book, it was considered undignified for a woman of her age to wear her hair down. The hurricane symbolized what Janie could and could not control, such as Tea Cake's death. The title, Their Eyes Were Watching God, referred to the characters waiting for the next thing God would throw at them as they wait for their lives to continue.
ReplyDeleteJanie’s hair not only represents individuality, but also blurs the lines of traditional ideas in society. Janie is treated differently because of it; no one else her age has hair like her which sparks criticism and probably jealously. Due to this, Janie gains a large amount of attention from men throughout town. Mrs. Turner basically befriends Janie because she reminds her of a white woman, as her hair has similar characteristics to that of a white person’s. Her hair muddles the separation of race. The pear tree represents passion within nature “…a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom; the thousand sister-calyxes arch to meet the love embrace and the ecstatic shiver of the tree…frothing with delight. So this was marriage!” (11) Janie observes that marriage for her should be the same as it is for nature – totally dependent on each other for happiness and survival. The hurricane, however, is opposite of the pear tree. It represents insensible destruction. It is a brute force that makes those in its path question if God cares about them. The hurricane shows that everything can be taken away from you and there is nothing you can do about it. Which relates to the title of the novel; Their Eyes Were Watching God means that everything is ultimately out of your control.
ReplyDeleteIn "Their Eyes Were Watching God", Janie's hair symbolizes straying away from the norm and in a sense rebellion to their modern day society. Since Janie's hair is such an oddity around town, it naturally attracts attention from jealous women to lustful men. Janie strays away from the society she lives in because of how it is displeasing to her, which in a way, is what her hair represents. While hair represents individuality and rebellion, the hurricane represents destruction and hope while the pear tree represents how love and relationships are to be. The hurricane itself brings destruction in its wake but what does this mean to the townspeople? It shows the commonfolf that occurrences are not always in their control, but in the control of nature and God. "Their Eyes Were Watching God" co-relates to the story because most literally, the people were waiting to see what he would do next. As for the pear tree, the representation it portrays is love. Janie notices a small bee taking nectar from the tree's blooms and notes to herself, "So this was marriage!"(11). This shows that Janie finds love and marriage to be a give and take relationship where both parties take what they need and give back what they can without ever taking to much. There are many more examples of symbolism in this book, but these are just a few of the common ideas more clearly shown.
ReplyDeleteThe way Hurston describes Janie's hair paints a picture in my mind of a woman with the most beautiful, curly, soft hair. The way I see it, Janie's hair represented her relationships with the men she was with. Jody kept her bound by his words, he bossed her around, kept her confined within the house and the store, he censored her true beauty by forcing her to keep her beautiful hair bound up and confined her true beauty and true self from the rest of the world. When she was with Tea Cake, he let her do whatever she wanted. He loved those luscious locks and told her to free them from their shackles... or hair ties for that matter. Her free hair represented how free and at peace with herself and her relationship she finally was. FREEDOM!
ReplyDeleteJanie's hair is a symbol of freedom. When she is married to Joe, Janie's hair is tied up because she is bossed around by Joe.When she is married to Tea Cake her hair is down, because he let her do as she pleased. The hurricane is a symbol of fate. You cannot control fate just like a hurricane. When the hurricane came Tea Cake died and that was something Janie could not change.
ReplyDeleteIn the book "Their eyes were watching god" Janie's hair was a very important symbol. Her hair described her personality. How the hair was let down, long and beutiful described her. Another symbol that has to do with her hair is the hairbands. These hairbands hid her ability to express herself. when she burned them she really burned everything that is stopping her from expressing herself
ReplyDeleteIn the novel, Janie's hair was a symbol of herself and how she felt. Two different hair styles with two different people in her life. When she is married to Jody, a more controlling opressive marriage, her hair is tied up and hidden from the world.Her feelings are hidden and she can not express herself. When she was with Tea Cake, she was happier and had more freedom then with Jody. Her hair showed this becasue with Tea Cake it was down and beautiful, and she enjoyed being with Tea Cake in a less controlling enviroment.
ReplyDeleteIn Hurston's novel, "Their Eyes Were Watching God," Janie's hair was a surprisingly important symbol. At first I didn't really realize it, but the more I thought about it, the more I understood why Janie's hair was such an important symbol in the novel. The way Janie wore her hair described her as a person. When she wore her hair tied up, it showed how she felt in her marriage with Joe. She felt uncomfortable and constricted. When she married Tea Cake, she started wearing her hair down, which symbolized how she felt comfortable in her new marriage.
ReplyDeleteIn the novel three of the biggest themes are hair, the pear tree, and the hurricane. Hair in the novel symbolises Janie's strength and individuality by showing her independence when she defies the communitys standards of an older woman by wearing it down instead of up like the societies norm. By breaking this tradition it shows the reader that Janie is a strong and rebellious person. The straightness of her hair also symbolises her whiteness, a trait that Mrs. Turner worships about Janie. Her hair gives her the power of a white person over a black person, evening out the traditional power relationships of a man and women. The pear tree symbolises a perfect moment in nature that was full of passion and harmony, an ideal that Janie chases throughout the book. The hurricane is the opposite of the pear tree. It symbolises the chaotic and changing world the characters live in and makes them question their places in the world and whether their God cares about them at all.
ReplyDeleteIn "Their Eyes Were Watching God", Janie's hair represents her freedom and her personality. Janie likes her hair to be long and free, just as she wants her life to be. When she is married to Joe, he doesn't let her wear her hair down and she feels restrained, just like her hair is. When Janie is married to Tea Cake, she feels free and lets her hair down. The hurricane is a symbol of uncontrollable forces in Janie's life. This is directly related to the title of the book in the way that everyone is always waiting on God to throw the next hurricane into their life so they can deal with it and move on. When the hurricane is responsible for Tea Cake's death, Janie has to figure out a way to go on.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Janie's hair is a symbol of freedom, but I also believe that her hair could be seen as a sign of vulnerability and submissiveness. During her first marriage, Janie was basically free to do what she pleased with her hair because Logan didn't care how she styled it. However in her second marriage, Jody makes Janie tie her hair back to show that he views her as his possession and that she will do she is told. When she finally marries Tea Cake, he loves her and her beautiful hair and wants her to wear her hair the way that she wants to wear it.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the hurricane symbolizes Janie's constantly changing life. It seems as though she is running off with another man on every other page causing her life to be continuously chaotic. When she finally finds a man who seems to be constant, he is torn away from her because of an incidence that actually happened during a hurricane.
One of the aspect that I enjoyed about "Their Eyes Were Watching God" is Hurston's great use of symbolism. When Janie is young she spends much of her time under the pear tree. She uses it as a metaphor, comparing it to herself. She uses the tree to think about herself and love. She was waiting for the "singing bees" to come to her and make her happy, but that's not what ended up happening. Another great symbol is Janie's hair. When she was with Jody, she had to wear her hair up, it's not able to be free just like she is when Jody makes her work in the store. When she is with Tea Cake however, she's able to wear her hair however she wants. Tea Cake lets her be herself and most importantly free!
ReplyDeleteJanie’s hair symbolizes her independence and power as an individual who eventually refuses to conform to society’s regulations. By wearing her hair down, she is rebelling against the petty rules of being a woman of her age and reveals the power and rebellion in her spirit. The hurricane in the novel represents destruction and the power of nature. It demonstrates chaos and turmoil that one faces in life that forces one to ponder the meaning of life altogether because it makes one wonder how they can survive through the pain and destruction in life. This is where the title comes in. Throughout the toughest of times, sometimes after falling so far that the only way one can look is up. Their eyes were watching God, waiting for Him to bring about a good change in life after surviving the hurricane that life brings.
ReplyDeleteJanie's hair represents how she feels about herself. Jody makes her cover it up and locks her in but teacake lets her wear it the way she feels. The hurricane represents the hard times in life. The challenges it takes and how strong you have to be as a person to overcome them.
ReplyDeleteEveryone already wrote down their ideas about the symbol of her hair, and I have the same opinion. But with the hurricane, it represents something out of anyone's control. After all this time of Janie trying to create herself and control her life. Hurricanes on the other hand, can mix things up and make someone or something lose all of the progress it made. The hurricane teaches her a lesson about what she can and cannot control. The only thing she can control is how she reacts to things out of her control.
ReplyDeleteIn Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston uses Janie’s hair as a symbol of many things, but most importantly, her freedom. She is different than others, causing many people around her to be jealous. Because of it, she gains a lot of attention from men, which upsets Joe. He wants her all to himself and makes her pull it back and wear it up. He has full control over her, so she listens. When Joe died and she was with Tea Cake, Janie decided to let her hair back down to show her independence and freedom from him. The hurricane symbolizes control. No matter what, in life, there will be things that you can not control, and sometimes, everything can be taken away from you. Thus leading to the meaning of the title, Their Eyes Were Watching God, saying that ultimately, we have no control.
ReplyDelete