The first symbol I chose that is the most important to the plot is a tree. It is especially important as it symbolizes Janie’s dreams of love. “Oh to be a pear tree- any tree in bloom! With kissing bees singing of the beginning of the world.” She longed for a man who would come to her and love her, just as the bees came and loved the tree’s blossoms. “She had glossy leaves and bursting buds and she wanted to struggle with life, but it seemed to elude her. Where were the singing bees for her?” She was pondering this as Johnny Taylor came and to her, he seemed to fit the description of love that moment, so she kissed him. Yet this thinking does not end with Taylor, it continues throughout her life. The symbol of the tree also reveals each person’s character. Nanny was described as “the standing roots of some old tree that had been torn away by storm. The cooling Palma Christi leaves that Janie had bound about her Grandmother’s head with a white rag had wilted down and became part and parcel of the woman”. This is very different from Janie, who had “glossy leaves and bursting buds”. A tree also symbolizes Logan’s character; his house was described as a “lonesome place like a stump in the middle of the woods where nobody had ever been”. Although it does not reveal his character directly, the description of his house matches his attitude and personality. He did not love Janie as much as it had seemed, and the loneliness of the house revealed the absence of love. This situation persuaded Janie to run away with Joe Starks, who “did not represent sun-up and pollen and blooming trees, but he spoke for far horizon”. She was not sure what was going to happen, but she was willing to pursue the journey toward the horizon. The symbolism of the tree is very important to the plot, as it is the driving reason behind her actions.
The next symbol that is important to the plot is the sea, which symbolizes love. “Love is lak de sea. It’s a movin’ thing, but still and all, it takes its shape from de shore it meets, and it’s different with every shore.” Janie says this to Pheoby at the end of the story to sum up what she had learned throughout her life. Yet the sea is not always a calm expanse gently brushing against the shore. Sometimes, it is a fierce storm that questions the love between two people. Yet this is not the case for Janie. When Tea Cake asks her if she regrets coming with him, she replied no. “People don’t die till de time come nohow, don’t keer where you at. Ah’m wid mah husband in uh storm, dat’s all.” Even in times of doubt, their love for each other never falters. I believe that this symbol is important to the story because love is what Janie had been longing for all her life, and know that she found it, she was happy.
Another symbol I chose is the horizon, which symbolizes people’s dreams. This symbol appears in the very beginning of the story- “Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight”. The horizon is a large expanse that can never be reached, “for no matter how far a person can go the horizon is still way beyond you”. Therefore, some dreams are reached at some point in time, but others are always in sight, but never fulfilled. Janie’s dreams of love seems to be in reach with Joe Starks, as he “spoke of far horizon”, yet she later finds out that this was not true. In the end however, she finally reaches the horizon, which is her dream. “Here was peace. She pulled in her horizon like a great fish-net. Pulled it from around the waist of the world and draped it over her shoulder.”
Yet another symbol that is significant to the plot is Janie’s hair, which symbolized her freedom and happiness. When she was married to Joe, he always made her cover her hair, because of its length and beauty. He alone wanted to enjoy that and did not want the other men to touch it. During their entire marriage, she was bound to the store and very unhappy. The headscarves that Joe made her wear symbolized her lack of freedom and happiness. Even the men questioned why she kept her air covered saying, “Whut make her keep her head tied up lak some ole ’oman round de store? Nobody couldn’t git me tuh tie no rag on mah head if Ah had hair lak dat”. It wasn’t until Joe died that she finally threw the headscarf away and wore her hair uncovered, renewing the spirit of freedom and happiness. This is revealed further with Janie’s expression to Pheoby, “Ah jus’ loves dis freedom”.
The symbolism of the sky is also very important to the plot, because everyone looks to the sky because “Their eyes were watching God”. The sky is the symbol of God and his power. He clouded the sky and sent the storm. All the people could do was look up to the sky in submission to Him. Just before the hurricane arrived, Janie looked at the sky and saw the “drifting mists gathered in the west-that cloud field of the sky-to am themselves with thunders and march forth against the world”. God is showing the rise of his power before the storm as a warning to those below. When Janie later questions him about Tea Cake, wondering if it was a “big tease”, she looks to the sky for some sort of sign. Yet there is none to be found, and this later foreshadows Tea Cake’s death. Yet the sky was not always hard and cold. It also contained the sun, which shone brilliantly over her at times in her life. The sun of her life was Tea Cake, as Janie called him the “son of the Evening Sun”. The sun brought warmth and newness to Janie’s life, just as Tea Cake did. The sun reminded her of Tea Cake in the last paragraph; “Then Tea Cake came prancing around her where she was and the song of the sigh flew out of the window and lit in the top of the pine trees. Tea Cake, with the sun for a shawl.” Therefore, the sky was important in the story because it contained the sun, which gave her joy.
