Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Zora Neale Hurston is an amazing author, and we had the privilege of being able to read one of her novels this year in IB English 2 HL. Neale’s language basically invites you to take a closer look at her writing and find a deeper meaning in almost every page. She is known for portraying racial struggles in the early 1900s in southern America, and in her novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, she describes the journey of the protagonist, Janie, as she transforms from a young girl into a woman. Her focus on conveying how black women were treated is especially intriguing since they were arguably the treated the worst in these conditions. This crucial change within Janie is something that I found very interesting. Neale traces her change through the motif of the pear tree in this novel, and Janie's first moment of sexual awakening occurs under the blooming pear tree outside her grandmother's house. Throughout the novel, this feeling underneath the tree symbolizes her yearn for the same type of love and the powerful connection she gains as she sees a human sexual relationship in nature. Because of this high standard of what love should look like, Janie's perception of her relationships changes throughout the novel. She moves from one relationship to the next, which mirrors how other people in her life alter Janie's sense of identity. The pear tree motif appears in her first experience of a sexual awakening under the literal tree, her later perception of her relationship with Joe Starks, and her final marriage to Tea Cake, where she reaches her fulfillment. This movement from one relationship to the next reflects how Janie is destined to find her perfect illustration of love and can, therefore, be utilized to understand Janie's transformation to womanhood. As she searches for unattainable love, she ultimately finds it within herself.