In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God written by Zora Neale Hurston, Hurston depicts the life and struggles of a black woman named Janie Crawford. Hurston uses the literary technique of symbols to represent the plot and emotions of Janie throughout the work. The two prominent symbols pertaining to the growth of Janie is the symbolization of her hair and the hurricane, which act as a symbols for restraint and oppression. Although the hair symbolizes confinement, while the hurricane representing Janie’s continual struggle, they also reveal her strengths and advancement as a character when she breaks free of those bonds. Through the symbolization of Janie’s hair and the hurricane, two themes are highlighted: the struggle to discover the individual stems from language and power, and liberation comes from self discovery found in personal loss. Hurston utilizes the connection between themes and the symbolization of Janie’s hair and the hurricane to give meaning of Hurston’s interpretation of Janie.
Their Eyes Were Watching God is unique as a novel because of Hurston choice of conversational dialect for the characters. Throughout the novel Hurston uses the Southern black dialect in order to bring a realistic feel to the setting and plot line for the reader. The irony in the novel’s unique choice of conversational dialect is that the protagonist, Janie, is often hidden behind the other characters in the novel. This brings about the first theme which is, the struggle to discover the individual stems from language and power. The reader can best see the struggle between language and power in Janie’s first two relationships. In each connection between Janie and her spouse their is a common factor, control through language. In each case, Janie is presented as inferior towards her male companion through her silence and the men’s control over Janie through language. The relationship between Jody and Janie best represents this dilemma.
In the beginning of the relationship between Jody and Janie, each character is perceived as equally contributing partners in the relationship through their expression of their feelings to one another. As the plot unfolds though, Jody starts to stifle Janie’s speech, when he prevents her from talking to the people of Eatonville after he is named mayor. From that point on, Hurston displays Jody as the dominant partner, while Janie is seen as recessive and follows the commands of her husband. As Jody further takes advantage of Janie and begins to verbally harass her as a power tactic, the reader observes how Janie’s hatred of Jody stems from the suppression of her individuality. Jody expands the idea of suppressing and controlling Janie through the hiding of her hair.
Janie’s hair is a symbol of her power and unconventional identity. It represents her strength and individuality through her struggles and journeys in her life. The first of Janie’s struggles is revealed in the beginning pages when the community, critiques Janie because of she wears her hair down unlike other older women. The town’s judgement of Janie reveals how the perception of Janie’s downed-hair does not follow the upheld status quo, which demonstrates Janie’s independence and defiance of community standards. Proceeding from there, in Their Eyes Were Watching God Janie’s hair functions as a phallic symbol, which gave Janie power and individuality. So, in connection to the previous paragraph, when Jody forces Janie to hide her hair, he is in fact metaphorically smothering her independence and individuality.
Eventually, Janie discovers her power when she stands up to Jody on two occasions; once in the Jody’s store and the other on Jody’s death bed. After each of the two instances, Janie discovers her ability to define herself by her interactions with others. The significance of Janie expressing her power through language on Jody’s death bed is that it reveals Jody’s loss of dominance at his death and Janie’s development and liberation as a character through her loss of Jody. Immediately after Janie’s rant on Jody and his death, Janie finds herself looking in the mirror and lets down her hair from the rag holding it up. Janie’s relinquishment of the rag that bonded her hair, signifies Janie’s liberation from the oppression placed upon her by others dominance in language over her.
At this point, Janie’s loss of Jody highlights the second theme that liberation comes from self discovery found in personal loss. As stated in the previous paragraph, Janie has already freed her hair and in doing so her character, but Janie’s true discovering is found when Janie is confiding with Pheoby over the death of Jody. In the conversation Janie makes a bold statement when she says that she will no longer stay on the path set by her grandmother, Nanny, but will begin to forge her own path and control her future. From the beginning the reader has seen Janie limited by the path that was set by others, whether it be Nanny in her childhood or her twenty year oppressive relationship with Jody. Hurston uses Janie’s discovery to demonstrate to what extent her character has grown from the harassment of her childhood, the loss of Nanny, and the dysfunctional relationship with Jody. The final connection between theme and symbol is found in last portion of the Their Eyes Were Watching God when the hurricane hits the everglades. As the audience follows the characters through the hurricane, one can realize that the hurricane symbolizes how chaotic and unstable life is and the struggles the characters have to endure to discover what is true inside themselves. In the novel, Hurston reveals the destructiveness of the hurricane through intense imagery of the demolished landscape and strength of the storm. The theme that works within the symbolization of the hurricane is liberation comes from self discovery found in personal loss. Janie’s personal loss within the hurricane is her home and consequently Tea Cake after Janie murders him because of his disillusionment from rabies. Janie’s loss of Tea Cake reflects how much she has grown as an individual and how secure she has become with herself. Even with her loss, Janie’s relationship with Tea Cake has brought her along the path of enlightenment and has strengthened her so that she may finally live on her own, while forging her own path. Hurston’s constant utilization of symbolization and themes allows her to develop Janie through elaborate tactics. As the plot unfolds, the audience sees how Janie is able to persevere through her struggles, triumphs, and losses in order to develop her individuality. The symbolization of Janie’s hair and the hurricane act as a test for Janie to display how her character has changed from one stage in her life to the other. The two themes highlighted from the symbols and Janie’s struggles, support Hurston in implicating further expansion of Janie’s character and helping the reader relate to the Their Eyes Were Watching God. Overall, the connection between the two themes and symbols, help serve Hurston in order to give meaning of her interpretation and development of Janie.