Critical Essays Figurative Language in Their Eyes Were Watching God
Hurston uses many symbols and metaphors in Their Eyes Were Watching God to develop Janie's story. Symbols stand for, represent, or suggest another thing. A metaphor, however, is a figure of speech containing an implied comparison, in which a word or phrase ordinarily and primarily used for one thing is applied to another.
One of the prevalent metaphors in the novel is the image of the horizon. As Janie climbs the pear tree to see what exists around her, she sees the horizon. The horizon also plays a role at sundown, a time when the porch sitters sit outside at the end of a working day to watch the sun set. Janie wants to make a trip to the horizon, and her journey becomes a principal metaphor in the story. At sunrise, Janie travels down the road to the train station to meet and marry Tea Cake, hoping that this experience will take her to the horizon. The horizon is a symbol of Janie's lifelong search for happiness. At the end of the story, Pheoby is anxious to seek her own horizon with her husband, as a result of hearing Janie's story.
Another metaphor in the novel can be found in the working men and women and the comparison to the mule. The men sitting on the porches have been working all day and have been treated like mules throughout the working day. Only at the end of the day as they enjoy their leisure time on the porch do they become human beings. In Hurston's interlude of the mule, the animal is given respite near the end of his life, just as the hard-working men and women "mules" get respite at the end of their working day.
A second image of a mule exists in the novel. Matt Bonner's mule also represents mistreatment and betrayal. Perhaps Janie feels sympathy for the poor animal because she, too, suffers the effects of abuse, just as the mule does. While the mistreatment that Janie endures is primarily emotional, the abuse that the mule experiences is mostly physical. Regardless of the type of mistreatment each faces, the mule exists as a symbol of the abuse that Janie encounters in her marriage to Joe.
One of the most powerful metaphors in the novel is the blossoming pear tree. Janie is enchanted by the beautiful tree in Nanny's backyard. As she climbs the tree and sits in its branches, Janie realizes the meaning of true love when she sees the marriage of the bees to the blossoms in the pear tree. The blossoming pear tree symbolizes Janie's emerging womanhood. Janie's image of love, as she saw it in the pear tree, causes her to embark on her lifelong search for love.
FAQs
In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, metaphors, symbolism, and personification can be identified.
What is the metaphor of eyes were watching God? ›
One of the most powerful metaphors in the novel is the blossoming pear tree. Janie is enchanted by the beautiful tree in Nanny's backyard. As she climbs the tree and sits in its branches, Janie realizes the meaning of true love when she sees the marriage of the bees to the blossoms in the pear tree.
What literary devices are in Their Eyes Were Watching God? ›
The seven different devices are: Irony, Symbolism, Point of View, Metaphor, Simile, Sensory Imagery, and Foreshadowing.
What is an example of a hyperbole in Their Eyes Were Watching God? ›
In this quote, “... treasurin' all gum-grease from folks,” Hurston uses a hyperbole to emphasize how low class the people of Eatonville are. During this scene, Jody is trying to convince Janie that the porch sitters are inferior to her and that she shouldn't associate herself with them as Mrs. Mayor Starks.
What figurative language is imagery? ›
Imagery : when figurative language (like metaphor or simile ) evokes as a kind mental image any of the five senses, we call this imagery . “She is the sun” (a simile ) suggests imagery of light and warmth (the senses of sight and touch); thus she is likened—compared—to the sun in a positive ways though the imagery.
What figurative language is eye to eye? ›
'Seeing eye to eye' is a metaphor in English. It means to be of similar opinions, ideas, or views; the word 'view' itself can be metaphoric for 'belief' or 'opinion.
How is personification used in Their Eyes Were Watching God? ›
Animals, particularly mules, appear as powerful symbols throughout the novel. Through anecdotes that personify animals and imagery of humans as animals, Hurston connects the two and reinforces Nanny's belief about the societal position of black women in Their Eyes Were Watching God.
What is an example of a symbol in Their Eyes Were Watching God? ›
A symbol is an object in a literary piece that represents something deeper. The horizon, the pear tree, the protagonist's hair, and the hurricane in Their Eyes Were Watching God are all ordinary things that exist in the natural world, but the author uses these images to convey desires and obstacles in Janie's journey.
How is imagery used in Their Eyes Were Watching God? ›
The way Hurston uses imagery through nature symbolizes the evolution of identity, importance and self appreciation. Hurston's first use of imagery in the book is seen with the pear tree representing young love, something that doesn't last forever.
How does Their Eyes Were Watching God use irony? ›
There are multiple examples of irony throughout the novel. There is verbal irony when the townspeople criticize Janie behind her back but act nice to her face. Situational irony is seen in Tea Cake's rescue of Janie as his death is a result of a rabid dog bite while saving her.
Tea Cake's Death
After Tea Cake and Janie marry, he is grievously wounded in a fight after a game of dice he played to win Janie's money back. This beating foreshadows Tea Cake's eventual demise from rabies after rescuing Janie during the hurricane.
What figurative language is he saw himself in her eyes? ›
"He saw himself in her eyes, suspended in two shining drops of bright water..." This sentence involves personification because Clarisse's eyes are not actually drops of water, but that is how Montag is describing them.
What type of figurative language is caught his eye? ›
Although the expression technically is a metaphor, it has become so common in everyday speech that it is probably best to classify it as it clich .
What type of narrative is Their Eyes Were Watching God? ›
Their Eyes Were Watching God is primarily an example of bildungsroman in that it follows Janie's transition from childhood to adulthood, is told mostly in flashback as Janie recounts her life to Pheoby, and depicts Janie's self-discovery as she embarks on a search for meaningful existence.
