Sometimes, there’s more to Lit than meets the eye.
Janie’s second husband, Joe Starks, forces Janie to wear a head-rag when in public. Because Janie’s hair is so attractive to men, Joe jealously makes his wife bind her hair, constrainin...
A symbol of a hate so vicious that it stops at nothing to lash at another living being. It is blind to who it hurts. For Hurston, the concept of hate is so frightening and so unnatural that not eve...
A symbol of masculinity and (go figure) destruction. The fact that Janie learns to shoot effectively shows her crossing into decidedly male territory in an attempt to empower herself.
A symbol of rebirth. Throughout the novel, Hurston keeps pointing out the position of the sun and in the end Janie eventually comes to associate Tea Cake with it. The sun demonstrates, simply by ri...
These often represent the beauty and fertility of the earth. In the novel, they are often associated with female characters. One very clear example is the blossoming pear tree which is pollinated b...
Animals often symbolize either inhumanity (savagery, lust, hate) or beasts of burden (which brings to mind slavery). Most of the former are associated with male characters, casting them as violent...
