The Theme Of Love And Marriage In Their Eyes Were Watching God

In many books such as those of psychoanalysis and symbolism the pear is ¡V like the apple ¡V a symbol of fertility and due to its bosom-like shape an image for the feminine sexuality. Moreover a dream of a pear or an apple tree means good news that is important for the rest of the life . The tree for itself has as well symbols for its own. In many religions and myths there is the Tree of Life. Trees often spend safety, shadow and food.

The reader notices Janie struggle in finding herself and over time Janie begins to develop her own ideas and ideals. In Their Eyes Were Watching God each character has their own beliefs towards marriage which in turn develops a viewpoint of how marriage should be and what it shouldn’t be. “Their Eyes Were Watching God” (Hurston) explores this marriage issue by showing Janie’s failing love endeavors, showing her real true love, and the after-effects of losing someone dear. First, Janie’s failing love endeavors with her first two husbands. The first ideas about love that Janie was exposed to was those of her grandmother, Nanny.

Janie start out sitting under “a pear tree. With kissing bees singing of the beginning of the world" (11). Janie gets her sense of what love is from her spring time experiences under the pear tree. She gets this fairytale idea that true love is only natural and equal with no imperfections. Janie associates the pear tree with her idea of true love.

As Janie realized her desires for love, she became engaged in several relationships in an attempt to fulfill her ideals of marriage as expressed by the pear tree. Near the beginning of the novel, Janie is a young girl, but on the verge of becoming a woman. One spring day, when she was outstretched under a pear tree, “[s]he saw a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom,” leading her to exclaim, “[s]o this is marriage!” (Hurston 11). It is at this point that Janie discovers her first sexual awakening, evident through the suggestive symbolism of the statement. The “bloom” of the pear tree represents herself, while the “dust-bearing bee” represents her love interest.

This marriage provides the perfect solution in Nanny’s eyes; Nanny promises Janie that all will go well with her marriage even though it may not seem so at the time. Janie reluctantly agrees, but soon realizes that Logan does not have her best interest at heart, causing her to quickly tire of him. Soon after Nanny’s death, the reader sees Logan change entirely. He commands Janie by ordering her around, expecting her to do whatever he demands of her. With Janie being a child, she is somewhat helpless to defend herself ... ... middle of paper ... ...of love the reader sees from Tea Cake is his rescuing Janie from the dog attack.

Dedé primarily speaks of the good times and what made each sister so unique, but later in the story she gets caught in the bad times. She speaks of her regret in not following in her sisters’ footsteps by asking herself “Why? Why didn’t she go along with her sisters. She could have started a new life” but goes on to remind herself that she “had been ready to risk her life” but not her marriage (177). She also justifies this reasoning earlier by stating “we women followed our husbands… I followed my husband” however her regret for not following her sisters comes back as she questions her actions from decades ago.

The book, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is about Janie Crawford and her quest for self-independence and real love. She finds herself in three marriages, one she escapes from, and the other two end tragically. And throughout her journey, she learns a lot about love, and herself. Janie’s three marriages were all different, each one brought her in for a different reason, and each one had something different to teach her, she was forced into marrying Logan Killicks and hated it. So, she left him for Joe Starks who promised to treat her the way a lady should be treated, but he also made her the way he thought a lady should be.

In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, the main character Janie struggles to find herself and her identity. Throughout the course of the novel she has many different people tell her who she should be and how she should behave, but none of these ideas quite fit Janie. The main people telling Janie who she should be is her grandmother and Janie’s 3 husbands. The people in Janie's life influence her search for identity by teaching her about marriage, hard work, class, society, love and happiness. Janie's outlook on life stems from the system of beliefs that her grandmother, Nanny instills in her during life.

Henrik Ibsen’s play A Doll’s House, illustrates the primary ideals of motherhood through protagonist Nora Helmer, who desires independence separate from her stifled 19th century lifestyle. Likewise, her decision to walk out on her husband and three small children is seen as a very controversial and scandalous act during this time period. Nora’s crisis emerges from her lack of a maternal figure during her childhood, her previous connotations of men, and ultimately her choice to abandon her loved ones for an independence all her own. Throughout Nora’s childhood, she consistently lacked a maternal figure. This is a key development in her crisis because a maternal figure is thought to provide the basis for future healthy relationships.

Then they act and do things accordingly.” (Page 1) Janie is a young girl raised by her “old-fashioned” grandmother who has a fixed outlook on marriage. Her grandmother believes marriage is not for love but it is simply for protection. She accepts her limitations as a woman, having gone through slavery and having lived a difficult life. But Janie has the dreaming qualities of both men and women. She has a different vision of love, seeing it as an eternal and passionate sensation of mutual respect between the husband and the wife.