Orchard Road

Meredith Mannion Mrs. Worrall Literature of Controversy En 137-2 8 October 2014 Their Eyes Were Watching God Symbols represent something of a higher meaning. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, the pear tree to Janie represents all of her dreams, hopes, and plans for the future. The pear tree is the exemplary love for Janie in her lifetime. Janie grows throughout the book and her life is shaped around finding true love and finding herself through love. The pear tree is a reoccurring

The tree Melinda is assigned in art class symbolizes her and how she changes dramatically, for better or worse, throughout the book. In the near beginning Melinda draws trees that have been struck by lighting, the trees are dark, broken down and weary to symbolize how Melinda is feeling at this point. A great example of this is when Melinda says “For a solid week, ever since the pep rally, I’ve been painting watercolors of trees that have been hit by lightning. I try to paint them so they are nearly

As the traveling bee (Janie) once again meets spring, the sense of hope is reborn within the heart its being, carefully trying to deviate from any pear tree that calls to its attention. But seemingly enough, temptation lurks, and gets into the natural sense of the bee (Janie). Within the novel, Their Eyes were Watching God, the pear tree that caught Janie’s heart one last time with its “crushing scent” (pg. 127) was Tea Cake, the young tree that intoxicated the bee (Janie) with its utter peaceful

Alice Walker once said, “In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect. Trees can be contorted, bent in weird ways, and they’re still beautiful.” This aligns perfectly with metaphors in the book Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson. In this story, Laurie uses the symbol of a tree to represent the main character, Melinda, as she struggles to overcome a difficult experience in her life. The trees represent Melinda’s transformation from trying to be someone she wasn’t, to becoming utterly depressed

Bertha Flowers is a short story about a woman who is of colour and helps a young girl in school named Marguerite, who is of colour as well. Mrs. Bertha Flowers helps Marguerite stand up for herself when she is feeling down about public speaking because she is of colour. Marguerite is the one telling the story, the narrator. The theme is this story is role models. Bertha Flowers is a very strong, very powerful and a very traditional woman who tries her hardest in everything. When Bertha helps Marguerite

While discovering her womanhood, Janie was not able to realize her importance on her own. As a result of her mental barriers, Janie, alone, was not able to see her beauty and her impact on others around her. Until she met Tea Cake, Janie lacked the mental resources to feel content with her current situation. When Tea enters Janie’s life, he aides her mental illness by uplifting her spirit and teaching her how to stand up for herself. “Ah betcha you don’t never go tuh de lookin’ glass and enjoy yo’

In 1937, Zora Neale Hurston spent seven weeks in Haiti writing what would become her most well-known and acknowledged piece of work. Their Eyes Were Watching God was born on September 18th, 1937, in New York. The novel told a hopeful tale of a woman finding a secure sense of independence and identity in the 1920s. Janie Mae Crawford is the protagonist of the novel. She knows family only in the form of her grandmother, who she refers to as Nanny. Each relationship that Janie is involved in blooms

Nature Themes in Hurston’s Novels, Their Eyes Were Watching God and Seraph on the Suwanee Nature themes resound throughout Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God and Seraph on the Suwanee. Perhaps two of the most notable instances where the lush Florida scenery augments the novels’ plot lines are the “tree scenes”, in which Janie kisses Johnny Taylor beneath the pear tree in Their Eyes Were Watching God (p. 10-12) and Arvey loses her virginity to Jim beneath the mulberry tree in Seraph on the

Emely Gonzalez Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston AP Literature - Pd.3 Topic 3 All forms of life commence as a seed, hoping to grow into a mature tree with a solid foundation, firm limbs, and distinctive leaves. In order to reach desired growth, one must be watered with the earth’s nutrients and acquire the sun’s vital rays. These paramount provisions symbolize nurture, independent or parental, and allows an individual to learn, experience, to flourish. The trunk of the

The times in which “Their Eyes Were Watching God” took place were extremely difficult for a black woman to live in let alone find her voice. Zora Neale Hurston uses symbols throughout “Their Eyes Were Watching God” to explain events, rather than sating them. She interprets many important aspects of life and turns these events into symbols throughout the novel. Hurston uses the horizon and the pear tree as symbols to illustrate, clarify, and intensify abstract concepts in the novel such as Janie’s