Essay On The Pear Tree In Their Eyes Were Watching God

The pear tree is a motif of sexuality and the possibility of connection between self, the world, and other persons within Janie. In ancient Chinese mythology, the pear tree symbolized immortal life because of the longevity of the tree, the same thought can be applied in Their Eyes Were Watching God. If Janie had not continued to have hope that love was an attainable idea than she would not have been so open to connecting with Tea Cake on a deeper emotional level, she let her ideas of love be immortal and long lasting, just like a pear tree, because she didn’t allow her feelings to die, she is able to learn that marriage is about love, happiness, and business. Janie has her first experience of sexual awakening under the pear tree with Johnny Taylor very early into the story, Nanny sees this and tries to warn her that love is not what she thinks it is and begins to express her traditional ideals of love and marriage to Janie, explaining that love has very little to do with marriage and Janie
The pear tree ties closely to another symbol in the novel: the horizon. The horizon represents Janie's realm of what's possible; Hurston invokes this throughout the novel, as evidenced by Janie's comments that Joe "spoke for far horizon" (Hurston 35). This is shown again after she marries Tea Cake because even after his death, she still feels as though she has and always will have access to the world and allows her to arrive to the metaphorical horizon at the end of the book, which she reaches magnificently, she "pulled it from around the waist of the world and draped it over her shoulder…She called in her soul to come and see." (Hurston 277) Through all of Janie's marriages and heartbreak and lust and love, she is able to discover who she is on her