Their Eyes Were Watching God Nature Analysis

In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston utilizes the theme of nature not only for the means of symbolism or imagery, but in order to convey Janie’s developing perception of the world around her. In the beginning of the story, Janie seems to illustrate the mindset of a typical young girl who withholds dreams pertaining to love and marriage, still untouched from the harsh realities that are integrated amongst the various gifts of life. Throughout the story, Hurston uses the different depictions of nature to convey the convergence of the beauty of life’s fairing with the anguish that stems from the death and destruction it brings, in order to portray how this mergence allowed Janie to completely transform from a naïve girl dreaming of love, to a woman who understands the importance of her own self worth. Early in Janie’s story, Hurston describes Janie’s perspective of love and sexuality through the delicacy of a pear tree, however amongst this imperative symbol, one must not miss the significance of Janie’s mother, Leafy, who is discussed soon after. Janie views the connection between the bees and the pollen to be exemplary of how love should be, not forced or derived from possession, but rather rise from a union between two passionate individuals. However, this dream of Janie’s is soon altered once her Nanny reminds Janie of what happens when love and sexuality do not coincide. Nanny tells the story
Hurston’s placement of the multiple references to nature better illustrate Janie’s growing understanding of the reality of life. Janie goes from her smaller viewpoint, the leaf and the pear tree, to further expand her sights of the world shown through the woods and ultimately the horizon. Hurston successfully uses the connection of nature and Janie’s journey in order to convey the importance of self value in the pursuit of one’s own individual