Symbolism In Their Eyes Were Watching God

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Symbolism in Their Eyes Were Watching God In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie, the main character of the novel, is married three times. Throughout her marriages she finds her identity and becomes a more independent woman. Janie’s first marriage to Logan Killicks fails because she realizes that she is not truly in love with him, so she leaves him for Joe Starks. Janie is happy with her marriage to Jody, until he becomes mayor of the town. Due to the wealth Joe starts to change his ways and treats Janie differently. Once Jody dies, Janie likes having the independence; at first, she rejects the marriage proposals she receives until she meets Tea Cake, and falls madly in love with him. Two years after their marriage, a hurricane hits and a rabid dog bites Tea Cake and unaware that the dog has rabies. He becomes ill and starts to believe that Janie is cheating on him, which makes him start to shoot at her with a gun. Out of self defense, Janie kills him and is immediately put on trial for murder. Janie is found innocent, so she decides to move back home to Eatonville. Through these experiences, Janie discovers her identity and becomes more independent. Zora Neale Hurston shows how Janie finds her identity through the symbol of the mule. Hurston uses the mule throughout the novel of Their Eyes Were Watching God. Nanny, Janie’s Grandmother, explains to Janie the place of women in society by telling her that, “De nigger woman is de mule of de world so far as Ah can see" (Gates 14). Nanny is comparing the mule to a woman and tells Janie that she wants better for her. During her marriage to Logan, she is reminded of what Nanny told her about how the woman is the mule of the world, when Logan starts to lose interest in her. He starts to refuse to take baths and insists that Janie help him plow. Logan leaves to buy another mule and tells Janie that the mule

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