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To kill a mockingbird examples of symbolism
To kill a mockingbird examples of symbolism
To kill a mockingbird examples of symbolism
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Journey to the Horizon
Horizons symbolize many different things in literature. They may symbolize goals or dreams. They may also symbolise the physical or imaginative limits a person has. Nonetheless, horizons have made an appearance in many famous works of literature. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is not an exception. The horizon has made many appearances throughout this novel, and like other works, carries meaning with it. Horizons convey the theme of searching for happiness through Janie’s attempts to find it using her three husbands, those being Logan, Jody, and Tea Cake.
People encounter happiness in different ways. For some, joy comes “with the tide” right to them, while “[f]or others they sail forever on the horizon,
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Some time after Jody’s death, Janie meets Tea Cake. At first she is suspicious of him, but eventually, she believes that with Tea Cake, she will be able to reach the horizon. And this time, she tells Pheoby, she is right. “Ah done been tuh the horizon and back and now Ah kin set heah in mah house and live by comparisons. Dis house ain’t so absent of things lak it used tuh be befo’ Tea Cake came along” (191). Janie has finally managed to reach the horizon and come back. Tea Cake has given her everything she wanted, and she had finally found joy. However, tragedy strikes and Tea Cake dies. Janie’s horizon had disappeared as her happiness is now gone. After Phoebe had left, Janie mourns her husband, until she realises that Tea Cake is not dead, and will not die as long as she remembers him. “The kiss of his memory made pictures of love and light against the wall. Here was peace. She pulled in her horizon like a great fish net” (193). This time, Janie does not search for the horizon, but instead brings it to her, as she realises that it was never actually gone as she thought it was. Her joy is also restored as she learns that Tea Cake will be with her in her memories, and she no longer is
Zora Neale Hurston uses many rhetorical devices to depict the relationship Janie has with Joe Starks in the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. In chapter 7 Hurston uses devices such as metaphors in three paragraphs to convey how Joe Starks role of a mayor has a tremendous weight on him and Janie. Also how he’s aging physically and mentally is affecting their relationship in a negative way.
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston centers around the life of Janie Crawford, an African American young woman, who is seeking ‘the horizon’ comprised of ideal living, experiences, and authentic love. After having two failed marriages, Janie meets Tea Cake, a suave, charming younger man who truly loves Janie. By exposing Janie to the world, and providing her with experiences and memories, Tea Cake directs her to the ‘horizon,’ where she can lead a fulfilling life. The selected passage begins as Janie concludes sharing her story with Phoeby. The flashback comes to its end, and the setting returns to Eatonville, Florida. I selected this passage because it reveals the great impact that Tea Cake has had on shaping Janie’s life.
Hurston invokes the symbol of horizon recurrently throughout the novel, to portray Janie’s dreams, aspirations, and her growth as a strong independent woman while attaining her horizon. The symbol, horizon, is used in both the beginning and ending of the story to represent the desire and fulfillment of Janie’s dreams. In the novel's opening sentence, the narrator introduces Janie's motivation to pursue her dreams, “Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time” (Hurst 1). The horizon in this passage represents a dream that is not easily attainable, as
In the novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God”, by Zora Neale Hurston there were many contrasting places that were used to represent opposed forces or ideas that are central to the meaning of this work.
Every novel has a protagonist and an antagonist of the story. There has to be a "good guy" and "bad guy" in order for there to be some sort of an interesting plot. In Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, my most and least favorite characters happen to be the protagonist, Janie, and the antagonist, Jody Starks. There are many things that symbolize these characters that are both comparable and contradictory of my personality. Symbols, objects or characters that are used to represent abstract ideas or concepts, play a major role in this novel. Janie is represented by her hair and Jody by his power, wealth and status of the town. Janie Jody and the symbolic representations are the three most appealing fundamentals of the story.
Like Jay Gatsby, many elements of the paragraph in that opens the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God plays into Janie Crawford and how she fits into the gender roles that Zora Neal Hurston describes and in ways, twists, into the narrative of her novel and in the paragraphs mentioned. With these two different characters in two different stories, the narrator of the paragraph conveys a message and draws the distinctions between men, women and how they attain their dreams and the differences between them in doing so.
Path to Finding True Love “True love doesn't happen right away; it's an ever-growing process. It develops after you've gone through many ups and downs, when you've suffered together, cried together, laughed together.” This quote by Ricardo Montalban tells us that true love simply has to develop and it doesn’t happen right away. Janie is the main character from the book Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston and she struggled on the concept of true love. This quote explains exactly why Janie never found true love.
Oprah Winfrey mutilated the classic novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God written by Zora Neale Hurston by turning the movie into a story with no resemblance to the book. Throughout Janie Crawford’s life, love is a dream she wished to achieve. Oprah makes changes to Janie’s character, her marriages, and the differences of symbolism, the change of themes, and the significance of Janie’s childhood which will alter the entire moral of the story. Another difference is the way the townspeople gossip. Oprah changes the point of Janie’s life journey to find herself to a love story.
The conflicts in Their Eyes Were Watching God fall under the ‘character vs character’ and ‘character vs self’ categories. Character vs character conflicts occur between Janie and Logan Killicks, and Janie and Joe Starks; the conflicts with both men were of the same nature – arguments and dissatisfaction with Janie’s behavior. Character vs self occurs during Janie’s marriage to Logan. Janie wants to obey her grandmother, but she also wants to marry for love. On page 25, Hurston writes “[Janie] knew now that marriage did not make love…[her] first dream was dead…” This quote shows the resolution of Janie’s emotional battle with herself. The struggle between good and evil in the main conflict is obscure rather than immediately perceptible – second example of character vs self, the main conflict is Janie struggling to find her identity amongst numerous people who want to control her life instead of letting her do so herself.
There are various pieces of written work that do not fall into the category of literature work. This is because a piece of writing can be said to be literature when it has distinct features that follows the rules of literature writing. Some of the distinctive features that can be used to classify a piece of writing as a literature are the nature of language, themes and stylistic devices (Irmscher, 1975). Literature does not fully use the rules of grammar and may involve the use of informal writing. Hurston and Toni Morrison applied feature such as using colloquial language, development of various themes and some stylistic devices which have lead to their pieces of work being considered as important literary art. This paper will focus on two pieces of written work written by Hurston and the other by Toni Morrison Their Eyes Were Watching God and Beloved respectively and why they are considered important works of literature.
...s pronounced innocent. She does not want to stay in the Everglades because it is a daily reminder of Tea Cake. When she returns to town, Janie is dressed in overalls and her hair in a long thick braid down her back. The hair symbolizes strength and the individuality she gains. Overalls show that Janie no longer cares what other people think of her. Janie returns as a completely changed person because of her years spent with Tea Cake. He allowed her grow and find her identity, which she had been searching for all along. The flashback is over upon Janie’s return and Phoebe discovers the reason for Janie’s change.
Zora Neale was an early 20th century American novelist, short story writer, folklorist, and anthropologist. In her best known novel Their eyes were watching God, Hurston integrated her own first-hand knowledge of African American oral culture into her characters dialogue and the novels descriptive passages. By combing folklore, folk language and traditional literary techniques; Hurston created a truly unique literary voice and viewpoint. Zora Neale Hurston's underlying theme of self-expression and search for one’s independence was truly revolutionary for its time. She explored marginal issues ahead of her time using the oral tradition to explore contentious debates. In this essay I will explore Hurston narrative in her depiction of biblical imagery, oppression of African women and her use of colloquial dialect.
Marriage is an important theme in the stories Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston and The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin. When someone hears the word “marriage”, he thinks of love and protection but Hurston and Chopin see that differently. According to them, women are trapped in their marriage and they don’t know how to get out of it so they use language devices to prove their points.
In the end, Janie found herself being defined by other people, so to say Logan, Joe, and Tea Cake. During her marriage to Logan, Janie is viewed as a spoiled and non-hard working girl that needs to learn what it means to make a living. In her marriage to Joe, Janie is only needed for her outward appearance for him to define as his possession; never did he consult her about what she wanted. In both of these relationships she was forced to be something that she was not. Once Tea Cake came along everything had changed; going from following another man’s orders to being able to live a fun-loving life. Throughout the time she spends with him, finally free from being defined by someone else, Janie Crawford discovers who she is and what love is.
In her article, Sara Ahmed investigates on how the notion of “happiness” is socially mobilized to determine a “good life.” Unlike the belief that happiness is preexisting and inherent to a specific object, Ahmed argues that it is determined within cultural contexts and manipulated to maintain certain systems/norms. To support her argument, she rebuts the conventional explanations on happiness, and rediscovers the extorted definition of it. According to her account, happiness literally means “what happens to you” contingently (Ahmed 30). Based on those happenings, she says, a person intentionally build his/her sphere of preference as going near the things of “good feeling” and going away from of “bad feeling.” Thus, happiness is not a mere affect,