Their Eyes Were Watching God Symbol Analysis

In a literary work, a symbol can represent numerous things to a character and also a story as a whole. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston often used the recurring symbol of beauty/ appearance and hair throughout Janie’s life through illuminating incidents.
In the novel, Janie’s hair and youth is a symbol commonly used. When Janie re-entered Eatonville, Hurston utters, “ ...the great rope of black hair swinging to her waist and unraveling in the wind like a plume...(Hurston 2).Though Hurston’s descriptions, we can tell that Janie isn’t an ordinary woman. Most women of African American descent don’t have hair like Janie’s which could cause Janie to have a higher position in society as well as in the community since she wasn’t

one-hundred percent black and white attributes. This could reveal a theme of status and power. Because she’s of a mixed race, she is of a higher status above blacks.
Janie’s character in Their Eyes Were Watching God experienced a shift and change when her second husband Jody asked her to tie her hair up.

This business of the head-rag irked her endlessly...Her hair was NOT going to show in the store”(Hurston 55). Hurston details Janie’s initial thoughts about wearing head rags. This caused Janie to become silent and limited her freedom. Janie also became submissive and was beaten by Jody. But, all this changed after Jody’s death.Hurston writes,“ Janie starched and ironed her face and came set in the funeral behind her veil. It was like a wall of stone and steel...She did not reach outside for anything, nor di the things of death reach inside to disturb her calm”(Hurston 88).Hurston’s language reveals how much Janie was an unemotional person as opposed to other mourners. ”Before she slept that night she burnt up every one of her head rags and went about the house next morning with her hair in one thick braid swinging well below her waist”(Hurston 89).Though Hurston’s direct and free indirect discourse, readers noticed a change in Janie. The burning of the head rags brought on Janie’s freedom. The fire underhandedly symbolized Janie’s freedom and the official end of her marriage to

Jody.
Janie’s hair also symbolized the theme of jealousy for her second husband, Jody. “He never told her how often he had seen the other men figuratively wallowing in it as she went about things in the store” (Hurston 55).Jody was jealous of anybody looking at or noticing Janie’s beauty, so he made her tie her hair and only allowed her to go home and to the store. Because of Janie’s racial makeup, it made her such a rare and majestic jewel that only Jody could have. So, he took away Janie’s hair which was the first step of belittling Janie.
Janie’s appearance also represents her high rank in society. While on the muck, Janie and Tea Cake met Mrs.Turner who admired Janie for being like her:mixed. She wondered why Janie was with a man as such as Tea Cake and often tried to break up their marriage; Tea Cake despised Mrs. Turner.” She didn’t forgive her for marrying a man as dark as Tea Cake, but she felt that she could remedy that. That was what her brother was born for”(Hurston 140). Hurston uses dialogue to describe Mrs.Turner’s feelings and views of Janie and Tea Cakes marriage. By describing this instance, Hurston is detailing some people’s views and feelings towards their relationship, and how much biracial and white people didn’t think the two should be together. Her social status is furthermore established when she killed Tea Cake after he got rabies. The white women and members of the court sided with Janie and believed that Janie didn’t plot remediated murder. While the black people stood in the back rocking, swaying,and thought Janie had intentionally murdered Tea Cake.
All in all, Janie’s hair symbolizes her beauty on the surface, but also symbolize her status, jealousy, and liberation. In today’s society, race and hair is still a common trend more than ever. Women in the African American race are talked about looked down upon because their skin is darker and their hair is a little kinkier than other black women. Manty people favor those who are lighter and have nicer hair. Some women often wear weaves and sew-ins to imitate those of another race to appease men and others in society. Janie’s appearance and description in Their Eyes Were Watching God strongly emphasize that.