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The Usage of Metaphors in Zora Neale Hurston’s Novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God”
One
of Zora Hurston’s greatest
stylistic elements
that appear in her novels and short stories
is her extensive usage of metaphors. “Their Eyes Were Watching God” is
full of metaphors that add to the depth of the novel conveying
the message of woman’s growth into a strong self-sustaining individual.
Metaphor
is the obvious vehicle for Hurston’s messages about a woman’s place in society and her self-concept.
With the help of such stylistic device as metaphor Zora Hurston builds her strong female character
Janie Crawford. Janie’s story –
based on principles of
self-exploration, self-empowerment,
and self-liberation – details her loss
and subsequent attainment
of her innocence, as she constantly learns and grows from her difficult experiences with gender issues and racism. Many readers see Janie’s story as the narrative of a
woman who comes to find herself, her voice, and ultimately, happiness.
We follow Janie
through her three marriages, seeing her strength and sense of self evolving
and growing. “Janie saw her life like a great tree in leaf with the things
suffered, things enjoyed, things done and undone. Dawn and doom was in the
branches”[3, p.8].
While reading the novel by
Zora Neale Hurston,
we can notice several metaphors
relating to the depictions of male
attitudes towards women and the relationships that exist between
the husband and wife.
“The spirit of marriage left the bedroom and took to living in the parlor. … He
slapped her… She stood there until something fell off the shelf inside her… It
was her image of Jody tumbled down and scattered. [3, p. 67-68].
Janie quickly comes to understand the
reality of marriage when she
marries Logan Killicks, then Joe Starks. Both
men attempt to coerce Janie into submission to them by treating
her like a possession.
“… you wasn’t satisfied wid me de way Ah was. Mah own mind had to be squeezed … to make room for your in
me.” [3, p.24].
Yet
Janie continually struggles to keep
her inner self intact
and strong, remaining resilient in spite of
her husbands’ physical,
verbal, and mental abuse. Janie’s resilience
is rewarded when she finally
meets and marries Tea Cake,
who represents the closest semblance
to her youthful
idealism regarding love and marriage.
Another metaphor in the novel
can be found
in the working
women and the comparison to the mule. Janie’s grandmother
initiates comparison between black women
and mules, declaring,
“De [African-American] woman is de mule uh de
world so fur as Ah can
see”. [3, p.24]
One
of the prevalent metaphors in the novel is the image
of the horizon. As Janie climbs the pear tree to see what exists around
her, she sees the horizon. The horizon
also plays a role at sundown,
a time when the porch sitters sit
outside at the end of a working day to watch the sun set. Janie wants to make a trip to the horizon, and her journey becomes a principal metaphor in the story. The horizon
is a symbol of Janie’s lifelong
search for happiness. At the end of the novel Janie says,
“ Ah done been tuh de horizon and back and now. Ah
kin set heah in mah house
and live by comparison.” [3, p.182].
In her defining moment
of identity formation, Janie
“pulled in her horizon like a great fish-net. Pulled it
from around the waist of the world and draped it over
her shoulder. So much of life in its meshes! She called
in her soul to come and see” [3, p.184].
One
of the most powerful metaphors in the novel
is the blossoming pear
tree. Janie is enchanted by the beautiful tree in Nanny’s backyard. As she
climbs the tree and sits in
its branches, Janie realizes
the meaning of true love when she
sees the marriage of the bees to the blossoms in the pear tree. The blossoming pear tree symbolizes Janie’s emerging womanhood. Janie’s image of love, as she saw it in the pear tree, causes her to embark on her lifelong search for love.
“…the inaudible voice of it all came
to her. She saw a dust-bearing
bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom; the thousand sister-calyxes arch to meet the love embrace
and the ecstatic shiver of
the tree from root to tiniest branch creaming in every blossom and frothing with delight. So this
was a marriage! She had been summoned
to behold a revelation.”
Janie's youthful idealism leads her to
believe that this intense sensuality
must be similar
to the intimacy
between lovers, and she wishes
“to be a pear
tree - any tree in bloom!”
[3, p.11]
Love
plays a very important role in Zora Neale
Hurston’s “Their Eyes
Were Watching God”. Thus many
metaphors relate to this concept. Janie spent
her days looking for love.
She thought of love just as she thought
of the elements
of springtime: sunny days, bright skies, a bee
pollinating pear tree blossoms. She searched far
and wide for this kind of perfect love.“Love is
… de sea. It's
uh movin' thing, but still
and all, it takes its
shape from de shore it
meets, and it's different with every shore.”
[3, p.182]. Janie searched for
the special love that she
saw between the bee and the
bloom for a long time. She finally found
it in Tea
Cake. After she
found her true love, she
found her identity because this brought her
closer to herself. This made
her whole, and she finally
knew what she wanted.
In consequence, we can see that the usage of metaphors is the powerful
technique of rendering women’s personality. Zora Hurston used this medium skillfully to present woman’s
inner world and her quest for identity and happiness.
References
1.
Conclin
N.F., McCullum B., Wade M. The Culture of the
Southern Black Woman. Approaches and materials. – San Diego, 1983. – 490 p.
2.
DiYanni R., Rompf K. The McGraw-Hill book of fiction.
– USA: McGraw-hill Inc., 1995. – 1236 p.
3.
Zora Neale Hurston.
Their Eyes Were Watching God. – USA: 1st Perennial Classics, 1999.
4.
http://www.novelguide.com/theireyeswerewatchinggod/metaphoranalysis.html