The Pear Tree Symbol in Their Eyes Were Watching God (Essay Example)

The vision of a blossoming pear tree represents Janie’s desires to be a woman, and her desires to have a lover. Janie thinks to herself, “Oh to be a pear tree — any tree in bloom!” (Pg. 11). This quote suggests that Janie desires to be a woman, because “[s]he had glossy leaves and bursting buds” (Pg. 11). Given that “bursting buds” only become a blossoming pear tree with time, in the same way that a young girl becomes a woman. Furthermore, Janie “wanted to struggle with life” (Pg. 11). This can also be symbolized as a desire to grow up because Janie knows the struggle of a woman from Nanny’s stories such as when she “done been on mah knees to mah Maker many’s de time askin’ please-for Him to not make de burden too heavy for me to bear.” (Pg. 13). Moreover, Janie yearns for a significant other, as “[s]he saw a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom; the thousand sister-calyxes arch to meet te 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. Then Janie felt a pain remorseless sweet that left her limp and languid” (Pg. 11). In this quote, the bee represents ais a man, and the blossom as a is a woman. Janie is left questioning,  herself  “[w]here were the singing bees for her? Nothing on the place nor in her grandma’s house  answered her. She searched as much of the world as she could…. [l]ooking,waiting, breathing short with impatience. Waiting for the world to be made” (Pg. 11). Because she took action in order to obtain answers for herself, these quotes imply that she is looking for a lover.These quotes signal that she is longing for a lover because she took action in order to find answers for herself. Janie’s analogy of a blossoming pear tree successfully displays her eagerness to become a woman, and to have a romantic relationship.