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Janie is attracted to Joe because he is driven. His desire to accomplish things and become high society is represented by Janie's idea of reaching for better horizons.

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"Janie pulled back a long time because he did not represent sun up and pollen and blooming trees, but he spoke for far horizon" (Page 29).

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When Janie starts talking to Tea Cake, she compares him to a blossom of a pear tree. She recognizes the grow of the pear tree in the spring time as the potential for happiness and love.

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"He could be a bee to a blossom- a pear tree blossom in the spring" (Page 106).

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When they were out in the destruction of the hurricane, they saw other people in the same danger. No matter what social issues the area had faced before, everyone was met with the same struggles and fate.

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"Dodging flying missiles, floating dangers, avoiding stepping in holes and warmed on the wind now at their backs... they saw other people like themselves struggling along" (Page 161).

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The hurricane is something that all the people cannot go against. They are sitting ducks, completely helpless against a force of nature.

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"their souls were asking if he meant to measure their puny might against his, they seemed to be staring at the dark but their eyes were watching god" (Page 160).

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In this moment, Janie references what she believes to be a godly intervention in her life. She thinks that Tea Cake coming into her life was an act of god.

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"if you kin see de light at daybreak, you don't keer if you die at dusk. It's so many people never seen de light at all. Ah wuz fumblin round and God opened the door" (page 159).

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When faced with the hurricane, all the people knew that they were in danger. Their eyes were watching a higher power because they knew that whatever happened next was out of their control.

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"They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching god" (Page 160).

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Although Tea cake is gone, Janie has a positive outlook on her future. The horizon is used as a symbol for embracing future growth and change.

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"She 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" (Page 193).

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The pear tree is Janie's happy place. She goes there to think about major life decisions. It symbolizes growth in life and peace that Janie strives to find within herself.

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"Janie asked inside of herself and out. She was back and forth to the pear tree continuously wondering and thinking" (Page 21)

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Janie managed to stay in a miserable marriage with Joe for quite some time. The only thing that got her through it was knowing how to pick her battles.

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"No matter what Jody did, she said nothing. She had learned how to talk some and leave some" (Page 76).

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When Janie first returns to Eatonville, all the porch takers gossip about her. However, she doesn't tell them her business because she always weighs her decisions between speech and silence.

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"Dont keer what it was, she could stop and say a few words with us... you mean you mad cuase she didn't stop and tell us all her business" (Page 3)

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Nanny forces Janie to marry Logan because she wants someone to take care of her. She does not believe that Janie is strong enough to be independent, and this moment sets up the rest of the novel.

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"You ain't got nobody but me... Niether can you stand alone by yo'self. De thought of you being kicked from pillar to post is a hurting thing" (Page 15).

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Nanny wants Janie to marry Logan because she wants to make sure she is taken care of. She is worried something bad will happen to her because of their family history. Both Nanny and leafy were mistreated, and she never wants that for Janie.

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"And, Janie, maybe it wasn't much, but Ah done de best Ah kin by you. Ah raked and scraped and bought dis lil piece uh land so you wouldn't hage to stay in de white folks yard" (Page 19).

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Joe's new house resembled the houses found on plantations during slavery. This made people feel as if he held some sort of power over them and they no longer felt like equals. This disparity in social classes due to racial tensions or symbols that represent them was common during this time.

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"take for instance that new house of his. It had two stories with porches, with banisters and such things. The rest of the town looked like servants' quarters surrounding the big house" (Page 47).

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The mule is just one of many instances in which we experience the citizens of the town. They have formed a close-knit community that gossips about nearly everything, and their comments and judgement are essential throughout Janie's time there.

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"take or instance the case of Matt Bonner's yellow mule. They had him up for conversation every day the Lord sent" (Page 51).

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Joe is very possesive over Janie. He thinks that her hair is his to appreciate so he hides it from everyone else. He uses her hair rags to assert dominance over her.

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"That night he order Janie to tie up her hair around the store. That was all. She was there in the store for him to look at, not those others" (Page 55)

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Once Janie marries Logan, she realizes that she just can't bring herself to love him. This is a pivotal moment where she realizes love is not a biproduct of marriage, marriage is a biproduct of love.

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"But Nanny, ah wants to want him sometimes. Ah don't want him to do all de wantin' " (Page 23).

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In the beginning of the novel, Nanny pushes Janie to get married. She is motivated to do so by her fate; she knows that she is eventually going to die. She wants to know that Janie will be taken care of.

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"Every tear you drop squeezes a cup uh blood outta mah heart. Ah got tuh try and do for you before my head is cold" (Page 15).

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When Janie threatens to leave Logan, he tries to convince her to stay. However, he does this by fighting with her and saying that she'll come crawling back to him eventually. By attempting to exploit her insecurities, he is trying to exert power over her.

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"A whole lot of mens will grin in yo' face, but dey ain't gwine tuh work and feed yuh... when dat big gut reach over and grab dat little one, you'll be too glad to come back here" (Page 30)

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Community as a whole has expectations for what they think people should do with their lives. When Janie moves on from Joe so quickly, the town judges her every move.

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Tea Cake and Mrs. Mayor Starks... Another thing, Joe Starks hadn't been dead but nine months and here she goes sashaying off to a picnic in pink linen" (Page 110).

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After Joe dies, many people want to take care of Janie. However, Janie finds a strong sense of freedom in being independent, even though this was not a common characteristic in society at the time.

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"Janie laughed at all these well-wishers because she knew that they knew plenty of women alone; that she was not the first one they had ever seen...This freedom feeling was fine" (page 90).

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The placement of Janie's hair represents her freedom throughout the novel. When she was married to Joe, he controlled most aspects of her life and forced her to wear her hair up in rags. Once he died, it was once again hers to wear as she pleased.

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"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" (Page 89).

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In society, all people have some sort of potential. However, societal expectations and personal situations "cover us in mud' forcing us to abandon that potential and live by others' expectations instead of our own. This quote says that Janie has tried to reject the fate chosen for her and make her own.

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"the lonesomeness in the sparks make them hunt for one another but the mud is deaf and dumb. Like all the other tumbling mud-balls, Janie had tried to show her shine" (Page 90).

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People in Eatonville feared Joe because of the way he acted. His strong desire to be successful and climb the social ladder made people feel inadequate when compared to him. This fear gives him more control over others and therefore makes him powerful.

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There was something about Joe Starks that cowed the town... He had a bow-down command in his face, and every step he took made the thing more tangible (Page 47).

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Most African Americans experienced severe racism during this time. However, Janie did not experience this as a young girl in the way that many other people did. As she gets older, this innocence dissipates as she learns from her Nanny and has experiences of her own.

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"Ah was wid dem white chillun so much till Ah didn't know Ah wuzn't white till Ah was round six years old" (Page 8).

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As a young woman, Janie has some trouble understanding the concept of love. She feels as if marrying someone will automatically make her fall in love. However, this is a misconception and it contributes to her misery in her marriage with Logan Killicks.

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"Husbands and wives always loved each other, and that was what marriage meant" (Page 21)

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By referencing a moment in american history, Hurston puts the story into perspective. This moment was towards the end of the civil war. It was not long after Sherman's march to the sea that all the slaves would be legally free.

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"Dat mornin' on de big plantation close to Savannah, a rider come in a gallop tellin' 'bout Sherman takin' Atlanta" (Page 16).