
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston stresses the importance of love and how it is supposedly achieved during the 20th century. Janie Crawford, with a combined heritage of black and white, struggles to find true romance. Janie’s grandmother, Nanny, teaches her that social status is more important in a relationship than love. Janie is forced into her first marriage to appease her grandmother and her visions for Janie. Nanny, who has struggled in life due to slavery, wants to see Janie grow up to become a woman that she couldn’t be herself. Zora Neale Hurston is drawing a distinction of contradiction between Janie and Nanny within their relationship through metaphors, personification, and sentence structure. This is significant because when Janie realizes that her grandmother no longer has power over her, the readers gain understanding of Nanny’s pressure on Janie.

Through the use of metaphors, Hurston draws attention to the golden age of the grandmother with the reference, “Palma Christi leaves” that had become a part of Nanny. These leaves can be used as treatment for hair loss and Parkinson’s disease which are usually developed at an older age. The grandmother is also referenced as “standing roots of some old tree that has been torn away by storm” (12). This metaphor allows the reader to assess the permanent battle scars left from slavery and repercussions that came from it. The grandmother was raped and impregnated by her white master and had a daughter that was also raped and gave birth to Janie. Janie’s mothers’ forced pregnancy led to her being an alcoholic. It then became the grandmother’s job to look after Janie. The love that the grandmother had developed for Janie could be seen in her eyes as, “They diffused and melted Janie, the room, and the world into one comprehension.” (12) She had only ever wanted what would be best for Janie.

Janie has soon discovered, through the use of metaphors, that her grandmother no longer has control over her. This is discovered when Hurston mentions that the grandmother is a “torn away” tree, it can be assumed that she has been blown over after Janie’s kiss with Johnny (12). Since Nanny is fragile and tarnished, Janie can sense all of her weaknesses that she couldn’t see earlier. Janie knows that her grandmother wants her to marry rich and become successful, something she could never achieve. Janie’s freedom allows her to become the women that she envisions for herself. Janie is aware of the love her grandmother has for her but despite Nanny’s wishes, Janie longs for romance not social status. 

The grandmother is personified as an “old tree that had been torn away by storm,” when describing her physical appearance (12). It becomes apparent that the grandmother is aged and wise. Nanny started as a small tree; one that had grown through the civil war and grew stronger as her life progressed. The grandma is a victim of many tragedies that occurred during the war. White men during slavery were known as “rulers,” who had complete power over African Americans. Post slavery, white men were not as powerful, but were able to give some harsh treatment which had a negative effect on African Americans. Nanny had a very strong attitude toward those men and knew how well they could provide for their wives. It was important to Nanny that instead of being considered property, Janie could own a piece of property and make her proud. While the peach tree Janie sat under fantasizing about sex offered her love, her grandmother, an uprooted tree, offered her knowledge about how the real world operated.

The significance in Janie’s new profound freedom from her grandmother has helped Janie move on from a rough childhood. As Janie faces many struggles and hardships throughout her life journey, her grandmother did not seem to care. In reference to Janie’s tree, it was one that struggled blossoming because of the constant pressure that the grandmother placed upon her. It is clear that Janie is free from her grandmother’s reign and because of this she is now able to mature and grow into a beautiful tree. New branches are grown on Janie’s tree of life with such events of leaving Logan Killicks, the death of Jody, and the death of Tea Cakes. Each new branch creates new leaves. She has matured greater and stronger than her grandmother has and experienced all that her grandmother has asked of her.

The reader can better understand what Zora Neale Hurston is trying to illustrate by the sentence structure of the passage. Written in a passive tone of voice, the Palma Christi Leaves that Janie bounded on her grandmother are described as being “part and parcel of the woman” (12). The author chose these words to show how Nanny had aged over the years. She could have chosen to describe the wrinkles in her face or the frailness of her body, but she wanted to highlight what has happened to the grandmother over the years and the events that have shaped her life. The word “foundation”, is used in reference to something that was used at the beginning of an era. A foundation can also mean “to keep something standing.” In essence, slavery, was a foundation to the white control that monopolized the south. 

When Janie is finally able to make her own decisions, the passive voice used by the author lets the readers know the grandmother’s intentions. She wants Janie to be successful. The grandmother’s eyes “diffuse and melted Janie…” (12) The author is explaining the passion and love that the grandmother feels for Janie. Prior to this moment Janie was led to believe that Nanny only thought for herself and that she was going to continue to force Janie down paths she did not want to take. However, Nanny had more feelings than she had shown before. Nanny knew Janie would eventually peruse a life opposite of what she had wanted her to and due to this Nanny wanted to make sure that Janie truly understood why she did what she did. After her raising her from a small child, it is only normal to share those strong feelings for a loved one. 

Love is something that cannot be forced. It brings people together and forms a bond that cannot be broken. During the 20th Century, colored women found it very difficult to find love and to become successful. Janie Crawford was raised by her grandmother who endured the life of a slave. Because of this, she set expectations for Janie and made decisions in her life that she saw fit. Janie, forced into a relationship she never wanted, did not have the same aspirations as her grandmother. Zora Neale Hurston truly draws a distinction between Janie and her grandmother and the tight grip that Nanny could only hold for so long.  
