2. Overalls - The overalls that Janie is wearing in the beginning of the book symbolize that she was a working woman.
3. Pear Tree - The pear tree symbolizes Janie's emotional state. When Janie is being loved or is in a joyful mood, the tree blossoms inside of her, figuratively speaking. When she is unhappy, the tree inside of her begins to die and is not the pretty vision of the pear tree she loved. "The vision of Logan Killicks was desecrating the pear tree" (page 13). The pear tree symbolizes how Janie is feeling on the inside, the pear tree is herself.
4. Gate - The gate symbolizes Janie's protection. Nanny had her hidden behind the gate before she began to bloom with the pear tree. When her Nanny saw her kiss Johnny Taylor over the gate, this is when the gate opens for her, and she cannot be protected by it anymore.
5. Mule - The mule symbolizes work. It is said by Hurston that black women were the mules of the day, this means that they were being forced to work like mules. Logan bought Janie the mule so that she could work, which is exactly what her Nanny did not want.
6. Head Rag - The head rag symbolizes restriction on Janie's freedom and protection. Janie's hair was beautiful and Joe did not want anybody in the store to see it, so she had to wear a head rag and hide her hair away.
7. Tobacco Spittoon - These spittoons symbolize how Joe had money, and he wanted to flaunt it. Only white men had spittoons for actually spitting tobacco. Most of the black men of the day only had them for decoration. This shows how Joe was becoming the white man of the town.
8. High Chair - This high chair symbolizes how Joe is trying to put Janie on this high chair, and trying to make her envied by the other people, but he keeps tearing her down from it, because he does not believe that women should have a high place in society and that they belong in the home.
9. Lamp - This lamp symbolizes how Joe is "lighting up the town" and he is making it a better place; where this town started off as a run-down town with no mayor, Joe transformed it.
10. Horizon - The horizon symbolizes Janie's future and how she is looking up to it, but she does not know what is yet to come for her, and she is still trying to find her true love at this point in the book.
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