ust be similar to the intimacy between lovers, and she wishes "to be a pear tree - any tree in bloom!" (11). The image suggests a wholeness - as bees pollinate blossoms paralleling human sexual intercourse - which Janie finds missing in her marriages to both Logan Killicks and Joe Starks, but finally discovers in her relationship with Tea Cake. Mules: 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" (14). In addition, both of Janie's first two husbands own mules, and the way they respectively treat them parallels the way they treat Janie. Logan Killicks works his mule demandingly; Joe Starks, having bought Matt Bonner's mule from him, puts it out to pasture as a status symbol rather than using it. Janie's hair: Forced by Joe Starks (who refuses to allow other men to lust after his wife's hair) to be worn up under a head rag throughout their marriage, Janie's hair functions as a symbol of the submission Joe demanded of her. Janie surrenders to Joe's will externally by wearing the head rag, yet remains steadfast internally against Joe's abuse. Thus, her hair suggests that Janie "had an inside and an outside now and suddenly she knew how not to mix them" (68). After Joe's death, Janie burns all of her head rags in a symbolic act of liberation. Th...
