“It's a known fact, Pheoby, you must go there, you know…” (Hurston 192). The theme of identity can be seen in Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, the story of one woman's journey to self-identification. Through symbolic images, such as the pear tree, Janie's hair, and the horizon, Hurston ultimately shows a woman's search for her own identity. As a young teenager, Janie becomes infatuated with the idea of ​​an idealistic romance: the bee sinks into the sanctuary of a flower; the thousand cups sisters arch to meet the embrace of love…So this was a wedding!” (Hurston 11). This image represents Janie's budding sexuality; Janie wants to find the love and affection of a man, which the bees share with the pear tree, thus triggering her quest to find this love throughout the novel. Janie experiences three different marriages with Logan, Jody and Tea Cake. Since Janie's first marriage was arranged by her grandmother, Janie never found the love she was looking for and once her grandmother died, Janie's obligation to Logan died as well. Janie becomes free to marry whoever she wants and free to continue her search for love. Although Janie finds happiness in her second marriage to Jody, the love begins to fade because Jody is unwilling to treat her as an equal: "She wanted her submission and would continue to fight until she felt she had it" (Hurston 71) . Joe represents strength and power, which gives him dominion over all that crosses his path, and once Janie realizes this, she believes that her love must be saved for another man she has yet to meet. In her final wedding to Tea Cake, Janie finds the pear tree she was looking for. Unlike previous marriages, Tea Cake allows her to be herself... in the center of the card... another place Janie has been, thus symbolizing the growth of Janie's identity through Tea Cake's love for her from. Overall, Hurston uses the symbolism of the horizon to show Janie's hope of finding the unknown in her life. “The distant ships have every man's desire on board… for others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight…” (Hurston 1). Hurston uses this metaphor at the beginning of Their Eyes Were Watching God to show Janie's search for self-identification, Janie is the long-distance vessel longing to find herself. Although he faces many challenges that cause his quest to be postponed, he never loses sight of his goal and eventually achieves it: “Ah done been tuh de Horizon back and now Ah kin sit heah…” (Hurston 191). Overall Hurston beautifully portrays the women's search for identity through the use of symbolism in Their Eyes Were Watching God.