as to make the comparison here. The line means that both the beginnings and the ends of things are seen here in the tree. The tree is meant to represent the scope of Janie's entire life. 

The figurative language describing the connection between Janie and the pear tree continues later in Chapter 2. This is a long example, so I will only include an excerpt: 

Oh to be a pear tree -- any tree in bloom! With kissing bees singing of the beginning of the world! She was sixteen. She had glossy leaves and bursting buds and she wanted to struggle with life but it seemed to elude her. Where were the singing bees for her?

This follows a longer description of the bees and the flowers, a scene Janie observes and thinks of as "a marriage!" In the quote above, Janie longs to be like a blooming tree, her life beginning, particularly her romantic life. Hurston uses metaphor again to describe Janie as having "glossy leaves and bursting buds." This means that Janie feels that she is growing up and she is ready to fall in love, but she has not had the opportunity to explore her desires yet. These are just a couple of the many examples of figurative language in Chapter 2.

Toward the end of Chapter 3, Hurston again uses figurative language to emphasize Janie's connection with the natural world around her and to describe Janie's desire for romantic love. At this time, Janie has already married Logan -- at her Nanny's command -- and she has found the marriage to not live up to her expectations, formed in part when she lay under the pear tree in Chapter 2. In Chapter 3, Hurston writes:

[Janie] knew things that nobody had ever told her. For instance, the words of the trees and the wind ... She knew the world was a stallion rolling in the blue pasture of ether. She knew God tore down the old world every evening and built a new one by sun-up.

Again, Janie's connection to the earth is described through her figuratively being able to understand the language of nature. She thinks of "the world" as "a stallion rolling in the blue pasture." This is another example of metaphor, and this comparison captures the joy of the world as seen through Janie's eyes. The beauty and exuberance Janie sees in nature, however, are not reflected in Janie's own life. This is why she decides to leave with Jody when he convinces her that he will treat her better than Logan can. 

An excellent simile is used in chapter 5 to describe the behavior of Joe Starks. Joe makes a lot of the townspeople uncomfortable because he is always putting on airs and acting like he is better than everyone else. The townspeople feel belittled and unsure of themselves. They start to lose their confidence and are in awe of Joe because of the way that he acts. They feel that this behavior is bad enough when it comes from white people, but this classism is even worse when it comes from another black person.

The narrator says "It was like seeing your sister turn into a 'gator. A familiar strangeness. You keep seeing your sister in the 'gator and the 'gator in your sister, and you'd rather not" (Hurston, 48). The townspeople think that they understand Joe because he is black just like they are, but when he starts acting like he is of a higher social class it is unnerving to them. They have seen something comfortable and familiar all of a sudden turn into something dangerous and strange.

Hurston's writing style in Their Eyes Were Watching God is highly literary and figurative, despite the informal-sounding dialect that we hear all throughout the dialogue. So it's natural to notice that similes play a significant role in her literary writing style.

Let's look at a few examples.

In Chapter 1, as Janie returns to her hometown and causes a lot of nasty gossip, we see a beautiful simile:

"Seeing the woman as she was made them remember the envy they had stored up from other times. So they chewed up the back parts of their minds and swallowed with relish. They made burning statements with questions, and killing tools out of laughs. It was mass cruelty. A mood come alive. Words walking without masters; walking altogether like harmony in a song."

Here, the narrator is not only personifying those mean words of gossip, but she's also using a simile to say that the words are "walking" in a way that reminds you of "harmony in a song." The simile helps us grasp how there are multiple people saying awful things about Janie (because it takes multiple people to harmonize while singing) and that the rumors are all in agreement with each other (because sounds sung together in harmony sound nice together even though they're different tones).

Soon afterward in that first chapter, people can't get over how physically beautiful Janie is:

"The men noticed her firm buttocks like she had grape fruits in her hip pockets; the great rope of black hair swinging to her waist and unraveling in the wind like a plume..."

The narrator uses these two similes right in a row. We're told that her backside looks like fruit, which implies that Janie is healthy, beautiful, and desirable; and we're told that her beautiful hair looks like a plume (a tuft of feathers), which implies that Janie might share some characteristics with a beautiful bird—we'll have to read further to find out if she preens, if she chatters, if she figuratively flies free, and so on.

Let's look at one more simile to finish getting a sense of Hurston's literary style. Chapter 2 opens with this one:

"Janie saw her life like a great tree in leaf with the things suffered, things enjoyed, things done and undone. Dawn and doom was in the branches."

By comparing Janie's life to a tree with leaves on it right now, Hurston emphasizes how Janie's life has endured seasons of change. She’s gone through periods of happiness as well as periods of struggle.

As you can see, although it's great to notice the similes and understand what they mean, it's even better to ask yourself, "What does this comparison reveal?" or "Why is this comparison appropriate?" Answering those questions for yourself really helps you dig deep into the characters, the story, and the author's style.

The following sentence actually employs three different kinds of figurative language:

The men noticed her firm buttocks like she had grapefruits in her hip pockets; the great rope of black hair swinging to her waist and unraveling in a wind like a plume; then her pugnacious breasts trying to bore holes in her shirt.

A simile is a figure of speech in which a person compares one thing to another using the word like or as. In the quotation above, the woman's buttocks are compared to grapefruits, using a simile, in order to emphasize how round and firm they look to the men. (We learn, later, that this woman's name is Janie Starks.)

A metaphor is a figure of speech in which a person compares one thing to another by simply saying that one thing is another; a metaphor does not use like or as. When the narrator describes the woman's great rope of black hair, the narrator compares a large braid of hair to a rope, emphasizing its thickness and strength in appearance. Then, the narrator says that the wind unravels that braid like a plume. This is another simile, comparing the braid of hair to a plume of bird feathers that is separated by the wind.

Finally, the narrator describes the woman's breasts as trying to bore holes in her shirt. This is an example of personification, when a speaker gives human attributes to something that is nonhuman. Breasts cannot "try" to do anything because they do not have their own will or intention. However, this description also helps to explain why the men find this woman so attractive.

A great deal of figurative language can be found in even just the first page of Zora Neale Hurston's novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. Ones to particularly watch out for are metaphors and personification.

A metaphor is a comparison of two things, and  an author uses the comparison to help a reader better understand, better visualize an abstract idea. Beyond just metaphors, there can also be extended metaphors. In prose, extended metaphors happen when an author creates a comparison of two unrelated things using multiple sentences.

The opening paragraph of Chapter 1 is made up of one long extended metaphor, ending with the sentence, "That is the life of men." The metaphor compares the "life of men" to watching wishes sailing on the horizon. Though the opening sentence--"Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board"--sounds literal, all ships do not literally have all men's wishes on board. The sentence instead is a reference to the common idiom, "wait for your ship to come in," which means a person is waiting for an opportunity to come that will bring the person prosperity. The extended metaphor continues in the next few sentences in which the narrator describes that some people have no problems receiving the ship they are waiting for; others fruitlessly stare at the horizon all their lives until they give up. Hence, the extended metaphor is describing mankind's lives as divided into two: those who receive what they want in life and those who never do.
Personification is figurative language in which a writer attributes human characteristics to inanimate objects or abstract concepts.
Personification can also be found in the extended metaphor in the phrase "his dreams mocked to death by Time." Since time cannot literally mock a person to death, we can see how the author is ascribing human traits to time, creating a perfect example of personification.
More personification and another metaphor can even be found further down on the fist page in the sentence, "The sun was gone, but he had left his footprints in the sky." The sun cannot literally leave behind anything; therefore, again, the author is personifying the sun, giving it human characteristics. Also, since we know the writer is describing the sunset, we also know that the phrase "footprints in the sky" is a metaphor to describe all of the aftermath of the setting sun--the glow on the horizon and all of the colors. Since the colors of a sunset are not literally footprints, we know the author is comparing the effects of the setting sun to footprints to create a unique way of describing yet another sunset.

Three of many images that have symbolic meaning are the pear tree and the bees, the dusty road, and Janie's hair. First, the pear tree, its blossoms, and the bees are introduced in Chapter Two. Janie is sixteen and starting to realize her sensual desires. The blossoms and bees are mentioned occasionally throughout the book when Janie feels lonely, or misses experiencing the epitome of love and sensuality. Janie desires to be able to explore that side of herself freely with an amazing man who has stolen her heart. At sixteen, though, Janie analyzes the blooming pear tree after her chores and realizes the following:

"From barren brown stems to glistening leaf-buds; from the leaf-buds to snowy virginity of bloom . . . The rose of the world was breathing out smell. It followed her through all her waking moments and caressed her in her sleep" (10).

In this passage, Janie recognizes the connection between the growing buds from a barren winter. She is in awe that these buds bloom into beautiful, pure white blossoms and she feels a connection between them and her maturing sensuality. ("White" also symbolizes purity and virginity.) Therefore, the emergence of blossoms on the pear tree symbolize Janie's emerging sensuality, and she is excited to discover what that means for her. Thinking about these images in her bed at night, Janie thinks the following:

"Oh to be a pear tree--any tree in bloom! With kissing bees singing of the beginning of the world! She was sixteen. She had glossy leaves and bursting buds and she wanted to struggle with life but it seemed to elude her. Where were the singing bees for her?" (11).

Again, the blooming tree represents Janie's own blossoming inside as she matures from a barren child to a fertile woman. Of course, the bees represent men as they "meet" a flower, or woman, and connect for the beautification of the earth and the perpetuation of life through pollination. 

Next, the dusty road that runs along the front of Janie's homes symbolizes life experiences and life's choices. It represents the choice to leave one's situation in search of a better life. Ironically, however, a person doesn't necessarily know where this road leads; therefore, the dusty road is also a risk to take because a person never knows where he or she will end up. For example, Janie receives her first kiss by leaning over her fence next to the dusty road. She meets Jodie and leaves her first marriage in search of a better life on the dusty road. Tea Cake arrives on a dusty road and he takes Janie with him down that road to another new life. Janie continually seems to be looking at, watching, or traveling down a dusty road on new adventures.

Finally, Janie's hair is a symbol of freedom of choice, her own power, and her sexuality. It's not only part of her beauty, but it compliments her confidence as a woman. Joe Starks knows this so well that he forces her to wear her hair wrapped up when in public. In this way, her husband shows dominance and control over her and the way men look at her. In Chapter Six, Janie's hair is wrapped in what Hurston calls a "head-rag" as in the following passage:

"This business of the head-rag irked her endlessly. But Jody was set on it. Her hair was NOT going to show in the store . . . That was because Joe never told Janie how jealous he was. He never told her how often he had seen the other men figuratively wallowing in it as she went about things in the store" (55).

After Joe dies, the head-rag comes off just as fast as it went on. Janie is able to live her life free and truly independent of a meddling and controlling husband. She usually wears her hair in a long braid down her back, not pulled up like other women during her time. The braid also represents rebellion against traditional roles of women as well as the confidence to live as she pleases.

An example of symbolism that is developed through imagery in Their Eyes Were Watching God is the pear tree. Zora Neale Hurston uses a blossoming pear tree as a primary symbol of Janie’s desire for personal growth and satisfaction, including sexual fulfillment, at different stages of her life. The imagery that Hurston develops is first presented in chapter 2, as Janie observes a tree and thinks about the bees that flit among its blossoms. Various aspects of the tree’s appearance occur to Janie at later points in the novel, such as when she feels a strong attraction to Tea Cake.

When Janie begins to think about growing up, finding love, and marrying, she climbs the pear tree in Nanny’s yard. The imagery of the flowering tree, made fully alive by the bees, corresponds to Janie’s opening up to new possibilities, including her desires for sexual and romantic experience. The imagery is primarily visual but also uses the sense of touch.

She saw a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom; the thousand sister-calyxes arch to meet the love embrace and the ecstatic shiver of the tree from root to tiniest branch creaming in every blossom and frothing with delight.

In chapter 11, the pear tree symbolism is more explicitly sexual. Janie admits to herself that Tea Cake exerts a powerful sexual appeal, although she still hopes to resist it. Her awakening desire is also compared to the way trees bloom in the spring and the bees visit them.

He could be a bee to a blossom - a pear tree blossom in the spring.

Like most novels, Their Eyes Were Watching God contains numerous metaphors.  I do not have a list of all the metaphors in this work, though there are plenty to be found.  The language throughout Hurston's work is full of  figurative and metaphorical imagery.  The last paragraph of chapter 4 is a great example.  It says:

So Janie waited a bloom time, a green time and an orange time.

She knew the world was a stallion rolling in the blue pasture of ether.  She knew that God tore down the old world every evening and built a new one by sun-up.

The novel is filled with such language, and the metaphors are too numerous to list.  The pear tree in the beginning of the novel is clearly a metaphor, as are, probably, the rabid dog, the hurricane, and the marriages. 

The metaphor (technically the simile) which is most applicable to the theme of the novel. however, regards Janie's view of her life.  The first line of chapter 2 is a metaphor for how Janie sees her life:

Janie saw her life like a great tree in leaf with the things suffered, things enjoyed, things done and undone. 

Just do some reading, and you'll find metaphors of this kind everywhere you look. 

You might like to consider the pear tree that Janie lies under in Chapter Two and the image of nature it presents and how this seems to govern her quest for self-identity. Let us consider how this important part of Janie's life is described in this excellent book:

She was stretched on her back beneath the pear tree soaking in the alto chant of the visiting bees, the gold of the sun and the panting breath of the breeze when the inaudible voice of it all came to her. She saw a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom; the thousand sister-calyxes arch to meet the love embrace and the ecstatic shiver of the tree from root to tiniest branch creaming in every blossom and frothing with delight. So this was a marriage! She had been summoned to behold a revelation.

What she sees in the way that the bee unites itself with the blossom is a symbol of the unity and harmony present in nature, which is also very sexual in its being. In a sense, Janie, throughout the rest of this book, tries to achieve this ideal in her own life.

In the same way, the symbol of the horizon and the way that it represents the mystery of nature with which Janie yearns to connect, is something that occurs again and again throughout the pages of this novel. Note the way that at the end of the novel we are told that Janie pulls in "her horizon like a great fish-net." This clearly points towards the final consummation of Janie's desire to be connected with nature that has been expressed throughout the entire novel.