As Harriet Jacobs builds the courage to admit to her grandmother that she is pregnant, she sits down “in the shade of a tree.” The symbol of this tree, which is mentioned at the moment when Jacobs considers the consequences of her sexual relationship, parallels imagery from Their Eyes Were Watching God, in which a pear tree is the site of Janie’s sexual awakening. This parallel is strengthened by the fact that the women have similar confrontations with their grandmothers, after encountering the trees. Harriet’s grandmother tears Harriet’s mother’s wedding ring from her finger and says she is a disgrace. Janie’s grandmother, after witnessing her kissing a boy named Johnny Taylor, immediately proposes that she marry a man who is much older than her. When Janie expresses disgust at the prospect, her grandmother slaps her.