The Mule!

In Their Eyes Were Watching God there is a mule that is kept by a man named Matt Bonner. Matt Bonner's mule is overworked and underfed. The people on the porch always make fun of it because it is bad tempered due to how it is treated. When the mule runs away it gets teased by all of the shop owners and Janie sees this going on. She tells them to stop and Jody over hears her so he buys the mule to make Janie feel better. Janie like this mule I believe because she can relate to it. Janie relates to the mule because just like the mule she feels she is being overworked by her husband Jody. She also doesn't feel respect by Jody because he keeps ordering her do things that she doesn't want to do, just like Matt Bonner's mule. She feels as they both feel each others pain, which is why I feel Janie really likes the mule.