The Buzzards

The death of the mule brings the whole town to gather around its remains to hold a faux funeral. The people of Starks' town "made great ceremony over the mule" and "mocked everything human in death" waiting for Mayor Starks' to proceed the ceremony. With a "great eulogy on [their] departed citizen," Mayor Starks flaunts his oratorial and leadership skills throughout the continuation of the gathering up until the town leaves the carcass, unburied, for the waiting buzzards. Impatient, the buzzards are holding a "flying-meet" over the ceremony, waiting for the attendance of their leader, the Parson.
Coincidentally, or rather purposefully, Hurston, the author, parallels the human-held funeral ceremony with that of the buzzards' eating ceremony. Just as the people anticipates Mayor Starks to push forward the ceremony before they can mock and imitate the remainder of the ceremony, the buzzards also anticipates the Parson to begin the rite of feasting upon the mule's carcass. One can only wonder what Hurston intended as the significance of the parallelism, and with further reading, I have created a conjecture. Since the mule represents Janie, therefore its death represents her emotional death as is later revealed with her silence and numbness in chapter 7. The Parson being an extended metaphor for Jody Starks initiates the okay for the whole town (the buzzards) to further destroy Janie, though in his and the others' minds they are honoring her, when she is already dead.