motorboat in their eyes were watching god

Their Eyes Were Watching God

By zora neale hurston, their eyes were watching god character list, janie crawford (killicks, starks, woods).

Janie is a beautiful black woman with partially white ancestry. As a child, Janie is brought up by her grandmother, Nanny. Janie listens to her grandmother and marries a man of Nanny's choosing: Logan Killicks. Janie leaves Logan when she realizes that she doesn't love him. She runs away with Joe Starks, a man with huge dreams for the future. Unfortunately, instead of allowing Janie to develop her own voice, Joe squelches her individualism. After Joe dies, Janie finally finds Tea Cake Woods, and she discovers real love. When Tea Cake dies suddenly, Janie returns to Eatonville fulfilled and with memories to sustain her for the rest of her life. Janie's primary characteristics are her ability to dream and her ability to act on her instincts to find happiness. Through free indirect discourse, Janie shares the narration of the story with Hurston. Often her voice is so tightly interwoven with Hurston's that it is difficult to discern who is the narrator and who is the author.

Pheoby Watson

Pheoby is Janie's best and only lifelong friend. Due to the responsibilities of her marriage, Pheoby is unable to adventure the way that Janie does. Pheoby represents the everyday person, the audience; just as Janie tells her story to Pheoby, Hurston tells the story to her reader. At the end of the novel, Pheoby tells us that Janie's story has made her grow ten feet taller and has encouraged her to go fishing. Hurston, through Pheoby, asserts her desire for the readers of her novel to be mobilized into action through Janie's story just as Pheoby has been.

Nanny Crawford

Janie's grandmother is a former slave who represents the thoughts and fears of the men and women of the slave era. Nanny values wealth and security over anything else and too strongly encourages Janie to marry Logan Killicks because he possesses some land and a mule. Janie's first major triumph is to escape her grandmother's vision of happiness and recognize that she should seek her own type of freedom.

Logan Killicks

Logan is Janie's first husband. He is unloving and too old for Janie. He treats Janie as if she were a possession like his mule. He cares for Janie and is upset when he realizes that Janie will leave him for another man, Joe Starks, but is powerless to convince Janie that she should stay with him.

Joe is Janie's second husband. He is an appealing choice for Janie who admires his youthfulness and ambition. Joe runs away with Janie to Eatonville, where he becomes mayor. Hurston's criticism of Joe is that he seeks power through the same measures as slave-era whites did. He attains power by taking power away from others. He treats Janie badly, quieting her voice in order to make his voice heard more loudly. Between the Sears Roebuck street lamp, his big house which is literally white, and the golden spittoons, Joe's imitation of white people is farcical.

Tea Cake (Vergible Woods)

Tea Cake is Janie's third husband. He is twelve years younger than Janie. From Tea Cake, Janie learns how to love, about her cultural roots, how to live life in a natural way, and to find ways to have fun just living. Tea Cake is fun, adventurous, and spontaneous; he is a gambler and a musician. Although he is not a rich man, he proves to Janie that he can always find money if they need it, and they live off his income alone. Tea Cake is a natural leader like Joe Starks, but acquires peoples' admiration and trust just by listening to them, by laughing at their stories and jokes, and by playing guitar for them. Tea Cake dies from rabies as a result of saving Janie's life in the flood.

Leafy is Janie's mother. When Nanny was a slave, the master of the plantation repeatedly raped her. As a result, Nanny had a baby with blonde hair and gray eyes. When the mistress of the plantation saw the baby one night after the men left to fight in the Civil War, she told Nanny that she was going to whip her to death in the morning for having sex with her husband. Nanny ran away from the plantation and hid for months until the war ended. She named the baby Leafy because she had hid the baby in the moss of the forest. Leafy grows up with the Washburns just as Janie does. When Leafy is seventeen, her school teacher rapes her, and Leafy has a baby soon after. She becomes an alcoholic and runs away. Leafy's traumatic life convinces Nanny to force Janie to marry when she is very young.

The Washburns

Nanny is a nanny for the Washburns when Janie is a young girl. Hurston defied other black writers of her era by describing the Washburns as "quality white folks." The Washburns treat Janie like a member of their family. They dress her up and put bows in her hair.

Johnny Taylor

Johnny Taylor is the first boy that Janie kisses. Nanny sees the kiss and tells Janie that she "is now a woman" and must get married to Logan Killicks rather than someone low-class like Johnny.

Hezekiah is a boy that helps Janie in the shop after Joe dies. He mimics Joe in a humorous way.

Annie Tyler

Annie Tyler is a rich widow who leaves her stable home to run off with a younger man. The younger man, named Who Flung, runs off with all her money soon after she marries him. Images of Annie Tyler haunt Janie early in her marriage to Tea Cake as she worries if she's made a mistake by entering into her risky new relationship.

Mrs. Turner

Mrs. Turner is a mixed-race woman who hates her blackness and yearns to be white. Through Turner and the town's treatment of Turner, Hurston comments negatively on the people who turn away from their culture and try to be something that they are not. Turner is a much disliked character in the story; all of her "white" features are described as blunt and ugly. She has a weak husband and a weak son.

A young girl that flirts with Tea Cake, and whom Janie is jealous of.

A friend of Tea Cake's and Janie's on the Muck. In the struggle to escape the flood, Motor Boat decides to stay home in bed and sleep rather than to try to run to safety outside, as Janie and Tea Cake do. Ironically, Tea Cake and Janie almost die in the flood while trying to find safety, whereas Motor Boat stays safe by staying home.

Dr. Simmons

Another noble white character in the novel, he tries to save Tea Cake from rabies. He also testifies on Janie's behalf in her murder trial.

Their Eyes Were Watching God Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Their Eyes Were Watching God is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Nature, in the form of buzzards, is able to articulate Janie's rage, and speak for the mule. The chief buzzard is seems like a religious figure; Hurston refers to him as the Parson. When the Parson asks what killed the mule, the other buzzard's...

What is the difference between men and women, according to the text,

I would say the closest is:

• Men are often secretly scared and self-doubting, whereas women are bold and brave

What kind of death has Janie witnessed?

Janie sees Joe's death. He died from kidney failure.

Study Guide for Their Eyes Were Watching God

Their Eyes Were Watching God study guide contains a biography of Zora Neale Hurston, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Their Eyes Were Watching God
• Their Eyes Were Watching God Summary
• Character List

Essays for Their Eyes Were Watching God

Their Eyes Were Watching God literature essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Their Eyes Were Watching God.

• The Importance of Dreams
• Getting in Touch with the Feminine Side
• Living for Yourself in Their Eyes Were Watching God
• Their Eyes Were Watching God: Double Consciousness as an Indicator of Growth
• A Voice of Abandonment

Lesson Plan for Their Eyes Were Watching God

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to Their Eyes Were Watching God
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• Their Eyes Were Watching God Bibliography

Wikipedia Entries for Their Eyes Were Watching God

• Introduction
• Plot synopsis
• Inspirations and influences

• My Preferences
• My Reading List
• Their Eyes Were Watching God

Zora Neale Hurston

• Literature Notes
• Book Summary
• About Their Eyes Were Watching God
• Character List
• Summary and Analysis
• Character Analysis
• Janie Crawford Killicks Starks Woods
• Logan Killicks
• Vergible Tea Cake" Woods"
• Pheoby Watson
• The Porch Sitters
• The Migrants
• Character Map
• Zora Neale Hurston Biography
• Critical Essays
• Major Themes of Their Eyes Were Watching God
• Structure of Their Eyes Were Watching God
• Figurative Language in Their Eyes Were Watching God
• Use of Dialect in Their Eyes Were Watching God
• Full Glossary for Their Eyes Were Watching God
• Essay Questions
• Practice Projects
• Cite this Literature Note

Summary and Analysis Chapter 14

The Everglades and Lake Okeechobee are Tea Cake's territory. He knows the work, the bosses, the workers, and the camps. He and Janie arrive early so that they can get a room at a hotel where they will have access to a bathtub. Work in the muck is very dirty. They move on a few days later to a location where there is the assurance of work with a boss that Tea Cake likes. They rent a two-room house, which Janie soon turns into a home while Tea Cake plants beans. For diversion, Tea Cake proposes that he teach Janie how to handle guns and shoot.

The workers pour into the camp, but Tea Cake can't make any extra money gambling because this is the start of the season, and nobody has any money. The lively life of migrants surrounds Janie. These people work hard all day and play hard at night. The jook joints are alive with activity, and Tea Cake and Janie's house is an oasis for the other workers. Tea Cake sits in the doorway and entertains the people with his guitar and his stories.

At first, Janie only keeps house and cooks baked beans to please Tea Cake. When Janie grows tired of staying home and Tea Cake claims to be so lonesome for her that he has to take off work just to be with her, she decides to go to work with him. Together, they work and joke, and the migrants readily accept Janie. In the muck, Janie thinks about life in Eatonville and feels pity for the people there.

In a short time, Janie gains acceptance from the other migrant workers, but only after enduring their initial judgments. After dealing with the boredom of keeping house and Tea Cake's loneliness for her, Janie decides to work in the fields with her husband. Many of the migrant workers believed that Janie "thought herself too good to work like the rest of the women." The workers pass judgment on Janie because she had not initially worked on the muck. They assumed that she considered herself too privileged to subject herself to the difficult labor of the migrant workers. She fits in quickly, and the judgments made by the workers are dropped as they witness the "romping and playing they [Tea Cake and Janie] carried on behind the boss's back."

Hurston also reveals in this chapter that Tea Cake serves to bring people together. His "house was a magnet, the unauthorized center of the 'job.'" Whether he plays the guitar or tells stories, the migrant workers seem to be drawn to Tea Cake and his charming personality, much like Janie is.

Unlike Janie's other husbands, Tea Cake makes a point to tell her that he loves her. He misses her so much while he is working in the fields that he convinces her to get a job working along side of him. Janie is the center of Tea Cake's world, and he does not want her to forget it.

pickin' my box playing my guitar.

dyke . . . Indians Hurston has inserted two seemingly insignificant details here which she will later use for dramatic effect when the hurricane strikes. Tea Cake and Janie live very close to the lake, and they will see Indians leaving as the storm approaches — yet they choose to ignore the wisdom of these local people.

flivver a small, cheap automobile, especially an old one.

sit in the doorway Hurston does not even suggest that the migrants go into Janie's house.

black-eyed peas and rice This combination is known as "Hoppin' John." It is a staple with a long history in Southern cooking.

Previous Chapter 13

Next Chapter 15

has been added to your

Reading List!

Removing #book# from your Reading List will also remove any bookmarked pages associated with this title.

Are you sure you want to remove #bookConfirmation# and any corresponding bookmarks?

About the Book

Character List

Their eyes were watching god, by zora neale hurston.

Zora Neale Hurston in ‘Their Eyes Were Watching God’ takes a more direct and introspective approach for her main characters, like Janie Crawford - who stands up against marital male dominance and control, as she searches for true love and respect across three marriages.

Written by Victor Onuorah

Degree in Journalism from University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

Zora Neale Hurston’s characters in the story ‘ Their Eyes Were Watching God ’ portray the peculiarities of a typical slave narrative or the cultural zeitgeist of such times predominantly. For this reason, the characters are mainly shown as vivid and blunt, markedly dramatic, daydreaming, and reasonably violent and coercive. This article will analyze Zora Neale Hurston’s major characters in her book ‘ Their Eyes Were Watching God. ’

Janie Crawford

She is the main act of Zora Neale Hurston’s ‘ Their Eyes Were Watching God .’ The author describes her as black and beautiful – slightly light-skinned – and has unusually beautiful long hair, which all the more adds to her overall glamorous physical appearance. Having missed the privilege of motherly love and affection following abandonment by her birth mother, Janie is raised instead by her grandmother Nanny Crawford – who loves her and does everything possible to protect her. 

When Janie comes of age, Nanny hands her over in marriage to the older Logan Killicks, a farmer – who treats Janie with so much control and restrictions. Unlike the normal trends for women of her society, who typically only serve as housewives and have no aspirations, Janie is different and is determined to pursue her passions. Such drive leads her across three marriages as she searches for a companion who will love and support her dreams, not control her. 

In the end, Janie finds the satisfaction and peace of mind That she craves – more remarkably with her time with Tea Cake, but this comes at the price of being alone and losing nearly all the wealth she’s amassed over twenty-plus years.

Leafy Crawford

She is the biological mother of Janie and the daughter of Nanny. Like her mother, Leafy has quite a harrowing experience characterized by slavery, gender bias, and abuse – and the result of these devastates her life so badly that she becomes an alcoholic. She gives birth to Janie after she is tragically rapped by her school teacher. She runs away afterward – abandoning her baby for her Nanny, her mother.

Nanny 

Nanny Crawford is Janie’s grandmother and mother to Leafy Crawford. Nanny is probably one of the most suffered characters in Zora Neale Hurston’s ‘Their Eyes Were Watching God.’ Enduring the full torture of the slave era, Nanny faces constant sexual abuse under the roof of her slaver with Jamie’s mother Leafy being one of the results of such dehumanization. After facing death threats from her master’s concubine, Nanny flees with Leafy until the end of the war. 

Seeing what happened to her daughter Leafy, Naany is determined to not same happen to Janie, so she becomes particularly protective and intentional with Janie, and part of that also includes marrying her off to Logan Killicks, whom she values as a man who can fully protect and cater for Janie.

The Washburns

Is a white family that Janie’s grandmother Nanny, works for as a maid and helper. The Washburns are uncharacteristically good and kind to black people and don’t only treat Nanny as their kind, but also accept, love, and take care of Janie as though she is their daughter. Hurston uses the Washburns to set a standard of what a true white family should be, as there aren’t so many families with such nobility and integrity.

Phoeby Watson

She is a true friend of Janie and is the one Janie tells her story about upon returning home to Eatonville after being away for a very long time. Being married and having a tumultuous marital life, Phoeby finds herself consumed by the demands of her marriage and lives like the average woman – forgoing and sacrificing her dreams. She is inspired by Janie’s courageous story in the end and even hints at allowing herself to explore life beyond the four walls of her marriage. 

Johnny Taylor

Johnny Taylor becomes the first guy that Janie has a romantic spark with – and st the heat of it, she eventually kisses him. Because Johnny is young, naive, and poor, Naany doesn’t support her granddaughter seeing him, so she instead arranges for a much older, much more experienced, and well-to-do suitor to marry Janie.

Logan Killicks 

Potato farmer and first husband of Janie, who, contrary to Nanny’s expectation, is not quite capable of caring for Janie the way that she wants. Killicks is domineering and possessive and epitomize the mentality of typical men of his generation. I’m the end, he is unable to keep Janie – who wants more freedom, and more adventure in life – and loses her to Joe Starks. 

Joe Starks 

Ambitious and cute, Joe Starks, or Jody, becomes the second husband of Janie, literally stealing her away from the arms of Logan Killicks and then running off to Eatonville to marry and settle. Janie admires Jody’s go-getting spirit, and he is still lacking in the aspect of allowing her freedom to pursue her own dreams and passions. Their marriage spans two decades, with Jody achieving a lot in business and in politics – having won the office of the town mayor. A misunderstanding resulted in Jody beating Janie, prompting her to run away from home, only returning when Jody is sick and about to die.

Also known as Vergible Woods, Tea Cake embodies nearly all the vital qualities that Janie seeks in a man – particularly, the most important one is the freedom to be herself and pursue her passion. Less than a year after Jody’s illness and death, Tea Cake catches the eye of Janie, and even though he is a lot younger than she is, the two kick it off very quickly. Janie sells her business assets (Jody’s legacy) and moves to Everglades with Tea Cake, leaving Eatonville for good. 

The two have the most fulfilling marriage, but a dangerous hurricane disrupts Everglades – leading to an unfortunate event and Tea Cake getting bitten by a sick dog. He falls sick and grows suspicious of Janie, but when he resorts to using firearms for resolution, Janie kills him in self-defense. 

Hezekiah Potts 

In Eatonville, Potts is the storekeeper of Jody and Janie’s business. He is loyal and trustworthy and thinks and talks like Jody, sometimes. His commitment to the business still runs deep even after Jody’s passing until the store is sold by Janie when she decides to relocate to Everglades with her newfound love. 

Annie Tyler 

A rich widow who apparently gets defrauded by a younger lover called Who Flung. In ‘ Their Eyes Were Watching God ,’ Annie Tyler is used as a point of lesson for Janie right when she and Tea Cake start an affair, as she is constantly reminded that Tea Cake could scam her just like Who Fung supposedly did to Annie Tyler. 

Mrs. Turner

She is a neighbor turn friend. When Tea Cake and Janie move to Everglades, she becomes an unlikely close friend to Janie. Mrs. Turner thinks Tea Cake isn’t good for Janie because he is black, and she is of the mindset that black people – especially men – are no good. Yet even though she is black herself, she despises the skin color and fantasizes about white. She is probably the most disregarded character in Hurston’s ‘ Their Eyes Were Watching God. ’ 

Dr. Simmons

He is one of the few good men in the book ‘Their Eyes Were Watching God .’ He attends Tea Cake during the time Tea suffers from hydrophobia and does everything he can to save him. Hurston uses Dr. Simmons’ character to portray the idea white man – who is fair and treats all races as equal. He is also pivotal in the murder trial of Janie following his honest testification. 

Motor Boat 

Also, a neighbor of Janie and Tea Cake at their Everglades home. Motor Boat surprisingly survives the deadly hurricane by deciding to stay put – relaxing in his home while the chaos is out there. Tea Cake and Janie – who are out of their home and on the run, surprisingly are almost killed. 

What are some remarkable qualities of Janie Crawford in the book ‘ Their Eyes Were Watching God’ ?

Janie proves herself an outstanding character because of some of the qualities she possesses and exhibits: she is strong-willed, fearless in her truth, and goes for whatever she believes in – regardless of how people feel about it. 

In ‘ Their Eyes Were Watching God ,’ is Joe Starks black or white?

Joe is an ambitious African American young man who catches the fancy of young Janie. The two eventually get married and spend the next twenty-something years until Jody’s death. 

Is Janie’s marriage to Logan Killicks based on love?

Logan Killicks becomes Janie’s first husband, and no, their union isn’t for love’s sake but based on compulsion, as Janie’s grandmother Nanny forced her to tie the knot with him for protection and financial security. 

Who is Nanny to Janie?

Nanny is the grandmother of Janie who assumes the responsibility of being her primary caregiver after Janie’s mother abandons her and runs away.

Is Phoeby Watson a true friend of Janie Crawford?

Unlike all the other town’s people, Phoeby proves that she is indeed a true friend of Janie’s by showing real care and interest in her failed marital problems.

About Victor Onuorah

Victor is as much a prolific writer as he is an avid reader. With a degree in Journalism, he goes around scouring literary storehouses and archives; picking up, dusting the dirt off, and leaving clean even the most crooked pieces of literature all with the skill of analysis.

Cite This Page

Onuorah, Victor " Their Eyes Were Watching God Character List 📖 " Book Analysis , https://bookanalysis.com/zora-neale-hurston/their-eyes-were-watching-god/characters/ . Accessed 21 March 2024.

It'll change your perspective on books forever.

Discover 5 Secrets to the Greatest Literature

Their Eyes Were Watching God

Introduction of their eyes were watching god.

Termed as the classic book from the Harlem Renaissance, Their Eyes were Watching God created a niche in the American African literature within the category of American literature. Zora Neal Hurston published it in 1937 when the Harlem Renaissance was at its peak. The novel presents the story of Janie Crawford, an African American girl, her growth as from a naïve young girl into a woman, along with the sufferings she goes through during her life. Despite its poor early reviews, the novel gained immense popularity with the rising awareness about the rights of the African American people in the United States.

Summary of Their Eyes Were Watching God

Janie Crawford recollects her life and the times when she was growing up. She is now in her forties and her reflection takes her back to her blossoming puberty when she receives first the attention of a local boy, Johnny Taylor, who kisses her, showing his love for her. Though, her grandmother happens to be observing them guides her about her first reactions.

Then Nanny narrates her ordeal that she was molested by her owner during her slavery. Leafy, the birth of that incident, then, becomes the center of her eyes. Therefore, she makes a successful escape during the Civil War to break the yoke of slavery. When Leafy is young and attends a school, she too is molested by her teacher. She gives birth to Janie, who is now narrating the story of her life. That terrible ordeal leaves Leafy as an alcoholic and frustrated, leaving her daughter, Janie, with Nanny.

When Nanny sees this responsibility on her shoulder, she hopes that marrying Janie to Logan Killicks, an old farmer would let her have a stable life. On the contrary to her expectations, Killicks needs a domestic assistant and not a wife, while he thinks Janie of not any help to him. Janie seeks advice from Nanny who taunts her for not being grateful to Killicks for providing her a good life having no financial worries. However, Nanny soon breathes her last, leaving Janie alone in this world. When Janie sees that there is nobody to ask her about her actions, she finds Joe Starks, a talkative person with whom she elopes to Florida to live in an African American town of Eatonville. Joe Starks becomes the mayor of the town on account of his glib tongue and hard work. However, Janie rather feels that she has become a trophy instead of his wife. He not only abuses her but also begins to insult her and joke about her in front of people. Although Janie does not leave her, she hates him. During an accident, instead of helping him, she watches him die before her eyes. Later, she gives him a proper and respectable burial.

When men of the town come across the rich widow of Joe Starks, they offer their hands but Vergible Woods who is famously called Tea Cake captures her heart. Although his initial treatment is very loving and kind, Janie becomes enamored with his musical quality and loving attitude and soon leaves Eatonville to Belle Glade to marry him. When life takes its routine, the sourness creeps in their relationship as Tea Cake does not have regular work to afford her household expenses. However, she is satisfied with the relationship but soon a hurricane hits the area hard, making all others tun for their lives. During this survival struggle, a rabid dog bites Tea Cake when he tries to save Janie. In his fit of madness, he tries to kill Janie but she shoots him.

Soon the trail becomes the talk of the town, where white women come to support Janie. She wins her acquittal but arranges a good funeral for her dead husband. Although friends of her dead husband permit her to stay in Everglades, she returns to Eatonville and raises rumors in the town with her open and liberal outlook. The story ends with the note of her conversation with her former friend, Phoeby.

Major Themes in Their Eyes Were Watching God

• Financial Security: The novel shows the financial deprivations of the African American community through Nanny’s character . When she finds that farmer Killicks is willing to take Janie in marriage, she feels her granddaughter will be financially secured. She also rebukes and taunts her saying that she should not be ungrateful. Janie, however, does not find it soul-satisfying and leaves Killicks and elopes with Joe. Joe is a hardworking but rude person, who takes her to Eatonville, making her a rich lady of the town. Therefore, financial security is of paramount importance for Nanny, though, not for Janie.
• Power : Power works in different ways in the novel, as Nanny has power over Janie to get her married. While her new husband, Killicks, too, exercises his power of money. When she becomes too dependent on him, she leaves him for Joe Starks, who uses the power of persuasion but when it comes to physical power by the end, she kills Tea Cake to stop his suffering after he is bitten by a rabid dog. Therefore, the thematic strand of power echoes throughout the novel.
• Love: The theme of love echoes at different places in the novel. Although Nanny finds love, yet she does not find it sincere, for she has to look for financial security. Therefore, she prefers financial security for her granddaughter to love, but Janie does not accept it and leaves Logan Killicks for Joe Starks, and finally for Tea Cake after his death. She even shoots Tea Cake dead, out of pity and love, when he poses a threat to her life. Therefore, power is a minor thematic strand in the big scheme of things of this novel.
• Sexuality: The theme of sexuality is tied to the character of Janie when she meets Johnny the first time. Zora Neal Hurston has demonstrated this theme in the novel through vegetative blossoming. Nanny knows the power of this feature and uses it to the advantage of Janie to win the favor of Logan Killicks. Janie also uses the same sexuality to get closer to Joe and later Tea Cake.
• Gender: The gender role, its significance, and the role of the female is another theme of the novel. In fact, the novel revolves around the feminine gender in that Nanny knows that she has suffered due to her being a female, she makes Janie aware of her significance and its use in exploiting the patriarchal structure comprising Logan, Joe, and Tea Cake. Although she successfully hooks Joe after leaving Logan, she fails to save Tea Cake who becomes a victim of a rabid dog’s bite. She returns to her original role of weaving tales with Phoeby.
• Independence: The novel shows the desire of Nanny to make Janie independent by arranging her marriage to Logan Killicks. Though, her concept of independence is quite different, for she, as a human being, also needs emotional support and independence. That is why she elopes with Joe but ends up meeting Tea Cake after his death. Despite this far journey in her life, the feminine desire to shed off the shackles of the patriarchy does not make her a meek creature and she kills Tea Cake in the end when she sees him as a threat to her life.
• Racial Identity: The novel shows racial identity in that Nanny knows that the life of her granddaughter, Janie, as an African American girl, is not secure on social and as well as financial grounds. This identity goes with Nanny, with Leafy, and then with their third generation, Janie Therefore, she prepares her granddaughter about the importance of financial status and its impacts on the racial identity of a person. This also becomes clear through the obsession of Mrs. Turner.
• Judgment: The novel shows the theme of the people being judgemental in different ways. Janie feels that people talk about her status, appearance, and acts. When she returns and narrates her long tale to Pheoby, the people of the area gossip and spread rumors about her past.
• Money: The novel shows the theme of labor and the importance of money in life through Nanny’s life, her daughter Leafy and then Janie. Nanny, specifically, knows the value of money when she marries Jane to Logan. Her main concern is Janie’s financial strength and not her desire for happiness.

Major Characters in Their Eyes Were Watching God

• Janie Crawford: Partly white and partly African American, Janie Crawford is the daughter of Leafy and Nanny’s granddaughter. Janie marries Logan Killicks on the insistence of her grandmother, Nanny, but she leaves him for Joe Starks for his gift of conversation and persuasive power. However, feeling suppressed to her femininity, she becomes fed up of his limitations when they succeed in Eatonville where after Joe’s demise, she finds a bubbling young man, Tea Cake, who afterward tries to kill her when a rabid dog bites him. But she kills him with a pistol in self-defense. Later, the white women gather around to testify in her favor to assist her to win freedom after which she returns to her old town.
• Nanny Crawford: She is the grandmother of the protagonist , Janie, and also her guide and guardian. She reproaches her for being thankless to Logan Killicks when she complains of discomfort and dissatisfaction. She sets the course of life of Janie, thinking financial support and strength count much in life, oblivious to the fact that love plays an important role.
• Joe Starks: Joe Starks plays an important role in the novel. At first, Janie loves him and elopes with him, leaving Logan Killicks, the landowner and her first husband. However, he is not only ambitious but also hard-working and establishes a good business in Eatonville where he reaches the post of the mayor of the town and wins popularity and honor among the locals. Yet, in terms of femininity, he is a traditional patriarch and does not let Janie go freely in the public. His role, however, ends, when he breathes his last after an illness.
• Vergible Woods or Tea Cake: Woods or Tea Cake is an interesting character who sees Janie as a rich widow and himself a pauper worth of her to make his life good. An artist, engaged in gambling, he knows how to exploit a woman and situation. However, bad luck occurs when a rabid dog bites him by the end of the novel after which he tries to harm Janie under the influence of rabies, but she shoots him dead.
• Logan Killicks: The problem of Logan Killicks is that he is complaining about Janie that she does not thank him for providing comfort and financial security to her. However, he is oblivious that as a sensuous young girl, she also needs love, tenderness, and kindness , the reason that she becomes fed up and abandons him in favor of Joe Starks, who is very sweet in his talking but very hard in dealing.
• Leafy: Leafy is Nanny’s daughter and Janie’s mother and appears in the novel for a short time, leaving very strong impressions. As the progeny of Nanny, she becomes the victim of abuse by her teacher and after giving birth to Janie, she disappears.
• Pheoby Watson: She appears in the beginning and by the end and seems a very helping hand to others. She advises the protagonist, Janie, to abandon her reckless life but supports her through thick and thin. She is the main interlocutor of her narrative .
• Annie Tyler: Annie, the rich window, runs with the man younger than her. Janie is often found of making a comparison of her life with that widow when she also runs with Woods or Tea Cake.
• Johnny Taylor and Mrs. Turner: These are two minor characters; the first one leads to sexual awakening in Janie and the second one prefers caucasian features and being white. Both play an important role in the events in the life of Janie.

Writing Style of Their Eyes Were Watching God

True to her style , Zora Neal Hurston has used colloquial or conversational style in the novel. It shows the true accent of that the African Americans of the South existing during the early period of the 20 th century. Although the narrator becomes quite poetic at times, the conversation intervenes at places to make it a representative of the African American community. Shortened forms, broken syntax , simple diction , ironic, and sometimes somberly tragic tone and highly figurative language have made its style unique. It also shows the rhythm and specific musical quality of the African American accent.

Analysis of Literary Devices in Their Eyes Were Watching God

• Action: The main action of the novel comprises Janie Crawford’s search for true love in racially divided America . The rising action occurs when Janie runs away from Logan with Joe Starks to Eatonville. The falling action occurs when she kills Tea Cake when he suffers from rabies, by the end of her defense, and is finally released by the jury on the intervention of the white women on her behalf.
• Anaphora : Their Eyes were Watching God shows the use of anaphora . For example, i. It was the time for sitting on porches beside the road. It was the time to hear things and talk. (Chapter-1) ii. Big Lake Okechobee, big beans, big cane, big weeds, big everything. (Chapter-14) The sentence shows the repetitious use of “it was the time” and “big.”
• Antagonist : Their Eyes were Watching God shows the search for self or the circumstances as the main antagonist in Janie’s life. As she meets and flees with different men and sadly kills Tea Cake, her last husband. However, she does seem to fit with any one of them; although they all seem, antagonists, the real antagonist of the novel is her search for happiness and satisfaction.
• Allusion : There are various examples of allusions given in the novel. i. “Dat mornin’ on de big plantation close to Savannah, a rider come in a gallop tellin’ ’bout Sherman takin’ Atlanta. (Chapter-2) ii. Freein’ dat mule makes uh mighty big man outa you. Something like George Washington and Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln, he had de whole United States tuh rule so he freed de Negroes. (Chapter-6) iii. They had him up for conversation every day the Lord sent. (Chapter-6) iv. Chink up your cracks, shiver in your wet beds and wait on the mercy of the Lord. (Chapter-18) v. When God had made The Man, he made him out of stuff that sung all the time and glittered all over. Then after that some angels got jealous and chopped him into millions of pieces, but still he glittered and hummed. (Chapter-9) The first two allusions are related to the American Civil War characters, while the latter is related to Christianity.
• Conflict : The are two types of conflicts in the novel. The first one is the external conflict that is going on between Janie and different men such as Logan Killicks, then Joe Starks, and finally with Tea Cake. Then there is an internal conflict that is going on between Janie and the prevalent value of the culture.
• Characters: Their Eyes were Watching God presents both static as well as dynamic characters. Janie Crawford is a dynamic character as she goes through a transformation during her marriage spree. However, the rest of the characters do not see any change in their behavior, as they are static characters such as Tea Cake, Nanny, Leafy, or Logan Killicks.
• Chiasmus : The novel shows the use of chiasmus in the following example, i. Now, women forget all those things they don’t want to remember , and remember everything they don’t want to forget. (Chapter-1) The sentence shows the use of chiasmus as the first clause has been reversed for impacts.
• Climax : The climax takes when Janie and Tea Cake come face to face and Janie feels that if she does not shot at Tea Cake she is going to die at his hands.
• Foreshadowing : The novel shows the following examples of foreshadowing : i. Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board. For some, they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. (Chapter-1) ii. The town had a basketful of feelings good and bad about Joe’s positions and possessions, but none had the temerity to challenge him. They bowed down to him rather, because he was all of these things, and then again he was all of these things because the town bowed down.  (Chapter-8) These quotes from Their Eyes were Watching God foreshadow the coming events; the first one about the difficult times for Janie and the second for her husband, Jody or Joe Starks.
• Hyperbole : Hyperbole or exaggeration occurs in the novel at various places such as: i. Every tear you drop squeezes a cup uh blood outa mah heart. Ah got tuh try and do for you befo’ mah head is cold. (Chapter-2) ii. If you can stand not to chop and tote wood Ah reckon you can stand not to git no dinner. ’Scuse mah freezolity, Mist’ Killicks, but Ah don’t mean to chop de first chip. (Chapter-4) The above sentences are hyperboles, and also they show how Janie is using this device when she is in different situations in her first marriage.
• Imagery : Imagery means to use images such as given in the novel: i. It was a cityfied, stylish dressed man with his hat set at an angle that didn’t belong in these parts. His coat was over his arm, but he didn’t need it to represent his clothes. The shirt with the silk sleeveholders was dazzling enough for the world. (Chapter-4) ii. The great clap of laughter that they have been holding in, bursts out. Sam never cracks a smile. “Yeah, Matt, dat mule so skinny till de women is usin’ his rib bones fuh uh rub-board, and hangin’ things out on his hockbones tuh dry. (Chapter-6) iii. Morning came without motion. The winds, to the tiniest, lisping baby breath had left the earth. Even before the sun gave light, dead day was creeping from bush to bush watching man. (Chapter-18). These examples show different images taken from the novel such as the images of sound, color, and nature.
• Metaphor : Their Eyes were Watching God shows good use of various metaphors . For example, i. So Janie waited a bloom time, and a green time and an orange time. But when the pollen again gilded the sun and sifted down on the world she began to stand around the gate and expect things. (Chapter-3) ii. She knew the world was a stallion rolling in the blue pasture of ether. (Chapter-3) iii. Nature got so high in uh black hen she got tuh lay uh white egg. Now you tell me, how come, whut got intuh man dat he got tuh have hair round his mouth? Nature!”(Chapter-6) iv. Rumor, that wingless bird, had shadowed over the town. (Chapter-8)
• Motif : Most important motifs of the novel are community, racism, religion, and family.
• Narrator : The novel is narrated by a third person narrator, who is Zora Neal herself.
• Personification : The novel shows the use of personification at several places. For example, i. Business was dull all day, because numbers of people had gone to the game. (Chapter-10) ii. The sounds lulled Janie to soft slumber and she woke up with Tea Cake combing her hair. (Chapter-11) These examples show business and sounds as having human attributes.
• Protagonist : Janie is the protagonist of the novel. The novel starts with his entry into the world when she is narrating her tale and ends it at the same place.
• Rhetorical Questions : The novel shows good use of rhetorical questions at several places. For example, i. Look like he took pleasure in doing it. Why couldn’t he go himself sometimes? (Chapter-6) ii. Now and again she thought of a country road at sun-up and considered flight. To where? To what? Then too she considered thirty-five is twice seventeen and nothing was the same at all. (Chapter-7) This example shows the use of rhetorical questions posed but different characters not to elicit answers but to stress upon the underlined idea.
• Setting : The setting of the novel is the rural area of Florida, specifically, Eatonville.
• Simile : The novel shows good use of various similes. For example, i. But mostly she lived between her hat and her heels, with her emotional disturbances like shade patterns in the woods—come and gone with the sun. (Chapter-7) ii. His prosperous-looking belly that used to thrust out so pugnaciously and intimidate folks, sagged like a load suspended from his loins. (Chapter-7) iii. But even these things were running down like candle grease as time moved on. (Chapter-8) These are similes as the use of the word “like” shows the comparison between different things.
• Situational Irony : The situational irony exists in the novel at the point where Janie marries Tea Cake and comes to the point about love. Both pay attention to each other and understand each other but then she shoots him dead, as he forces her or better to say his disease, rabies, forces her to kill him.

Related posts:

• Their Eyes Were Watching God Characters
• Their Eyes Were Watching God Themes
• Their Eyes Were Watching God Quotes
• A Sight for Sore Eyes
• Big Brother is Watching You

Post navigation

Their Eyes Were Watching God

Zora neale hurston, everything you need for every book you read..

Their Eyes Were Watching God focuses its plot both on Janie 's series of romantic relationships as well as on Janie's individual quest for self-fulfillment and spiritual nourishment. In the novel, Janie's marriages are what most concretely impede upon her individual quest, but in doing so they actually force Janie to become aware of what it is that she wants for herself as an individual. In the cases of Jody and Tea Cake , Janie interprets her initial sexual appetite for these men as a sign of love, and as a result, a reason for marriage. Given that Jody entirely strips Janie of independence, his death allows her to move toward a recognition of herself as a self-possessed individual. Janie's attraction to Tea Cake initially emerges from her feeling that he gives her exactly what Jody did not: a sense of equality. However, her eventual marriage to Tea Cake still has its problems and impinges on her personal independence.

For instance, Tea Cake steals Janie's money and spends it on food and alcohol for his friends; he causes Janie to feel intense jealousy by sneaking off with Nunkie and then proceeds to comfort Janie through sex, rather than by listening and validating her emotions directly. After Tea Cake's death, though, Janie realizes that despite difficulty, there were real elements of their marriage that gave her a sense of individual fulfillment and equality with him. As a result, even when Tea Cake is no longer alive, Janie is able to express her continued feeling of individual fulfillment, as she remains nourished by the spirit of Tea Cake, who she still loves, but is able to live on her own. At the end of the novel, Janie realizes the possibility of coexistence between love and a sense of self-fulfillment and independence.

Desire, Love, and Independence ThemeTracker

Desire, Love, and Independence Quotes in Their Eyes Were Watching God

Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by time. That is the life of men.

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!

"Honey, de white man is de ruler of everything as fur as Ah been able tuh find out. Maybe it's some place way off in de ocean where de black man is in power, but we don't know nothin' but what we see…De nigger woman is de mule uh de world so fur as Ah can see."

She knew now that marriage did not make love. Janie's first dream was dead, so she became a woman.

Janie pulled back a long time because he did not represent sun-up and pollen and blooming trees, but he spoke for far horizon.

"Thank yuh fuh yo' compliments, but mah wife don't know nothin' 'bout no speech-makin'. Ah never married her for nothin' lak dat. She's uh woman and her place is in de home."

"Nature is de first of everything. Ever since self was self, nature been keepin' folks off of red-hot stoves. Dat caution you talkin' 'bout ain't nothin' but uh humbug."

The young girl was gone, but a handsome woman had taken her place. She tore off the kerchief from her head and let down her plentiful hair. The weight, the length, the glory was there.

Somebody wanted her to play. Somebody thought it natural for her to play. That was even nice. She looked him over and got little thrills from every one of his good points.

He looked like the love thoughts of women. He could be a bee to a blossom – a pear tree blossom in the spring. He seemed to be crushing scent out of the world with his footsteps. Crushing aromatic herbs with every step he took. Spices hung about him. He was a glance from God.

The thing made itself into pictures and hung around Janie's bedside all night long. Anyhow, she wasn't going back to Eatonville to be laughed at and pitied. She had ten dollars in her pocket and twelve hundred in the bank.

He drifted off into sleep and Janie looked down on him and felt a self-crushing love. So her soul crawled out from its hiding place.

Janie seethed. But Tea Cake never let go. They wrestled on until they were doped with their own fumes and emanations; till their clothes had been torn away; till he hurled her to the floor and held her there melting her resistance with the heat of his body, doing things with their bodies to express the inexpressible.

"Ah done been tuh de horizon and back and now Ah kin set heah in mah house and live by comparisons. Dis house ain't so absent of things lak it used tuh be befo' Tea Cake come along. It's full uh thoughts, 'specially dat bedroom."

Of course he wasn't dead. He could never be dead until she herself had finished feeling and thinking. The kiss of his memory made pictures of love and light against the wall. Here was peace. She pulled in her horizon like a great fish net…She called in her soul to come and see.