Their Eyes Were Watching God Character Analysis

In the story, Their Eyes Were Watching God, we followed the journey of a woman, Janie, who was seeking freedom and self-worth. She only had one person to confide in, her best friend Phoeby. Janie overcame many adversities throughout her lifetime, the biggest of which being her relationships. She only had three: Logan, Joe, and Tea Cake. Her Nanny was really the only reason she had the first relationship with Logan too. All her life her Nanny had told her what to do and beat her if she did otherwise, just like her partners did. None of Janie's relationships worked out, not even with her grandmother, because Janie never stood up for herself or saw her own worth. She always resented the person she was. She was always pushed around. Be that as

Janie instantly adored his confidence and his charisma, which is why she decided to marry him after having only known him for about two weeks. The relationship quickly turned sour after that with Janie realizing that Joe is very abusive. He constantly needed control over everything that she did. He beat her if the slightest thing wasn't as he wanted it to be and always made it a point to show off his "masculinity" in front of others. Joe once said, "Somebody got to think for women and chillun and chickens and cows. I god, they sho don’t think none theirselves." (Hurston 71) He had an uncontrollable jealousy over Janie. He saw her as an object more than a person; he constantly made her feel as though she was lesser. Joe also said things such as, "You gettin' too moufy, Janie..." (Hurston 75) Joe eventually became sick in his old age. Janie had mixed feelings when he came down with kidney failure. He didn't even know he was dying and when Janie told him he was, he was quite upset. Janie felt bad for him in that moment. However, right after Joe's death, she let down her hair and was happy to be a newly free

He had a sort of swagger about him that Janie really enjoyed. His name was Vergible Woods, also known as Tea Cake. Upon first meeting her, he respected her and wanted to play checkers. This was something that really shocked Janie. She hadn't really ever been respected in that way. He tries to get her to notice how special she is by saying things like, "Umph! umph! umph! Ah betcha you don’t never go tuh de lookin’ glass and enjoy yo’ eyes yo’self. You lets other folks git all de enjoyment out of ‘em ‘thout takin’ in any of it yo’self."(Hurston 104) She doesn't trust him for a little while though, having just come out of a relationship that left her wealthy. She, along with everyone else in town, had suspicions that he was just there for her money. However, she learned to believe in him and they soon after fell in love. One day a great hurricane came sweeping through the town. Janie and Tea Cake got caught up in the chaos of it all. Amidst that very chaos, they ran into a dog on top of a cow that tried to attack Janie. Tea Cake protected her and killed the dog but got bit in the process. This gave him rabies which eventually led to him becoming insane. He became so insane that Janie had to kill him after he pulled a gun on