Their Eyes Were Watching God Janie Character Analysis

In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neil Hurston we meet the character of Janie Crawford. Janie gets into two abusive relationships but is ultimately able to keep herself composed and take care of herself in these situations. Later in the novel, her husband Tea Cake contracts rabies and the pressure on Janie to take care of him and the house on her own. Janie has to make her own decisions and throughout the book Janie has shown that when needed, she can be fully autonomous and take care of herself without any outside help, but sometimes she seems like she makes stupid decisions and can’t get out of toxic relationships which are hurting her mentally.

Janie is a very strong character in Their Eyes Were Watching God and she reflects

This relationship is where we see Janie as not autonomous due to her not making the decision to leave the relationship. Janie is commonly mistreated by Starks and is physically and emotionally abused during this time. Janie tries to talk to townspeople on the porch of the couple’s store but is met with a jealous Joe who wants Janie all to himself. Joe acts like he owns Janie and controls her by telling her what, and what not to do. When Joe is elected mayor, the town wants Janie to give a small speech. Joe interrupts her by saying,”Ah never married her for nothin’ lak dat. She’s uh woman and her place is in de home,”(43). Although Joe tries to laugh this off, we see how manipulative he is over Janie even about small things like this. This abuse continues until Joe eventually dies and Janie is free to move on and find someone

During this relationship, we see Janie as fully autonomous. After Joe’s funeral, Tea cake comes into the store and starts talking to Janie and even buys her a soda. He seems to genuinely care about Janie as a romantic partner and not just someone who does the chores. The two start hanging out a lot and he comes to the store to help Janie with chores. After a while the two get married and move in together. The two live together for a while with a few minor hiccups in their relationship but nothing major. Eventually a hurricane hits the everglades, Janie and Tea Cake are forced to flee from their house into the raging flood waters outside.The couple climbs onto a cow to escape the water when Tea Cake is bit by a rabid dog who was also fleeing from the water. After they make it to safety, Janie finds a doctor for Tea Cake since he is now showing symptoms of rabies. Tea Cake gradually gets worse and worse, but Janie is there for him the whole time. She brings him food and comforts him, even when he has violent outbursts. One night Tea Cake pulls out a gun and Janie is forced to use her own gun and shoot Tea Cake. Janie knows that she has to shoot him for her own protection or she is going to die. “Of course she was too fussy, but it did no harm to play safe. She ought not to let poor sick Tea Cake do something that would run him crazy when he found out what he had done,”(Pg 182). Janie is thinking about