Janie's Abuse In 'Their Eyes Were Watching God'

Koltin Massie 1

Mrs.Campbell

TEWWG Research paper

18 April 2017

In Their Eyes Were Watching God we get a view on Janie's family issues and marriage failures. Her life is a testament to overcoming and prevailing over the evil that plagues her life with death and failure. Through the abuse to hurricanes Janie achieved her life happiness by being with Tea Cake even after his death she still felt at peace. Knowing that he will not be there physically, but he will always be there spiritually where she can cherish the memories they had together.

In Their Eyes Were Watching God we get to meet a plethora of characters Janie, Tea Cake, Jody, Logan, Nanny and so many others.

All of them play a major role in Janie's life and the paths she will

Nanny was a big influence in trying to help Janie set herself up for a good life that Nanny never had. Yet Nanny really set Janie up for trouble even though that was not her goal at all. When Janie married Nanny's choice, Logan Kellicks for his money, it only leads Janie to a life that she didn't want. Feeling no affection from Logan she feels misplaced and is not happy with her marriage. Janie is in search for a better life and that's what she does all the way through Their Eyes Were Watching God. In Hope of finding a better man she marries Jody Starks. Only to find herself back in the same miserable state to an even worse extent. Jody is controlling over Janie forcing Janie to put head rags on saying “Her hair is not going to show in the store” (76). He continues to belittle Janie just like Torvalds belittled Nora on being unintelligent and not having a sense of how to handle money. () When Jody attacked Janie at the store in front of everyone it really

Even when Jody hit her it still has the feeling of a slave master over the slave. It seems symbolic to the life that Nanny lived before slavery ended. Like most slave owners back in the mid 1800’s they were wealthy and had a lot of political power. Jody has both wealth and political power so it just fits him being a over controlling man he is. Unfortunately, even now being free as an African-American it doesn't mean you're free as a woman from a man’s control. The way Jody treats Janie shows that male is still like the master of the house and the wife is there to follow his demands. We see this controlling demand throughout the time Janie spends with Jody. Janie continues on with her life to eventually meet the love of her life Tea cake. This starting out raised questions on how her 3rd marriage was going to work out after how bad all the other ones have been for Janie. When Tea Cake hits Janie it seems as almost Janie could be going back towards another failed relationship. But as time goes on Tea cake and Janie start to develop a stronger relationship. Tea cake takes on a whole new role in Janie's life and helps to push her to achieving her dreams. Unlike all the other men that Janie had been with Tea Cake was more of a supporter. Most of all Tea Cake actually loved her and Janie loved