Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neale Hurston Character Analysis

Janie Crawford’s growth Janie’s relationships/marriages are what made her a more independent and expressive woman in her time. In Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie the main character is living through the early 20th century and is forced to marry a man to live a sustainable life. Later running off with someone for a bigger and better life, when her second husband died she met a younger man who gave her every second of the day. Janie learns to be more expressive and not let anyone suppress her, she learns about herself and what love is supposed to be like. Janie learns that money doesn’t make a marriage from her first marriage with a somewhat wealthy farmer named Logan Killicks. Janie got into the marriage because

Janie met Tea Cake while she was working at the grocery store. He was immediately attracted to her and her presence, she started talking to her while she worked. He fell for her and she did too, they enjoyed each other's presence and they ended up running away from the town they met to go to Lake Okeechobee where they live until the end. Janie was warned by the people in Eastville that she would end out like Ms. Tyler, she had also run away with a younger man, she was a widow left with money, and the younger man took all her money and she had to return to the town with no money. Janie was sure she wouldn’t end out like Ms.Tyler but she has that idea and fear in the back of her head. Everything in their relationship was as close to perfect as possible until Janie realized that the money she had hidden was gone, she confronted Tea Cake and he said he gambled the money attempting to make more and give them a nice vacation. Everything went smoothly after that up until a huge hurricane flooded the town and Tea Cake got bit by a wild dog, nothing serious about the bite. Teacake after the hurricane was having trouble swallowing water which alerted Janie that something wasn’t right. She called a doctor and they told Janie that she shouldn’t sleep in the same bed as him because people with his symptoms tended to bite, Tea Cake had a case of rabies. The doctor said that there was a low chance of survival because he was so far gone and Tea Cake showed levels of aggression that was a danger for Janie. Janie was comforting Tea Cake and he pulled a gun on her, she does the same and Janie ends up shooting and killing Tea