In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, one very influential character for Janie was her grandmother, Nanny. She has suffered a lot to be where she was at that point of her life. She survived slavery, had to raise a daughter on her own, then had to raise her granddaughter. She simply wanted Janie to have a better life than hers. Nanny knew that Janie wanted to live life her own way without being told what to do. That is why she said to Janie, “Put me down easy, Janie, Ah’m a cracked plate.” As a very old and wise woman, she had gone through a lot. I myself have gone through many hardships that give me a different perception of life. Death has always been something that frightened me as a very little girl. Being in the