Janie

In the story, "Their Eyes Were Watching God," we see the life of a woman by the name of Janie through her own eyes. It is set in flashback, starting from her life as a child, and progressing from then on. Janie is a quarter white, due to her mom getting raped grandmother getting raped by her slave master. Janie is an attractive woman and looks ageless to many. Janie got married at a very young age, to a man she doesn't love, and isn't attracted to, due to her grandmother wanting her to have stability and to make something of herself. Janie's relationship with Logan wasn't healthy, and when a man by the name of Joe came into her life, she fell for his charm and the way he treated her. Janie leaves Logan for Joe, and Joe ends up being no better than Logan. Joe became mayor of the town he and Janie moved to, and his new power brought Janie 20 years of insults and mistreatment. Once Joe died, and 25 year old man by the name of Tea Cake came into Janie's life, and Janie quickly wants to marry him. Janie has never seen what a healthy relationship is supposed to look like, because all the ones she's ever known have been terrible for lack of a better word. Janie is extremely gullible in this area of her life, because she never had anyone to tell her how it works, but more so just had her grandmother push her into what she thought was eventually going to turn into "love." Janie is definitely a character to feel empathetic for, because even at 37 she has no real guidance in her life, due to the fact it's always been someone telling her what to do. She is capable of so much, but doesn't see it because either people have degraded her and told her she would never amount to anything, or because her lack of self belief and drive Janie has a lot of growth to do and accomplish, and hopefully, she will find that confidence that will drive her to make better and healthier decisions for the overall course of her life.