Their Eyes Were Watching God
Uploaded by melo05 on Mar 08, 2005
Janie's entire life is one of a journey. She lives through a grandmother, three husbands, and innumerable friends. Throughout is all, she grows closer and closer to her ideals about love and how to live one's life
Janie's life begins under the watchful eye of her grandmother. Her grandmother has given up her own happiness to raise Janie and her mother. Right away, it is obvious that Janie's life is going to be different than her grandmother's. For starters, Janie has very different ideas about love than any other character. She may not be able to clearly define her thoughts. The first glimpse into the past involves Janie underneath a pear tree, watching the flowers bloom.
Janie's grandmother is old and weak. She never had a person in her life that cared for her and truly wanted to look out for her well-being. As a result, she is frightened by Janie's refusal to follow the mold, her refusal to marry Logan for convenience instead of love. Janie learns a very important lesson from her grandmother. Not a lesson to emulate, but not even confidence is enough in ones own ability to be strong with adversity She does not want to be like her grandmother. She is young and beautiful and knows what she is longing for in her life.
She does not get what she wants with Logan Killicks, her first husband. Janie married Logan because her grandmother wanted her to. Her grandmother could not understand why she did not love him, as he had sixty acres of land. Janie did not love him. She cannot get her perfect vision of love out of her mind. Logan makes her do menial chores around the house, and treats her like a beast of burden.
She thinks that her prayers are answered when she first sees Joe Starks. In fact, she first sees him through a veil of her hair, and it is her long, luxurious hair that he is first attracted to. She decides to marry Joe instead. She thinks that he represents the romantic ideal that she has been searching for.
Soon, however, Janie sees that while Joe loves her beauty, he does not even see anything else that she has to offer. When people ask her to make a speech, he cuts her off. He views her as an ornament, nothing else, and he makes her bind her hair...