Their Eyes Were Watching God Notes Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Janie Crawford The protagonist of the story a woman who searches for romantic love and equality in a male−dominated world.

Nanny Janie’s grandmother. She brought Janie up after her daughter (Janie’s mother) abandoned her. She forces Janie to marry Logan Killicks so that Janie will be protected. A former slave who was raped by her master, Nanny teaches Janie that the "nigger woman is de mule uh de world." In her hopes that Janie will have a better life, she encourages her to marry Logan Killicks, a man who will offer her "protection."

Johnny Taylor The boy who kisses Janie over the fence. This event signals Janie's sexual awakening and instigates Nanny's concerns that Janie will allow an unworthy man to lure her away.

Logan Killicks Janie’s first husband a farmer whom Janie was forced to marry and does not love.

Pheoby Watson Janie’s best friend. She is married to Sam Watson.

Pheoby Watson Janie's "bosom friend" who is her link to the Eatonville community. Pheoby's role in the book is an important one, as she is the audience for Janie's life story, which is the novel. After hearing the whole story, Pheoby tells her, "Ah done growed ten feet higher from jus' listenin' tuh you." She is married to Sam Watson.

The Washburn family A white family that lived in West Florida. Nanny was their servant and Janie lived with them when she was a young girl.

Joe (Jody) Starks The mayor of Eatonville and Janie’s second husband. He treats Janie as property rather than his partner.

Tea Cake (Vergible) Woods—Janie’s third husband, a caring and fun−loving man who shares with Janie the romantic love she’s been looking for.

Themes Search for Self Language and Meaning Race and Racism

Chapter 2 1. Janie finds it hard to begin since her early childhood has been so hard to remember. 2. Everyone had called her so many different names up to that point. 3. Ever since the pear tree began to bloom, “it had called her to come and gaze on a mystery.” Janie is enamored with the tree and loves to sit under it and listen to the bees among the flowers. 4. The “glorious being” is Johnny Taylor, who was “shiftless” in Janie’s “former blindness.”

Chapter 2 Continued 5. Janie is a woman now, and Nanny feels that Janie will be an easy target for any man who wants to take advantage of her. 6. Nanny wants Janie to marry for “protection.” 7. Nanny’s lover went to fight in the Civil War. Nanny never saw him again. 8. Nanny’s mistress knew about the affair between Nanny and her husband. After the master leaves, the mistress beat Nanny and threatened her with a whipping and the loss of her child. Even though Nanny was weak from her recent childbirth, she was scared to stay on the plantation.

Chapter 2 Continued 9. Janie’s father was a schoolteacher who had Janie’s mother as a student. He raped Janie’s mother when she was Nanny has had a very difficult life which left her vulnerable and frail. Now that she is old and doesn’t have the strength to fight people, she asks Janie to have mercy on her and marry Logan.

Chapter 3 1. Janie wants to know if marriage will “compel love like the sun the day.” She also hopes that marriage will end her loneliness. 2. Nanny and Mrs. Washburn take care of everything.

Chapter 3 Continued 3. She guesses that Janie might already be pregnant. 4. She wants Nanny to tell her how to love Logan.

5. According to Nanny, love is what keeps a woman “pullin’ and uh haulin’ and uh sweatin’ and doin’ from can’t see in de mornin’ till can’t see at night.” She considers such behavior foolish, because to her love isn’t realistic, and it is senseless to worry oneself over it.

Chapter 3 6. According to Janie, he is too fat, “his toe−nails look lak mule foots,” and he doesn’t wash himself enough. 7. After Janie leaves her, Nanny goes to her shack and prays the entire night. 8. These “times” are the seasons that pass as Janie waits for her marriage to improve.

Chapter 3 9. She tells the seeds, “Ah hope you fall on soft ground,” because she had heard seeds say that to each other. 10. Janie looks up the road that passes her gate because “the familiar people and things had failed her.” She looks for something new and exciting to come along and rescue her from this familiarity.