Character Analysis Of Janie In Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neale

Janie went through three relationships to achieve her dream of being in love. Over the course of those relationships, Janie discovers a sense of her identity. The novel is framed and begins with Janie all alone telling her story to her friend Phoeby. At the beginning of her life she was unsure of who she was and what she wanted but at the end of the novel Janie's is a proud independent woman. Throughout the novel, Janie was submissive but her optimism of eventually having a good relationship and self - assurance did help her meet Tea Cake.
Janie is very submissive and is seen through her three husbands. Consequently that has made her make poor decisions. When she married Joe Starks she did not really know him and maybe if she didn’t make a hasty decision just because he said he would marry her and they would go to Eatonville then she could have spent 20 years in a relationship with someone who was not so possessive. In her relationship with Joe Starks, she was always told what to do and never expressed any of her feelings because
Her dream from the start was to be in love and to be loved. She married Logan Killicks because of her Nanny, but with hope that their arranged marriage would eventually turn to love. She waited a year and she began to realize that their relationship has been just conventional. She then ran off with a stranger, Joe Starks, who she only had known for only four weeks with the same hope that she would have the ideal relationship with him. She spends 20 years in a controlling relationship with Joe Starks and when he dies of a kidney illness, she feels free and does not have to wear a rag that covered up her beautiful hair. She then meets a young man named Tea Cake and marries him. Even though he is poor and younger than her, she takes a risk because she just wants a good