Their Eyes Were Watching God Book Report

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston follows the life of the beautiful, fair-skinned Janie Mae Crawford. The book’s main action comes from Janie’s quest to find all-encompassing true love. The book starts as Janie returns home to Eatonville after several years away. Her best friend, Phoeby Watson brings Janie food as an excuse to catch up. The events after this are in chronological order of Janie’s life as she recounts it to Phoeby.
Janie is raised by her grandmother, Nanny, after her actual mother runs off. Although Nanny is controlling, she has only Janie’s best interests in mind. When Janie is caught kissing the low-life Johnny Taylor, Nanny arranges for her to marry the wealthy farmer Logan Killicks for protection and stability. Janie is not happy in her marriage, but naively expects to learn to love Logan. Janie implores her grandmother for help, saying, “‘But Nanny, Ah wants to want him sometimes. Ah don’t want him to do all de
Tea Cake treats her as an equal and allows her to engage in the vibrant social life in the Everglades. Parties often take place on their porch, and “she could listen and laugh and even talk some herself if she wanted to” (Hurston 134). Unfortunately, their idyllic life is brought to a halt when a hurricane hits the area. In their escape, Tea Cake is bitten by a rabid dog and falls sick weeks later. In his madness, he is convinced of Janie’s supposed infidelity and tries to kill her. Janie is forced to shoot him to save herself, and is acquitted of any charges later that same day on account of the situation. At this point, Janie’s story catches back up to present time between her and Phoeby. That night she sits in her bedroom with a feeling of peace and harmony, knowing that she has found her voice and independence, along with her true love of Tea Cake which she will always hold