self-centered one. At each location Janie experiences a different aspect of life. Each situation and location offers and new sense of growth for Janie to experience and struggles to overcome. Her journey symbolizes a personal, inner spiritual growth and emotional growth that cannot be gained but through these experiences. Her endeavors help her to realize things about love, marriage, independence, being a woman in society, being a black woman in society, life, and death. Her travels bring Janie "full circle at the beginning and end" of the novel, as Janie returns to Eatonville to retell her story to her friend Pheoby. She has grown enough to realize that her tale is one of triumph and pride. Janie's growth is also due to marriage; not just a single marriage, but three. Her first marriage is to a black farmer named Logan Killicks, arranged by her grandmother in order to help Janie be well taken care of in life. This marriage symbolizes Janie's true desire to have "a marriage based on love", which her marriage to Logan clearly is not. It offers her simply a protective affection, much like that of the relationship she shared with her grandmother. While he treats her like the property he owns, the marriage represents Janie's desire for a marriage based on true love and not simply protective affection. Janie realizes that love does exist in life and in marriage, and she will not experience it while she is with Logan. When Joe Starks catches her eye on the road one day, Janie is swept up in the idea of what could be, leaving her first marriage behind, and signaling a transition to another chapter of Janie's life. Janie's marriage to Joe Starks symbolizes something more than a mere desire for love. Janie is attracted to Joe's image of the man he portrays himself to be. Joe much resembles Janie's subconscious desire to marry a man much like that of the "white master of the house that she has grown up knowing" (the slave owner). She runs away with Joe because he seems to be everything Janie wants in life. He offers her an escape from the protective love that she had with Logan, and Janie feels that for the first time she may be able to obtain real love. Joe treats Janie as a mere object: an object of almost-Caucasian beauty, but scarcely anything further than a trophy wife. Janie is be observed, and acknowledged, but not spoken to or for; merely an ornament for his big house. Joe's controlling matters eventually tire Janie, and while she still cares for him, she begins to realize that her initial notions about Joe were incorrect. With Joe, Janie is not experiencing true love, but a possessive love. After Joe passes away due to illness, Janie falls in love unexpectedly with Tea Cake Woods. Initially, Janie does not feel attracted to Tea Cake, however, once she opens her mind, and soon her heart, and runs away with Tea Cake unexpectedly after the two fall in love.
Their personalities are nearly perfect complements for each other, and for the first time Janie feels free. Her relationship with Tea Cake symbolizes Janie finally being able to "obtain all the things she has longed for" in her past. The perfect "bee and blossom" relationship. With Tea Cake, she is not treated like property or an object, but an equal. She enjoys doing things for Tea Cake without feeling burdened by his demands and orders. Janie feels a complete sense of inner bliss, and while not wholly complete, and she desires nothing else but his affection and companionship. She now knows what it "means to be truly happy in life". When Tea Cake falls ill of rabies, and attacks Janie, she realizes that nothing good in life lasts infinitely. She is forced to do away with the only "person who has ever made her completely content". After Tea Cake's death, Janie does not feel alone. She has felt a deep spiritual connection to her earth and the world around her. She feels at "peace with herself and her
life". While Hurston's novel contains a plethora of symbols to tell its tale, Janie's marriages and journey are the most powerful. A tale of life's journey and how one woman traveled the path, Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God is a novel that remains steadfast in our culture. It's relatable nature and picture of the life and times of the 1930s and provides a theme that is still applicable to life today. Through three marriages, and a journey throughout Florida, Janie grows in many ways that most do not, giving many something to aspire to.