Overview of "Their Eyes Were Watching God"
Overview of "Their Eyes Were Watching God"
Janie’s vision at the beginning of the book is like a pear tree in bloom, however she changed into a pragmatic person who is not so juvenile and immature through the interactions with the people that she meets. Nanny has been a big influence on her because she was her mother for a long time. Joe was a bad influence on her because he taught her things that were not good to learn, like how a wife is supposed to be according to Joe. Logan Killicks was a man that Nanny picked out and Janie did not care for him at all. These were all bad experiences, but the one good experience that Janie had was her experience with Tea Cake. All of these things helped Janie to grow and mature into someone that can think and do things on their own.
If Nanny were still alive she would not have approved of Tea Cake. Nanny is a person who wanted protection for Janie and she didn’t care if there wasn’t any love in the marriage because she thought that love was not important. She would say that if you have love without protection and financial structure then you do not have anything because you are not going to get anywhere. Nanny wasn’t trying to be mean but she cared for Janie so much that she didn’t want to have as hard of a time that she did when she was that age. Also Nanny was protecting her from being raped because Nanny was when she was that age. Also Nanny was protecting her from being raped because Nanny was raped and so was Janie’s mother. She would say “better leave things de way de is”(23). Nanny would want someone reliable so that Janie could live a good like and not have any worries for the rest of her life.