Their Eyes Were Watching God: Character Analysis

What is the measure of a life? This question has plagued philosophers for thousands of years. Everyone has their own answer, which helps each and every person work towards something. One prevalent answer that many people give is that a measure of a life is a measure of love and respect that person earn from those around them. This want to make impact on other people's lives is usually due to a predominant fear that many people have. A fear greater than death itself: Being forgotten. But for Janie, the main character of Their Eyes Were Watching God, She learns to overcome this fear. Instead, she is driven by her quest for happiness to interact with those around. Throughout her extensive life, Janie came into contact with a variety of character. Those she liked, she affected positively. Those she didn’t, she affected negatively. Janie affected people's lives differently …show more content…
He was everything that Jody had lacked. Despite this, Janie entered this relationship cautiously. This was due to the failure of her last two marriages. She was also once again afraid of what her community might say about this relationship, seeing as how she around 10 years older than her suitor. Eventually, Janie's quest for happiness got the better of her, and she married Tea Cake. In this marriage, Tea Cake treated Janie more like an equal, although he still did do awful things such as beating her. The difference here was that Janie’s love for Tea Cake was greater than the physical pain she had to endure. Another difference in this relationship was that Tea Cake loved Janie back. In her past relationships with Logan and Jody, they really only played the part of husband without to much genuine feeling. Tea Cake loved Janie so much that he was willing to sacrifice himself for her when he got but by a rabid dog. This can be looked at as being similar to how Janie sacrificed her own happiness for her grandmother by marrying