Zora Neale Hurston’s masterpiece novel There Eyes Were Watching God, is a story of Janie, an idealistic young black woman of the 1920’s as she matures through life’s trials. When the story begins, a weary Janie has just returned home and explains to a friend where life has taken her during the last twenty or so years. Janie was raised by her protective grandmother, or Nanny, who wanted Janie to lead a different life than the mother that abandoned her. Janie, who had a white father and a black mother, was set apart from the other black children, and when she realized that she was black, she didn’t feel as if she truly fit into either race.
As a teenage girl, she dreams of being romantically loved by a man that will serve and protect her. She obey her grandmother and marries the man she has chosen for Janie, an older, local farmer named Logan Killicks, who can keep Janie safe from other men. Logan is interested in someone to help his work on his farm. She soon finds herself unhappy in this marriage and after her grandmother dies, she runs off and marries a man that has been flirting with her. Her second husband, Joe Starks is closer to her age and has big hopes and dreams for the future. He is a shop owner and aspires to be a leader in his community. He becomes the mayor and is interested in Janie to complete the picture of his wealth and social status. Janie is once again in a miserable marriage and she endures his disrespect and sulky moods. Joe becomes ill and dies. Janie is free to once again as she did as a young girl and hardly mourns Joe’s death.
Janie believes her dreams are fulfilled when she meets and marries a young gambler and drinker who goes by the name of Tea Cake. She sells Joe’s store and moves to the Everglades with Tea Cake were they work in the fields as migrant workers. Their marriage is rocky at times, but Janie now feels as though she is experiencing the love she has always dreamed of having. She and Tea Cakes are immersed in typical black society and Janie feels alive and happy.
The climax of the story begins when the area of Florida they are living in is devastated by a hurricane. Janie and Tea Cake survive and feel they value one another all the more. While they were escaping from the flood waters caused by the storm, Tea Cake is bitten by a rabid dog and begins to display the disease himself. In a delusional fit, he tries shoot Janie who is committed to stay by his side until the end. She shoots him back in self defense, and Tea Cake dies. Janie is tried in court, but is quickly released by the jury who rule that the death was accidental. Janie buries Tea Cake like a king before returning home to Eatonville; this is where the story begins. Janie finishes her story to Pheoby, then goes upstairs to her bedroom to reflect on Tea Cake and her life. She is no longer a dreamy young girl, but a satisfied woman who has experienced life.
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