Sam Watson is undeniably a rank-and-file porch sitter, although he is often impatient with the gossips who gather on the porch. He is Pheoby’s husband, and often he and Pheoby are buffers between Janie and the porch sitters. Sam’s voice is one of moderation; his attitude is one of tolerance. […]
Read more Character Analysis Sam WatsonCharacter Analysis Pheoby Watson
Pheoby Watson is Janie’s best friend and confidante. She sits on the porch of the store or her own home and listens to the gossipy busybodies meddling in Janie’s life. They talk, both the men and the women, and Pheoby has many ways of suggesting that they don’t know what […]
Read more Character Analysis Pheoby WatsonCharacter Analysis Vergible Tea Cake” Woods”
Tea Cake comes strolling into Eatonville hoping to watch a baseball game. Instead, he finds the widow Janie Starks minding her store while just about everyone else in town has left to go to the ballgame. He arrives a happy man, and his happiness attracts Janie. That is all author […]
Read more Character Analysis Vergible Tea Cake” Woods”Character Analysis Joe Starks
If Joe Starks has one outstanding trait, it is confidence. From the moment he meets Janie until his death nearly 20 years later, he never doubts his ability to accomplish his goals. He can persuade people to believe in his dreams, accept his management, and give him loyalty. Although the […]
Read more Character Analysis Joe StarksCharacter Analysis Logan Killicks
Through Janie’s unhappy comments, we learn that Logan Killicks is an old, unattractive man. Nanny, however, sees him as security for Janie. A hard-working farmer with 60 acres of land and a comfortable house, Logan does not have a major part in Janie’s story, and yet he is a significant […]
Read more Character Analysis Logan KillicksCharacter Analysis Nanny
Janie’s grandmother has no name. She is simply “Nanny” to Janie because that is what the white children that she takes care of call her. Born into slavery, Nanny tells Janie her life story when the girl is sixteen. Her experiences make her sadly aware of what can happen to […]
Read more Character Analysis NannyCharacter Analysis Janie Crawford Killicks Starks Woods
An unwritten law in the little community in which Janie Crawford grew up stated that no girl would appear in school better dressed than the other girls, even those wearing second-hand clothes. Likewise, no 16-year-old should live in a neat little house with a yard on land owned by her […]
Read more Character Analysis Janie Crawford Killicks Starks WoodsSummary and Analysis Chapter 20
Summary Because the people were so fond of Tea Cake, Janie stays a few more weeks in the Everglades, but home to her is still Eatonville. Thus, she returns from the Everglades in the overalls she wore to work on the muck. Now, the frame of Janie’s story is complete. […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 20Summary and Analysis Chapter 19
Summary Janie and Tea Cake make it to safety in Palm Beach and survive, but Tea Cake is soon pressed into service by rifle-carrying white men who need him to help clear the wreckage and bury the dead. He and the other workers are instructed about the necessity of separating […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 19Summary and Analysis Chapter 18
Summary Late summer is hurricane season in the Everglades. Without taking the omens of the inevitable storm seriously, Tea Cake and Janie watch small groups of Seminoles leaving, heading toward Palm Beach Road and forsaking the money-making muck in order to survive the ominous, still invisible hurricane. The fury does […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 18