Summary The long years of the empty, loveless marriage go on. Janie develops an outward appearance of compliance, but inwardly she is saving her emotions. Seventeen years pass, and Joe, more than Janie, begins visibly aging. His vanity makes it hard for him to accept his aging and his as-yet-unadmitted […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 7Summary and Analysis Chapter 6
Summary The porch sitters soon take up daily residence on the porch of Joe’s store. There, they delight in accusing dimwitted Matt Bonner of mistreating his yellow mule. Matt and his mule become a favorite topic of conversation and teasing, and the porch sitters vie with one another in tantalizing […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 6Summary and Analysis Chapter 5
Summary Married life with Joe Starks seems to get off to a good start as Janie and her husband ride the train to the new town (“…a town all outa colored folks…”) that he told her about. He indulges her by buying little trinkets, and she is impressed by his […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 5Summary and Analysis Chapter 4
Summary The marriage is still in its first year when Logan reassesses his bride. Work on his profitable farm is hard, and he needs help in the fields. His first wife, he points out to Janie, worked hard — plowed and chopped wood — and he expects the same from […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 4Summary and Analysis Chapter 3
Summary Nanny’s friends attend Janie’s wedding, which is held in Nanny’s parlor on a Saturday evening. The guests are generously served three cakes and such hearty delicacies as fried rabbit and chicken. As always, Mrs. Washburn helps with the affair. Janie gets a good send-off into marriage, and she and […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 3Summary and Analysis Chapter 2
Summary Janie begins the recollection of her life with an overview of her years with Nanny, her grandmother. She and Nanny lived in a house on the property of Mrs. Washburn, Nanny’s very sympathetic and helpful white employer. Janie played with Mrs. Washburn’s white grandchildren, and it was not until […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 2Summary and Analysis Chapter 1
Summary The porch sitters are spread out on the front porch of Pheoby and Sam Watson’s home, happy to be free of the responsibilities of their long day’s labor. They are astonished to see a bedraggled and weary-looking Janie Starks trudging into town, then turning her face in their direction. […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 1Character List
Janie Sixteen-year-old Janie Crawford dreams of love and wonders whether love will come with marriage. Twenty-four years and three marriages later, Janie has experienced both love and personal growth. Nanny Born into slavery on a plantation near Savannah, she bears Leafy, her white master’s child. Disappointed with this child, Nanny, […]
Read more Character ListAbout Their Eyes Were Watching God
Hurston tells Janie’s story in the form of a frame — that is, the author begins the novel and ends the novel with the same two people in the same setting, with only an hour or two having elapsed. Sitting on the steps of her back porch, Janie tells her […]
Read more About Their Eyes Were Watching GodBook Summary
This novel is the story of Janie Crawford’s search for love, told, as noted earlier, in the form of a frame. In the first few pages, Janie returns to her hometown of Eatonville, Florida, after nearly two years absence. Her neighbors are curious to know where she has been and […]
Read more Book Summary