People in Janie's Life
Janie's best friend from Eatonville that is talking to her in the beginning and end of the book.
Who is Phoeby?
Joe Stark's role in Eatonville.
What is a mayor?
Janie and Tea Cake play this game in the store when Janie first meets Tea Cake.
What is checkers?
Janie searched for this because of her experience with the pear tree. Janie's grandmother didn't value this in a marriage.
What is love?
Janie sat underneath this when she was young. This became her symbol for what love and marriage should feel like.
What is the pear tree?
This person was Janie's first husband.
Who is Logan Killicks?
This is the place Joe Starks first meets Janie.
What is Logan Killicks' farm?
This was the cause of Tea Cake's death because it bit him as he was saving Janie from it.
What is the rabid dog?
This theme is presented through the distinctions between whites and blacks and how Janie's mixed identity plays out in the story.
What is race?
This is a symbol of Janie's youth. Even in old age, Janie recognizes that this aspect of her body makes her look and feel young.
What is Janie's hair?
This person was hated by Janie because she would flirt with Tea Cake in the cane fields.
Who is Nunkie?
Joe scorns Janie for cutting this item too large for a customer in his shop.
What is tobacco?
This activity helps Tea Cake make a lot of money. It also causes him to be stabbed.
What is gambling?
This theme is shown by Joe Starks' total control over Janie and his desire to dictate what the town does from the moment he gets there.
What is power?
What is the horizon?
This important figure was absent in Janie's life because of her traumatic experiences in high school.
Who is Janie's mother?
The type of doctor that Joe Starks consults to treat his illness instead of seeing a real doctor.
What is a root doctor?
This type of worker moves with the seasons to plant crops in order to make maximum profit. Tea Cake is one of these.
What is a migrant worker?
This theme is shown through Janie's hatred of Nunkie and her need to be with Tea Cake when he's near Nunkie.
What is jealousy?
This is the source of Janie's and Tea Cake's troubles in the muck. This causes the destruction of Janie's life there and causes the events that lead to Tea Cake's death.
What is the hurricane?
This person helped maintain her store in Eatonville after Joe died.
Who is Hezekiah?
This illness is the cause of Joe Starks death?
What is liver failure?
This is the part of Tea Cake's death that goes unanswered by the end of the book.
What happened to Janie after being bitten by Tea Cake?
Gradually, Janie finds this through the relationships she has with Nanny, Logan Killicks, Joe Starks, and Tea Cake Woods. Janie does not realize it until the end of the novel and after Tea Cake's death.
What is independence?
This symbol represents the success and organization brought to Eatonville because of Joe Starks. Joe holds a grand celebration for this symbol.
What is the lamp post?