How long was janie away from eatonville

Janie's friend Pheoby defends her to the porch sitters. Pheoby believes that Janie does not have to share any of her personal business with them. Assuming that Janie is hungry, Pheoby volunteers to take Janie a pot of mulatto rice, and soon she finds her way through the darkness to Janie's back steps.

Pheoby's motive is not completely unselfish. She is quietly certain that Janie will talk to her and explain what happened during the past year and a half. Janie welcomes her friend and the gift of food. She informs Pheoby that Tea Cake did not run off with the money that Joe left her. She reveals that the money is safe in the bank, but Tea Cake is dead. After Janie has rested for a while, cleaned and soothed her tired feet, and enjoyed the rice, she tells Pheoby about her months with Tea Cake.

Their Eyes Were Watching God opens with a focus on judgment, a powerful and prevalent theme in the novel. As Janie returns to Eatonville after a lengthy absence, the porch sitters treat her especially harshly when talking about her. They make it their business to criticize her past actions and her present appearance, while ultimately judging her. This theme of judgment will continue throughout the novel, as Janie will be judged by her husbands and others. Thus, the character of Janie Mae Crawford Killicks Starks Woods, the novel's year-old heroine, is introduced as she endures the judgments of the porch sitters.

Readers will come to know Janie as a strong, independent, free-spirited woman who strives to define herself, rather than allow others to determine who she is.

In the novel, Janie encounters many people who attempt to define her by her beauty or by her relationships with others, just as the porch sitters do in the first chapter.

Besides Janie, Pheoby Watson is introduced as Janie's loyal confidante and best friend. In this chapter, Pheoby, who is genuine and kind, contrasts with the porch sitters, who are mean and superficial. Janie would live on the Washburn property until Nanny gathered enough money to buy their own house and land. Chapter 2 After being caught kissing Johnny Taylor local boy , At age 16, Janie is forced by Nanny to marry a wealthy middle-aged farmer by the name of Logan Killicks.

Apr 1, Chapter 4 Three months after Janie's marriage to Logan Killicks, Nanny, Janie's only known family member passes away knowing that she left Janie with a route for succsess like she dreamed. Chapter 4 After living with Logan Killicks for over a year, Janie still doesn't have the feeling she would like during a marriage. When Logan went out for an errand one day, Janie crosses paths with a younger man named Jody Starks.

Where the two immediately "hit it off". After more arguing with Logan, Janie decides to move on and travel with Jody to a new town. Mar 1, Janie, whose beauty and sensuality shine through even in childhood, lives with her grandmother, Nanny, and grows up with a white family, the Washburns. Janie plays with all of the Washburn children. She thinks she is white like them until she sees a photograph of all of the children and realizes she is black. At age 16, Janie witnesses sexual union for the first time, between a bee and a pear blossom.

She seems to live vicariously through it, is enchanted by it, and devotes her whole life to recreating that rapturous emotion. She seduces a boy into kissing her, hoping to taste romance for the first time. Nanny sees her and tells her that she wants Janie to get properly married as soon as possible. She believes love will come with marriage, but it never does. Roughly a year later, while Logan is out of town, Janie is smitten by an urbane, charismatic man who passes near her house.

He gives her what Logan cannot—chivalry, sophistication, and the promise of a prosperous life. They court for about two weeks. Janie has an argument with Logan that ends with him threatening to kill her. Janie runs away with Joe Starks, the city man, and they get married.

Their destination is Eatonville, a city unique because it is in the process of being built and run completely by black folks. The newlywed couple hopes to make their fortune there. They quickly become favorites in the budding town—Joe for his business savvy and ability to manipulate crowds with his words and Janie for her great beauty.

The store they build becomes the center of town, where everyone gathers to gossip. Joe is elected mayor. The third is his obsession with binding up her hair in public so that it cannot be seen. Years into the marriage around , Joe hits Janie for the first time for not preparing his dinner properly. At this point, Janie realizes she no longer loves Joe and that she is saving herself for another man.