In my opinion, Janie from "Their Eyes Were Watching God" is a compelling character. She is an older woman who has been through so much in her lifetime. I believe that Janie has this idea of love in her head and she's just having a very difficult time obtaining it. This is a bitter feeling, and although I can't relate yet, I feel sorry for Janie.
Janie learned at a young age that her Grandmother AND her mother had been raped. Knowing something as severe as that could be so damaging to a person, I personally would be completely scarred to find out something like that happened to any of my family. As a result of her Grandma warning her of the tragedies, she expects Janie to marry Logan Killicks for a sense of security and protection when she can no longer be there for Janie. Therefore, Janie goes through with the marriage and finds herself very unhappy. Seeing this sorrow from Janie, makes me upset with her Grandmother because she doesn't seem to care at all that her granddaughter doesn't love the man that she has married.
It isn't long before Janie runs off with Jody. As soon as Janie meets Jody, he sweet talks her and wrangles her in. She falls for him fast, but it doesn't take much for him to stop even trying to impress her because it says in the story that, "On the train the next day, Joe didn't make many speeches with rhymes to her," This just goes to show that Joe stopped caring much for her after he got her in his grip. Then, as we read on we just see a digression of their relationship in general. It's painful to see just how much Janie has to put up when it comes to Joe. He hits her, treats her like a child, and verbally abuses her in front of others. In my opinion, no woman should ever be put down and abused the way that Janie was.
Seeing that although Janie was put through so much thus far when it comes to relationships yet she is still back for more is actually kind of relieving. It shows that Janie is very resilient. Even though up to now she hasn't been able to find this idea of Love, she still wants it and goes after it. By Janie going for Tea Cake, she shows that nothing will break her spirits for too long. This pleases me because it is depressing to see people ever give up on their dreams or love. A lot of times you see people just plain abandon their dreams of love, but Janie has not quit thus far!
