Janie

Janie had always been the center of attention wherever she went. As a young girl she would never appear in school better dressed than another girl. Girls were always envious of her second-hand clothing and long- braided hair. She knew this, and with that she thought of herself as better than her schoolmates, and later, better than any other girl. Beginning in Chapter 10, Janie portrays herself as the woman on top. She grew tired of Joe, Nanny, and other such people defining who she was.

Logan Killicks and Joe Starks were men who failed to respect her and recognize Janie's special qualities as a wife. All throughout the story thus far, Janie aspires to find a better life for herself. Within the outwardly attractive woman named Janie Starks, she's a simpler woman living her life as best she can. However, all she wants is to love and to be loved.

Zora Neale Hurston became one of the most successful and significant African American writer of the first half of the 20th century. She was born in Notasulga, Alabama but later moved to Eatonville, Florida. In her writings, she never wrote about Alabama. Eatonville had always been her home.

In Eatonville, Zora was always surrounded by black achievement. Her father, John Hurston governed Eatonville. Everywhere she went she was surrounded by black townspeople. She would look to the porch of the village and see the black men and woman having deep conversations of "colorful, engaging stories." For the most part, Zora had a happy childhood, but she kept recalling of her frequent clashes with her preacher father and how he kills her spirit. However, Zora's mother always urged Zora and her seven siblings to "jump at de sun." Zora's mother died when she was only 13 years old. Since then she was forced to live her fathers dream. Her father remarried and she highly disliked her. SHe described him as "bare and bony of comfort and love." When she was 26, she still needed to finish school. She needed to pass as a teenager to qualify for free public schooling. She gave her age as 16 and her birth in 1901. Ever since then, she presented herself as 10 years younger than she was and she had the looks to pull it off.

Zora used Janie as her model to help walk the reader through her life experiences. Janie described her father with Joe and her mother as Nanny in "Their Eyes Were Watching God." Zora was a very beautiful woman even in her old age and was well known throughout Eatonville and her career.