Their Eyes Were Watching God

character analysis of Janie why is Janie considered a powerful protagonist?

Book is Their Eyes Were Watching God

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Janie is powerful because she endures. She keeps on going, tries to find herself, and does not let anything get her down. She has a sense of what good she has inside herself and uses that to interact with the people around her.

Janie is a woman that comes into her own through trials of fire. Janie is a beautiful black woman with partially white ancestry. As a child, Janie is brought up by her grandmother, Nanny. Janie listens to her grandmother and marries a man of Nanny's choosing: Logan Killicks. Janie leaves Logan when she realizes that she doesn't love him. She runs away with Joe Starks, a man with huge dreams for the future. Unfortunately, instead of allowing Janie to develop her own voice, Joe squelches her individualism. After Joe dies, Janie finally finds Tea Cake Woods, and she discovers real love. When Tea Cake dies suddenly, Janie returns to Eatonville fulfilled and with memories to sustain her for the rest of her life. Janie's primary characteristics are her ability to dream and her ability to act on her instincts to find happiness. Through free indirect discourse, Janie shares the narration of the story with Hurston. Often her voice is so tightly interwoven with Hurston's that it is difficult to discern who is the narrator and who is the author.

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http://www.gradesaver.com/their-eyes-were-watching-god/study-guide/character-list/