Janie

           Janie oh Janie who is this Janie. Janie is the main character from Zora Neal Hurston's book Their Eyes Were Watching God. Janie in this story is a beautiful, youthful looking, strong willed woman determined to find true love. Sometimes this idea of true love seems far fetched and unreal. The idea of true love was first introduced when Janie's Grandmother wanted her to marry a man named Logan Killicks. This however wasn't the true love she searched for because Logan always had her working and 'stopped speaking in rhymes' to her. Janie is determined to find true love even to the brink of foolishness. She runs of with a stranger known as Jody Starks. This seemed to be the move, until again, another man 'stopped speaking in rhymes' to her. This means that their relationship was stiff in the sense that there was no real love or affection.  Jody really controlled Janie and doesn't give her freedom. It isn't until Jody's deathbed where Janie actually expresses herself. Janie doesn't search for these empty relationships, but rather something deeper, something not promised in an arranged marriage, or some random guy you run with. This is where Janie finds Tea Cake, a man that she genuinely liked because he actually cared about her and talked and played and taught her checkers, something that other man wouldn't do. This is the first example of real true love in the story that Janie finds after mistreatment from former spouses. The struggle of love seems to be Janie's most troubling thing throughout the story.