In Zora Neale Hurston's, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie Starks lives her life in a constant journey for true love. From the time when she is very young to her life before her last husband, Tea Cake, she is let down again and again.
Janie grows up as a relatively happy child in a white southern plantation where her grandmother, Nanny, who works as a servant. She is very curious and playful from the earlier years and into adolescence. Like any teenage girl Janie thinks about love and wonders what it's all about. She kisses a boy, just to see what it's like. Her grandmother, however, is so frightened by it that she tells Janie she mustsee her married before her death. Regretfully, Janie agrees and marries Logan Killicks, a seemingly nice, secure young man. When Nanny passes away, Janie is left alone with her new husband whom she finds extremely boring and hard on her. He makes her work as much as possible, so Janie has no time to herself. She begins to realize that you have to love someone before marriage, because it doesn't necessarily come after. She realizes she needs to separate with Logan but doesn't know how until she meets Joe Starks.
Joe Starks came to Janie as an ambitious man from Georgia, in search of power in a new community established for blacks-Eatonville, Florida. Without hesitation, Janie follows her heart and runs away with Joe to Eatonville and eventually gets married. It doesn't take long for Joe's dreams to be fulfilled. Soon he runs a popular general store and becomes mayor of Eatonville. From the outside, things appear to be perfect for Janie, but she realizes by forcing her to wear a rag in her hair and by not allowing her to speak, Joe is confining Janie. She soon realizes that after seven years of marriage, she is not as in love with Joe as she was when they first met. She stood up to him the next time he belittled her. Soon, Joe starts suffering from health problems and dies.
