Janie

Janie was raised by her grandmother after both of her parents left. Her grandmother raised her on values that wealth and position is more important than love. Janie and her grandmother live in a coach house while Janie is growing up, she is surrounded by white people and thinks of herself as white until she sees a picture of herself and discovers that she has dark skin. Her grandmother, whom she calls "Nanny", was born into slavery and was raped by the plantation owner. When she had the baby, Leafy, the wife of the master noticed that it had light skin, light hair and gray eyes and knew that the woman had been with her husband. In fear that the wife would have her beaten, Nanny ran away with Leafy and when trying to let Leafy have a better life, Leafy is raped by her teacher. These unfortunate events are why Nanny wants Janie to have a good life and husband so badly, she wants to break the chain but Janie fails to realize her grandmother's intentions. Janie's first husband, Logan, is a wealthy man with respect and treats her very well in the beginning of the marriage but when he starts demanding her to work and sees somebody better, she leaves. She never loved him. She runs off with a man she calls Jody, to Eatonville, Florida where he becomes mayor of the small town and does a lot more to make it more of a town. He was a terrible husband to her, he gave her no type of freedom and demanded her to keep her hair tied up. Later in the marriage, he became abusive and Janie realized that she was mostly his wife for the image it gave him. After they had been married for about twenty years, Jody is dying from kidney failure and while Janie is trying to talk to him, he dies. Happy on the inside, Jody has to fake a sorrowful face but six months later, she is putting herself back out there. Phoeby tells her that the townspeople will talk about her and Janie says she doesn't care. Janie is working in the store while almost everyone in the town is at a baseball game when a man named Vergible Woods walks in, they flirt and play checkers. He's half her age but Janie is starting to like him because she feels as though he actually respects her. This is the first man that she is not rushing into things with and probably will actually love. One day he asks her how she feels about him and she tells him that she just likes him as a very good friend but Vergible, a.k.a. Tea Cake wants more. Logan was Janie's first look at what loving a man is really like but it was so rushed that they never had a real relationship. Janie knows that she is still very beautiful and she is a confident woman.