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Quiz: Their Eyes Were Watching God, Chapters 1-5

1. At the beginning of the novel, why is Janie criticized by the people on the porches?

The people on the porches criticize Janie’s appearance. They envy the firmness of her body

and her beauty. They criticize her for wearing overalls when they know her husband left her

money. They also criticize her for letting her hair hang down like a young girl when she is

actually 40 years old.

The people on the porches are also dying of curiosity to find out what happened with Janie

and Tea Cake, and they resent Janie for not being more forthcoming with information.

2. Who is Phoeby Watson?

Phoeby is Janie’s best friend. She speaks up in Janie’s defense to the people on the porches.

She defends Janie’s relationship with the younger Tea Cake, and says there’s nothing wrong

with Janie not telling everyone her business.

Although Janie doesn’t plan to tell them anything, she offers to tell Phoeby her story and

gives Phoeby permission to repeat it if she wants to.

3. How is the blossoming pear tree described in the novel? What is its symbolic value?

Janie is 16 when she sits under the pear tree and is deeply affected by the images of

fertility—the blooming tree, a bee pollinating a bloom—that are intermingled with her own

sexual feelings.

As she watches the bee, Janie feels that she is watching a “revelation” that she is not part of.

“She had glossy leaves and bursting buds and she wanted to struggle with life, but it seems to

elude her. Where were the singing bees for her?”

4. Why does Nanny insist that Janie get married after she sees Janie kissing Johnny

Taylor?

Nanny is afraid that a lower class man like Johnny Taylor will use Janie and then discard her.

She informs Janie that an older man named Logan Killicks asked about Janie a while ago, but

Nanny planned for Janie to “pick from a higher bush and a sweeter berry.” However, after

seeing Janie with Johnny Taylor, Nanny wants Janie to marry Killicks soon, so that Janie will

be protected when Nanny dies.

5. Explain the circumstances of Janie’s conception.

After the emancipation, Nanny and her daughter Leafy, Janie’s mother, moved to Florida,

where Nanny put Leafy in school, hoping that she would become a teacher. One night when

Leafy didn’t come home, Nanny discovered that the school teacher had hidden her in the

woods, raped her, and then run off. Leafy was 17 at the time and became pregnant with

Janie as a result of the rape. Nanny doesn’t know where Leafy is now, but her feelings tell

her that Leafy is still alive.

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Their Eyes Were Watching God, Chapters 1-5

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6. Why did Janie decide to leave Logan Killicks?

Although Logan treated her well after their marriage, he becomes less kind and more

demanding over time. Thinking that she has become spoiled by his indulgence, he decides to

buy a second mule so that Janie can help with the plowing.

Around this time, Joe Starks comes to town and impresses Janie with his stylish appearance

and his plans to join a town being formed for “colored folks.”

Although Janie is attracted to Joe, she resists his flirtations until one morning when Killicks

insults her family and threatens to kill her with an ax after she refuses to help him move a

manure pile. Knowing that she can’t change her background and her feelings, Janie calmly

walks out of Killicks’s front gate and goes off to start a new life with Joe Starks.

7. Identify three things Joe does to “build up” the town after he arrives in Eatonville.

He buys an additional 200 acres to add to the original 50 acres donated by Captain

Eaton to create the town. In six weeks, ten new families bought lots from him and

moved into town.

He builds a general store, which acts as a central meeting place for the town.

He buys a street lamp for the town and organizes a big event to celebrate lighting it

for the first time.

8. What indications are given in the novel that Janie will not be as happy with Joe Starks

as she first thinks?

As Joe becomes more powerful in Eatonville after being named mayor, he is less considerate

of Janie’s feelings. He insists that she do the work of running the store, while he works on

“important” plans for the new town.

When Janie complains that their importance in the town is stressful for her, Joe says she

should appreciate his status because that also makes her a “big woman” in town. However,

Janie’s role as the mayor’s wife only increases her loneliness—because of her husband’s

status as an authority figure, she cannot develop normal relationships with other people in

town.

As Joe becomes richer and more powerful, he and Janie are resented more by the

townspeople, especially when Joe builds an ostentatious new two-story house. Joe continues

his “big-bellyin’” around and seems insensitive to Janie’s increasing isolation and

unhappiness.