Janie

Janie is an African American women who grows up in a period almost directly after the time of slavery. Her mother a lost drunk and her father on the run, she is raised by her grandmother whom is called Nanny in the backyard of the Washburns, a White family. Nanny raises Janie well as she and thinks of her as a second chance of motherhood. Janie is bullied in her early childhood because of her parents and the location of her home. Nanny hears of the teasing and moves herself and Janie to their own proper home. It is while in the front yard of this home, below a pear tree during spring that Janie is overcome with the sudden urge to be embraced by someone. Coincidentally  johnny taylor a ‘shiftless’ young man who attends her school comes down the lane and bestows upon Janie, a kiss. Nanny witnesses and wishes to see Janie married straight away, convinced that the kiss has officially made janie a women. Janie is soon married to Logan Killiks, a respectable African American man in the town. A few months later, Nanny dies. Almost a year passess and Janie is unhappy with her marriage. The honeymoon phase lasted for six months but she has not warmed up to Killiks, as she was promised by her nanny. She’s a hopeful teen and wants love in her marriage, and though Killiks has feelings for Janie, she cannot return them. Then Joe walks into the picture, Joe who manages to sweet talk her into leaving her hometown and following him to a barely started community promising to treat her right. The honeymoon phase ends after one day of their marriage. Now Joe is all business. He is elected mayor of the town and gives Janie a set of rules to follow. And she does unhappily, for twenty years, constantly hiding her discomfort, crushing her instinct to fight back and earn some freedom. Janie notices Joe’s body start to deteriorate at an alarming rate. And eventually she is told by a doctor that Janie hired, that Joe is going to die. And he does. Then Janie is free. She is left with a high position in town, more money than she needs, and the ownership of the main store which she continues to work at following Joes death. She can finally let her hair down, literally. Next, along comes a man informally known as Tea Cake. He’s a younger man who falls for Janie easily, and weeks later Janie begins to feel the same. Despite the warnings of Janie’s friend Phoebe, who warns that younger men are dangerous and that Tea Cake will only use her for her money.