Their Eyes Were Watching God Summary and Plot Diagram
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Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Lesson Plans by Kristy Littlehale
Their Eyes Were Watching God is Hurston’s best-known work, a novel that centers around Janie, a poor black girl raised in Florida by her grandmother, who is always searching for something more. Her struggle with who she wants to be versus who others expect her to be is a central conflict throughout the novel.
Storyboard Description
Their Eyes Were Watching God summaries Plot Diagram activitiy
Storyboard Text
- EXPOSITION
- CONFLICT
- RISING ACTION
- Janie Crawford returns to Eatonville, and her old friends want to know where she’s been. She’s now in her 40s, and she’s been married three times. She tells her story to her friend Pheoby. Janie was first married off to an older rich man named Logan Killicks by her Grandmother, but Janie was not happy with him. She meets and runs off with a man named Joe Starks who takes her to a new African American town called Eatonville where he buys land and becomes the de facto mayor.
- CLIMAX
- Throughout Janie’s first two marriages, she keeps expecting to find happiness; however, she finds herself restless and unsatisfied. She’s not in love with Logan Killicks, and he’s planning on making her work the land. As Joe’s wife, he keeps her on a tight leash. He is jealous of the way the other men in the community look at her, especially her beautiful hair, so he makes sure she ties it up and that she doesn’t interact with the other townspeople.
- FALLING ACTION
- Eventually, Janie gets so angry at Joe’s insistence on keeping her separated from the townspeople in Eatonville that she lashes out at him and he strikes her across the face. Their relationship is fractured, and Joe grows ill and dies. Janie inherits his wealth, and meets a younger man named Vergible Woods, also known as Tea Cake. Janie falls head over heels in love with Tea Cake, they marry, and they move to the Everglades.
- RESOLUTION
- Janie finds happiness with Tea Cake in their marriage, despite an initial rocky start. However, disaster strikes a hurricane that forces the evacuation of the Everglades. Initially, Tea Cake refused to leave, but then seeing Lake Okeechobee flood, he and Janie join others in running for higher ground. Janie ends up in the water and grabs onto a cow with a dog on its back. The dog tries to attack her, and Tea Cake intervenes. He’s bitten in the face by the dog, which is rabid.
- Janie and Tea Cake return to the Everglades to help with the post-hurricane cleanup. Tea Cake falls ill a few weeks later, refusing to eat or drink. The doctor diagnoses him with rabies. Tea Cake finds out that Mrs. Turner’s brother is back in town and becomes jealous and suspicious that Janie is seeing him; his jealousy is amplified by the disease taking over his brain. He pulls a pistol on her, and Janie shoots him with a rifle in defense.
- Janie is put on trial for Tea Cake’s murder. While most of the black community is against her, the white women take her side. Dr. Simmons testifies on Janie’s behalf. Janie is acquitted, and she holds an elaborate funeral for Tea Cake. She is devastated. Janie eventually returns to Eatonville, where she is telling her story to Pheoby. Pheoby promises to curtail nasty talk about Janie in the town. Janie finds her soul finally feeling at peace because of the love that she found with Tea Cake.
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