Their Eyes Were Watching God: Janie's Journey

In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie has a mission in life. She wants to "go to the horizon and back". As a reader, we do not exactly know what Janie means by this statement at first, but after reading the book, we can make a pretty good guess.

The entire novel is about Janie's relationships. It is also about how she is treated in those relationships and what she gets out of them. Each husband Janie goes through takes her closer and closer to the horizon.

As a young girl, Janie is forced to marry a man named Logan Killicks. She does what her Nanny wants her to do because she wants to please her. At this point of the story Janie does not ever voice her opinion. She does what others want her to do. She has barely started on her journey to the horizon.

Soon, Nanny dies, so Janie leaves Logan Killicks for Jody Starks. Janie feels that Jody can help her reach the "horizon". He is a very bright young man with a lot goals for himself. Jody Starks and Janie get married, and they move to a little town called Eatonville.

Jody and Janie's life in Eatonville is very good at first. The townspeople look up to them. Jody becomes mayor, and he builds a postoffice and a store. Janie works in the store. Soon, Jody starts to belittle Janie by making her tie her hair up and by not letting her take part in certain conversations. He barely ever lets her talk or do fun things. These actions from Jody take the horizon away from Janie.

After a few years, Janie and Jody become pretty old. Jody notices that he looks a lot different, so to make himself feel better he criticises Janie's looks. One day Janie becomes very upset with Jody, and she uses her words to yell at him and finally tell him how she feels. Janie is now getting closer to the horizon.

When Jody becomes sick, Janie gets even closer to the horizon by telling him all the things that she has been bottling up for years. Jody soon dies, and Janie feels relieved.

After Jody's dealth, Janie finds Tea Cake. Tea Cake takes Janie to the horizon because he pretty much lets her be whoever she wants to be. He does not try to change her. Janie finds her voice while she is with Tea Cake, and she becomes very happy. After Tea Cake dies, Janie returns to Eatonville. She then explains to her friend Pheoby how she has finally been to the horizon, and now she has returned from it.