| Who is the main character?TEWWG | The main character is Janie Mae Crawford. |
| What is her situation at the beginning of the novel?TEWWG | She is returning home after having been gone for some time. |
| What was Janie’s most noticeable physical characteristic? TEWWG | She had beautiful, long dark hair. |
| Who was Janie’s best friend? TEWWG | It was Phoeby Watson. |
| After Chapter 1, how is the story told? TEWWG | It is told as a flashback. |
| Why did Janie marry Logan Killicks?TEWWG | Her grandmother made her marry him. Nanny was concerned that Janie be taken care of before she (Nanny) died. |
| What was Janie’s idea of love before she was married?TEWWG | Her grandmother made her marry him. Nanny was concerned that Janie be taken care of before she (Nanny) died. |
| What happened to Nanny shortly after Janie was married? TEWWG | She died. |
| How did Janies’s and Logan’s relationship change?TEWWG | At first he talked in rhymes and did things for her. Then he told her she had to do more work. |
| What did Janie discover about love?TEWWG | She discovered that marriage did not make love. |
| Describe Joe Starks.TEWWG | He was citified, stylishly dressed, and had money and ambitions. |
| What did Janie do shortly after she met Joe Starks? TEWWG | She left Logan and ran off with Joe Starks. |
| Who was Joe looking for when he and Janie got to town?TEWWG | He was looking for the mayor. |
| What were the two names of the town?TEWWG | It was called West Maitland and Eatonville. |
| What actions did Joe take when he got to town?TEWWG | He paid cash for 200 acres of land. He opened a store and a post office. He bought the town’s first street lamp. He organized the men and built a road. He had a drainage ditch built. |
| How did Joe want Janie to look and act?TEWWG | He wanted her to be “the bell-cow;” to look and act better than the other women. |
| What was the result of Joe’s suggestion that the town incorporate and elect a mayor? TEWWG | He was elected mayor. |
| What was Janie’s reaction when Joe said she couldn’t make a speech? TEWWG | She felt cold; his remarks took the bloom off things. |
| Which of Joe’s innovations was the first in a colored town? TEWWG | It was the street lamp. |
| How did Joe’s position affect Janie’s relationship with other town residents? TEWWG | She couldn’t get close to most of them. They felt jealous and awestruck. |
| What was the “rock” against which Janie was battered?TEWWG | She was frustrated in the store when she had to deal with the math involved in the customers’ purchases. Joe said she could do it id she wanted to, and he wanted her to use her privileges. |
| What did Joe do about the mule?TEWWG | He bought it so it could stay in the pasture and rest. |
| What happened to Joe and Janie’s relationship during the seventh year of their marriage?TEWWG | Joe started criticizing Janie. At first she fought back, but she gradually submitted. She learned to keep her thoughts to herself. |
| What was Janie’s comment to the men during their conversation about Mrs. Tony?TEWWG | She said God told her how surprised he was that they turned out so smart after he made them different than women, and that they would be surprised if they ever found out they didn’t know half as much about women as they thought. |
| What was the real reason behind the argument between Joe and Janie that started when sheincorrectly cut the plug of tobacco?TEWWG | Joe realized he wasn’t as young as he used to be. He started picking on Janie because of his fear about his own aging. |
| How did Janie feel after the big argument in the store? TEWWG | She was very upset and cried often. |
| What did Janie tell Joe just before he died?TEWWG | She told him he really didn’t know her, that she had a lot of sympathy but he would never let her use it. |
| What was the only change that people saw in Janie after Joe’s funeral? TEWWG | She stopped wearing the headrags. |
| What did Phoeby and the other townspeople think Janie should do? TEWWG | They thought she should remarry. |
| What did Janie think of the idea of remarrying? TEWWG | She didn’t want to. She loved her new freedom. |
| What did Janie say about mourning and grief?TEWWG | She said mourning shouldn’t last any longer than grief. |
| How did Janie meet Tea Cake?TEWWG | He came into the store and started talking to her. |
| Describe Tea Cake.TEWWG | He was tall and lean. He had full, lazy eyes. He joked and laughed a lot. |
| What were the main concerns that Janie had about getting into a relationship with Tea Cake?TEWWG | He was about twelve years younger than she was. He didn’t look like he had much money. She wasn’t sure his intentions were serious or honorable. |
| Why did Tea Cake visit Janie early one morning?TEWWG | He wanted to tell her his daytime thoughts. Janie still had doubts about the seriousness of his intentions, so he was attempting to prove to her that he was serious about her. |
| What did Tea Cake do that proved his serious intentions toward Janie?TEWWG | He brought her strawberries in the morning so she could listen to his daytime thoughts. He invited her to the big Sunday School picnic. |
| How did the townspeople feel about Janie going out with Tea Cake?TEWWG | They thought he was trying to take advantage of her. |
| What was Janie’s response when Phoeby talked to her about Tea Cake?TEWWG | She said she had always wanted to go and do the things that she was doing with Tea Cake, but that Joe wouldn’t let her. |
| Why did Janie want to sell the store?TEWWG | She planned to marry Tea Cake. She didn’t want people comparing him to Joe. |
| Summarize Janie and Tea Cake’s wedding.TEWWG | Janie took the train to Jacksonville, wearing her new blue satin dress. Tea Cake met her at the train and took her to the preacher’s house, where they got married. |
| What did Janie discover one morning about a week after she was married?TEWWG | She woke up and discovered that Tea Cake had taken her $200 and left their room before she woke up. |
| What did Janie tell Tea Cake when he returned home after having spent her money?TEWWG | She told him she intended to partake of everything with him, and if he ever went off and had fun without her again, she would kill him. |
| How did Tea Cake get the money back? TEWWG | He gambled and won $322.00. |
| Where did Janie and Tea Cake go, and why?TEWWG | They went to the Everglades, “de muck,” to pick beans. |
| Describe the muck.TEWWG | It was a section of the Everglades near Clewiston and Belle Glade where sugar cane, string beans, and tomatoes were raised. |
| How did Janie feel about her life with Tea Cake? TEWWG | She enjoyed the work and the social life. |
| Why did Janie start going out to pick beans?TEWWG | Teacake asked her to, because he missed her during the day. |
| Describe the incident with Nunkie.Nunkie was making a play for Tea Cake. TEWWG | Janie found them struggling in one of the cane rows, and confronted them. When they got back to their house they wrestled, then finally made up. The next morning, Tea Cake reassured Janie that she was the only woman in whom he was interested. |
| Describe Mrs. Turner and her attitude about Negroes.TEWWG | Mrs. Turner was light-skinned, with Caucasian features. She prided herself on not looking like the other Negroes. She did not like black Negroes, and thought herself better than them. |
| What did Mrs. Turner propose to Janie, and why?TEWWG | Mrs. Turner thought Janie was too fine-featured to be married to a man as black as Tea Cake. She wanted to introduce Janie to her brother. |
| What did Tea Cake do after Mrs. Turner introduced her brother to Janie and Tea Cake, and why?TEWWG | He whipped Janie to show that he was still in possession of her. He wanted to show the Turners that he was still the boss. |
| How did the men react to Tea Cake’s treatment of Janie?TEWWG | They congratulated him because all of Janie’s bruises were visible, which meant she did not fight back. They said their wives would have fought and screamed. |
| Describe the incident in Mrs. Turner’s restaurant.TEWWG | The men were all eating at the restaurant when Serrent and Coodemay came in drunk. The place was full, so Coodemay tried to shove Sop-de-Bottom out of his chair. Tea Cake tried to take Coodemay and Serrent out of the restaurant, which started a general melee. The inside of the restaurant was in a shambles by the time the fight was over. |
| What was Mrs. Turner’s reaction to the incident?TEWWG | She told her husband she wanted to move back to Miami. |
| What caused the Seminoles, and then the animals, to move eastward?TEWWG | A hurricane was coming. |
| Why did some of the people, including Tea Cake and Janie, remain in their houses on the muck? TEWWG | They thought they were safe because of the dike. They also thought the boss-man would be able to stop the hurricane by morning. |
| What was Janie’s response when Tea Cake asked Janie if she wished she had stayed in her big house, away from dangers such as the hurricane?TEWWG | She said when she was with her husband in a storm, she didn’t think she would die until her time came, and that she was happy being with Tea Cake. |
| Describe what was happening when the author used the sentence: “They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God.”TEWWG | The people who had not left for higher ground were staring out at the fury of the hurricane. |
| What did Janie and Tea Cake do to try and escape from the lake?TEWWG | They started walking and swimming toward the high road that went to Palm Beach. |
| Describe the incident with the cow and the dog.TEWWG | Janie had grabbed onto a piece of roofing to use to cover Tea Cake. The wind came up and blew her and the roofing into the water. A cow was swimming by, and Tea Cake told her to grab its tail. There was a dog on the cow’s back. The dog advanced towards Janie. Tea Cake jumped in the water and fought the dog. The dog bit him before he was able to kill it. |
| What did Janie and Tea Cake do after the hurricane was over?TEWWG | After a few days, they went back to the muck and were reunited with many of their old friends. |
| What happened in the middle of their fourth week back on the muck? TEWWG | Tea Cake came home complaining of a headache. |
| What were Tea Cake’s symptoms?TEWWG | He had a headache and a fever, his throat was closed up, and he couldn’t swallow anything, not even water. |
| What did the doctor tell Janie when he came to see Tea Cake?TEWWG | He said Tea Cake had rabies, and that he had almost no chance to recover. |
| What did Janie do after the doctor left?TEWWG | She went outside and looked up at the sky. She wondered if God was noticing what was going on, and if he had intentionally caused this problem for her and Tea Cake. |
| What did Janie find under Tea Cake’s pillow? TEWWG | She found his pistol, with three full chambers. |
| What did Janie do after she found this?TEWWG | When Tea Cake went outside, she whirled the cylinder so the three empty chambers would snap first. Then she readied the rifle and put it in a corner of the kitchen. |
| Describe what happened when Tea Cake came back into the house.TEWWG | He was in a delirious rage and aimed the pistol at Janie. After he shot once, Janie readied the rifle. He discharged the other two empty cylinders, then got ready to shoot again. Janie and Tea Cake shot at the same time, and Janie shot and killed Tea Cake. |
| Describe Janie and Tea Cake’s last moments together.TEWWG | Janie held Tea Cake in her arms and wept and silently thanked him for the time they had together. Tea Cake bit her on the arm just before he died. |
| What happened at the trial?TEWWG | The doctor testified that Janie had acted in self-defense. Janie testified and tried to tell the jury how bad the situation was. She was acquitted. |
| How did the other men from the muck feel at the trial?TEWWG | At first they felt that Janie should have been convicted of murder, but they relented after a while. |
| What did Janie bring back to Eatonville?TEWWG | She brought the pack of seeds that Tea Cake had wanted to plant. |
Their eyes were watching God
June 15, 2020