Their Eyes Were Watching God Reading Questions
Chapters 1-2
Name two reasons why Janie is judged by the townspeople as she passes by them on her
way home.
2.
Why does Pheoby Watson sympathize with Janie?
3.
What does Pheoby mean when she says, “An envious heart makes a treacherous ear”?
4.
What do the townspeople want to know about Janie, according to Pheoby?
5.
What does Janie say is the only reason she is back home from the Everglades?
6.
Why doesn’t Janie have to explain herself to the townspeople, in her opinion?
7.
Why doesn’t Janie see herself as black until she sees a photograph of herself as a child?
8.
Give two examples of ways in which the Washburns are good to Nanny and Janie.
9.
What is Nanny’s reaction to seeing Janie kissing Johnny Taylor over the gate?
10.
Nanny arranges for Logan Killicks to marry Janie because she is afraid of what?
11.
When Nanny refers to herself as a “cracked plate,” what does she mean?
1.
Chapter 3
What is the assumption that Janie makes about marriage to quell (suppress) her own fears of
marrying Logan Killicks?
2.
How does Mrs. Washburn support Janie’s wedding?
3.
What does Nanny initially believe about why Janie has come to talk to her?
4.
Why has Janie actually come to talk to Nanny?
5.
How do Janie’s values differ from Nanny’s, where marriage is concerned?
6.
Name at least two reasons why Janie does not like Logan.
7.
What does “mien” mean as it is used at the beginning of the second to last paragraph of the
chapter?
8.
What clues indicate that Nanny knows Janie’s marriage to Logan is not right?
9.
How does Janie measure time? What does her way of doing it tell you about her?
10.
Why is it significant that Janie stands around the gate as she waits for something new to
happen to her?
11.
What is Janie’s dream that has died, allowing her to become a woman?
1.
Chapter 4
What are two things that Logan stops doing that indicate a turning point in the relationship?
What is the significance of these two changes for Janie?
2.
What does Logan Killicks want Janie to do while he is away buying the mule?
3.
What does Janie do to attract the attention of the stylish man, Joe Starks, who is walking
down the road towards her house?
4.
What motivates Joe to travel to Florida and begin his life anew there?
5.
Where do pretty women belong, according to Joe?
6.
Why does Joe think that Janie should leave Logan?
7.
Why wouldn’t Janie have any luck with other men, according to Logan?
8.
In what specific way(s) does Logan insult Janie?
9.
What language tells you that Janie has experienced a rebirth at the end of the chapter?
10.
How do the clothes mentioned (apron and new clothes of silk and wool) at the end of the
chapter reinforce the idea the notion of Janie’s transformation?
1.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Chapter 5
How does Janie’s relationship with Joe appear to be positive for her?
Why is it significant that Joe does not speak in rhymes with Janie?
What are Janie and Joe’s first reactions to the town of Eatonville?
What does Joe do to assert his power and leadership in the community?
What is Janie’s role in her new marriage and new home, according to Joe?
Why does Joe think the town of Eatonville has to have a store? A post office?
Why does Joe think the town needs a streetlamp?
What does he do to bring attention to the show off the streetlamp?
When Janie expresses her discomforts with being “Mrs. Mayor,” how does Joe react?
How do Joe’s decisions about the way he builds his house make the townspeople feel like
they had been taken advantage of?
11.
How do the townspeople react when Joe punishes Henry Pitts by forcing him to leave town
after stealing Joe’s sugar cane?
Chapter 6
Why do Lige Moss, Sam Watson, and Walter love to tease Matt Bonner?
What happens when Janie participates in the stories about the mule that are told on the
store’s porch?
3.
What is Janie’s reaction to being forced by Joe to work in the store and tie her hair up?
4.
How does Janie’s reaction to the abuse of Matt Bonner’s yellow mule ultimately turn out to her
disadvantage?
5.
How does Joe demonstrate his desire to dominate other creatures at the funeral of the yellow
mule?
6.
What is the exact topic of Sam and Lige’s “contest of hyperbole” on the store porch?
7.
How does Joe chastise Janie for failing to find the receipt for the pickled pig’s feet?
8.
Why don’t Joe and the men on the porch have any sympathy for Mrs. Tony Robbins when she
comes to the store begging for meat for her children?
9.
What types of attitudes towards women do Joe and the men on the porch reveal after Mrs.
Robbins departs?
10.
What is Janie’s reaction to hearing how the men talk about Mrs. Robbins?
1.
2.
Chapter 7
1.
How old is Janie in this chapter?
2. What is the first paragraph of the chapter saying about how Janie handles her “emotional
disturbances”?
3. Janie compares herself with the earth in the 6th paragraph of the chapter to make what point?
4. What are two signs of Joe’s aging?
5. What is a “pullet”?
6. Why does Joe criticize Janie when they are working in the store?
7. What is the mistake Janie makes that leads her to speak out against Joe’s insults of her?
8. How does Janie publically insult her husband?
9. How would the insult affect the way the townspeople viewed Joe?
10. How does Joe retaliate against Janie for insulting him?
Chapter 8
1. What does Joe do to try to manipulate Janie into thinking he hates her?
2. Who does Joe rely on to help him as a healer?
3. Who does Joe have cook for him? Why not Janie?
4. How long has Janie been with Joe by the time the events of this chapter occur?
5. How does Joe continue to demean Janie as his health deteriorates?
6. What is the medical reason for Joe’s decline?
7. How does Zora Neale Hurston personify Death? (What human characteristics does she give to the
abstract idea of death?)
8. What is Janie’s purpose in forcing a conversation between her and Joe before he dies?
9. What does Janie mean by her use of the expression (in italics), “You
done lived wid me for twenty years and you don’t half know me atall. And you could have but you was
so busy worshippin’ de works of yo’ own hands…”
10. Why does Janie look in the mirror after Joe’s death and what does she do as a result of what she
sees there?
Chapter 9
1. What is Janie’s experience of Joe’s funeral, as it is captured in this sentence, “Janie sent her face to
Joe’s funeral, and herself went rollicking with the springtime across the world”?
2. Which of Janie’s actions show her readiness to purge the confinement of her years with Joe from
her life?
3. When Janie lies in the lonesome house at night and considers her options now that Joe is gone,
what two things does she consider doing?
4. What does “Some people could look at a mud-puddle and see an ocean with ships” mean?
5. What happens once the word is out that Janie is a widow with property?
6. What are Ike Green’s opinions about Janie’s prospects that cause her to refer to him as an “ole peede-bed”?
7. How long has Joe been dead by the time the events of this chapter occur?
8. Which mannerisms or traits of Joe does Hezekiah exhibit?
9. What does Hezekiah do to help him handle the stresses of running the store?
10. What do Janie and Pheoby do together every once in awhile?
11. What will people say if they know Janie is enjoying her freedom, according to Pheoby?
Chapter 10
1. Where do Hezekiah and the townspeople go, leaving Janie alone in the
store?
2. Where is the gentleman who enters the store at five-thirty from?
3. Why is the gentleman not at the baseball game?
4. What does his suggestion that Janie learn to play checkers make her feel?
5. What is Janie’s concern for the gentleman?
6. What are his two reasons for not sharing her concerns?
7. What is Tea Cake’s real name?
8. Name at least one way in which Tea Cake differs from Joe in his treatment of Janie in this chapter.
9. What does Tea Cake help Janie with at the end of the chapter?
10. Is Janie afraid of Tea Cake? Why or why not?
Chapter 11
1. In Janie’s opinion, why won’t a relationship between her and Tea Cake work?
2. Why does she prepare to snub Tea Cake the next time she sees him?
3. How does Tea Cake resist Janie’s attempts to snub him when he comes to the store?
4. What do Janie and Tea Cake snack on when they come to her house after a game of checkers?
5. What is Tea Cake’s reason for suggesting fishing at night?
6. Why does Janie smuggle Tea Cake out the back gate after fishing all night?
7. Why isn’t Tea Cake good enough for Janie, according to Hezekiah?
8. What does Tea Cake tell Janie about her beauty that no one has ever told her before?
9. What does Tea Cake say that plays into Janie’s fear that he is just a womanizer?
10. When Janie brings up the age difference between her and Tea Cake, how does he dispel her fear
about it?
11. What does Tea Cake do to reassure Janie of his love for her?
Chapter 12
1. Where does Janie and Tea Cake’s relationship become public to the town?
2. What does Sam Watson suspect of Tea Cake and why does he want his wife Pheoby to talk to
Janie about her involvement with Tea Cake?
3. How does where Janie chooses to go with Tea Cake threaten Pheoby’s idea about class and how
where a person goes indicates their class status?
4. Why should Janie stop wearing bright colors, according to Pheoby?
5. Why does Pheoby think Janie should marry the man up in Sanford who has expressed interest in
her?
6. Why is taking a chance on marriage to Tea Cake worth it to Janie, as she explains it?
7. What does she mean when she says, “Ah done lived Grandma’s way, now Ah means tuh live
mine”?
8. Who is Annie Tyler and why does Pheoby bring her into the conversation with Janie?
9. What does Janie mean when she says of Tea Cake, “He done taught me de maiden language all
over”?
10. What does Tea Cake do to show his adoration of Janie and their marriage?
Chapter 13
1. Janie leaves Eatonville early one morning on the train for Jacksonville. Of those who watched her
leave, the narrator says that “It was hard to love a woman that always made you feel so wishful.” What
does this statement mean?
2. What is Janie’s reaction to her reunion with Tea Cake and their marriage?
3. Why doesn’t she tell him about the money she has pinned inside her shirt?
4. What is Janie reaction when she realizes Tea Cake has left with her money?
5. What story is she haunted by as she waits for Tea Cake to return?
6. What is the moral of that story, according to Pheoby and everyone who knew about it?
7. What is Janie’s heart telling her as she waits for Tea Cake?
8. What has Tea Cake done with Janie’s money?
9. Why didn’t he invite Janie to the party he threw?
10. What happens to Tea Cake when he tries to win Janie’s money back gambling?
11. What does the whole episode of stealing Janie’s money and then winning it back lead Tea Cake to
promise her?
Chapter 14
1. What is striking about the new horizon Janie reaches in the Everglades? What are traits of the
natural world that are new for her?
2. Why does Tea Cake believe it’s beneficial for them to arrive there in early September?
3. Why does Tea Cake teach Janie how to shoot a gun?
4. “Tea Cake’s house was a magnet” meant that what happened there? Why?
5. Why does Tea Cake take breaks from picking beans and come back to see Janie in the middle of
the work day?
6. Why is it surprising to the other workers when Janie comes to work in the bean field?
7. What does Tea Cake fear Janie will think if he asks her to work alongside him in the field?
8. When Janie recalls her old days in the big white house and the store in Eatonville, what does she
feel? What’s the main difference in the two places, for her?
9. What are the names of the characters who Janie comes to know at the night gatherings?
10. What does Ed say he is going to do with the money he wins gambling with the others?
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Reading Questions, Chapters 15-20
Chapter 15
1. What’s the name of the girl who stars flirting with Tea Cake?
2. What does “A little seed of fear was growing into a tree” mean?
3. Why does Janie impulsively rush into the sugar cane looking for Tea Cake?
4. Why does she go back to the quarters after she fails to catch Nunkie?
5. Why does Janie fight with Tea Cake after he comes to find her?
6. What resolution do Janie and Tea Cake reach?
7. How long does it take to reach resolution?
Chapter 16
1. What time of year is it when the events of this chapter take place?
2. What type of music do Janie and Tea Cake begin to enjoy?
3. What are the physical characteristics of Mrs. Turner that “To her way of thinking… set her aside
from Negros”?
4. What is Janie’s defense of Tea Cake to Mrs. Turner’s criticisms?
5. What are Mrs. Turner’s complaints about black people?
6. What is Mrs. Turner’s solution for Janie?
7. What does Mrs. Turner mean when she describes Booker T. Washington to Janie as “a white folks’
nigger”?
8. What is Tea Cake’s reaction to seeing Mrs. Turner’s husband on the street?
9. Why does Mrs. Turner put up with Janie’s cold treatment of her when she comes around to visit?
10. What are the characteristics of Mrs. Turner’s God?
Chapter 17
1. Why does Tea Cake whip Janie?
2. Why is the whipping envied by the other field workers?
3. Why does Sop-de-Bottom believe Mrs. Turner wants Janie to hook up with her brother?
4. What do people do with their cash on Saturday afternoon when they get paid?
5. What do the men tell Mrs. Turner about her beef stew when they go to her restaurant?
6. What does Coodemay propose the waitress do with his order of stew? Why?
7. Why does Tea Cake say he is stepping into the fight?
8. What is the result of the fight at the restaurant?
9. Why is Mrs. Turner angry at her husband?
10. What’s Mrs. Turner’s reason for heading back to Miami?
Chapter 18
1. Why do the Bahaman workers stop holding their drumming parties in hiding from the Americans?
2. What is motivating the bean pickers to stay on the Muck, even though they hear about a hurricane
coming?
3. How does Tea Cake respond when Lias offers him a ride?
4. As the storm gathers, what does Tea Cake want to know from Janie?
5. Who do Janie and Tea Cake leave their house with to venture into the storm?
6. Where do they find refuge when the waters of the big lake break and rise around them?
7. What are the dangers of swimming in the hurricane waters?
8. What is Janie’s chance to save herself from drowning after she flies off the piece of tin roofing and
into the water?
9. What is Janie’s reaction to Tea Cake’s dog bite?
10. What had Janie seen in the mad dog’s eyes?
Chapter 19
1. What is “Him-with-the-square-toes” a personification of? Why does the house he lives in have no
sides?
2. What happens to Tea Cake when he goes into town looking for news about how his friends survived
the storm?
3. Why does he think the Red Cross will not bother him?
4. What is the difference between how dead blacks and dead whites are buried?
5. What do Tea Cake and Janie disagree about when he returns from town?
6. What do Janie and Tea Cake learn was the fate of Sop-de-Bottom in the storm? Of Sterrett?
7. What are the signs that Tea Cake has rabies?
8. What does Tea Cake believe that sends him into a jealous rage?
9. What does Janie do to Tea Cake’s pistol? Why?
10. What do the blacks in the Everglades believe about Tea Cake’s murder?
11. What do the whites on the jury believe about it?
12. Why does Janie wear her overalls to Tea Cake’s funeral?
Chapter 20
1. Who do Janie’s friends on the Muck blame for Tea Cake’s death in this chapter?
2. What do they do to the person they blame it on?
3. What is the only thing Janie saves after giving away everything in the house where she and Tea
Cake lived?
4. What does Janie say to Pheoby that expresses her satisfaction with being home in Eatonville again?
5. What does Janie tell Pheoby to tell the townsfolk when they worry about her?
6. What does Janie say are the two things that everyone has to do for themselves?
7. What does Janie do after Pheoby goes home?
8. What kinds of things does she remember after she combs her hair?
9. Why isn’t Tea Cake really dead to her?