A woman of mixed white and black heritage, Janie is the result of a poor, black girl being raped by an unnamed white schoolteacher, and the upbringing of her tough old grandmother whose views were...
Pheoby Watson is Janie’s best friend and confidante. The entire book is actually the narration of Janie’s life story, as told to Pheoby. Janie values Pheoby for her open ear and nonjudg...
Nanny is Janie’s grandmother and the only parent she’s ever known. Nanny loves Janie and raises the girl as best as she can. The only problem is that Nanny’s hopes for Janie’...
Joe Starks (often called Jody) is Janie’s second husband and a born entrepreneur with magnetic charisma. However, he suffers from an overdose of ambition, a lack of communication, a superiori...
Tea Cake Woods is Janie’s true love. He wins Janie’s heart with his carefree, fun-loving nature. She adores his energy and willingness to make her his equal. We see that Tea Cake is fun...
Logan Killicks is Janie’s first husband. Very little of Logan’s internal feelings are given; he may strike readers as a rather one-dimensional character. This dearth of information is a...
A middle-aged woman of mixed (black and white) ethnicity, she imposes herself upon Janie because of their similar heritage. Mrs. Turner worships all things white and gives a new spin to the traditi...
