Novel Synopsis | By Amber

          Janie Mae Crawford sat and told her close friend Pheoby her life story of a beautiful colored girl with white blood in her--which gave her a beautiful head of smooth black hair and many attractive features that were often envied and lusted upon by others--who's life was completely changed when she was 16 years old. She was still in school but her dying grandmother, “Nanny” thought it was best to take her out to have her married off to Logan Kilicks right away, so that before Nanny died she would have the assurance that Janie would be prosperous and well taken care of. Nanny thought it would be fit for Janie to marry Logan Kilicks because he was better off than most colored folks. Janie however had a different dream from Nanny’s -- she wanted something more, she longed for adventure and love. By Nanny having Janie marry Mr. Kilicks, Nanny took these opportunities from Janie which Janie later despised her for.
          Finding no love or happiness in her marriage with Logan made Janie’s decision to leave him for Joe Starks--whom Janie called Jody--easy. Jody was a man with big dreams; he wanted to be big in the world, to have a big role in the makings of an all black town which was a rare thing, since slavery had only shortly come to an end. Eatonville gladly welcomed Jody Starks and his pocketful of money, along with his beautiful new wife Janie. This is where Jody’s dreams came true. He became the mayor, making Janie a Mayor’s wife, Jody took her role more serious than Janie, by not allowing her to be a “commoner” and instructing her not to waste her time listening to the townspeople or to partake of their conversations. Jody never explained his reasons, which were protective and sweet, but also controlling and damaging. His failure to communicate his reasons with Janie ruined their relationship. Jody became sick and died. This left Janie feeling a sense of freedom, and put a spark in her life, that maybe her dreams could still become fulfilled. Jody had left her with a lot of money, which many men tried to get their hands on by marrying her away. But she did not fall for them, and had no interest in remarrying or pursuing a relationship at this point.
          But then along came Tea Cake. He was a smooth talking fine black man who was over ten years younger than Janie, but that did not stop him. He charmed her and did adventurous fun things like taking her fishing in the middle of the night. After some hesitation from Janie, Tea Cake proved his love was sincere. He worked hard and got enough money to take Janie away from Eatonville to have some fun. At one point Janie doubted Tea Cake when her money was found missing when Tea Cake had gone to “buy fish”. He returned promising to earn her money back, which he did and Janie did not doubt him again. They moved to “the muck” where they were a popular couple and worked side by side meeting all sorts of interesting people. Unlike other’s that Janie had known, Tea Cake treated her like a person, he taught her checkers, he bought her a gun she even became a better shot than he himself, making him a little bit jealous but yet at the same time very proud of his wife. Their true love and friendship was serene.
          Then came tragedy--Tea Cake’s life came to a sorrowful end. He had risked his own life to save Janie, and later became sick and died. This left Janie alone and heartbroken, but not without the knowledge that she had lived her dreams and found her search of true love.