Plot Overview Chapters 1-9

Chapter 1
A young women (Janie) walks back into the little town of Eatonville. The members of the town gathered on the Phoeby's porch to look at the familiar face that was walking back into the town. Earlier she left the town fresh and happy with a younger man. She came back to the town of Eatonville, dirty and with the look of exhaustion. Though she is extremely muddy and dirty, the citizens of the town still look with envy of her beauty. The citizens make horrible comments about her, but is chastised by Phoeby. Phoeby leaves the group of citizens on her porch to go visit Janie. She brings Janie a plate of food and asks why Janie was not still with the young man (Tea Cake) that she left with. Janie responded by saying that she was no longer happy where she was. Phoeby did not understand why Janie gave her this response. In turn this obligates Janie to tell the story to Phoeby.

Chapter 2
Janie is raised by her grandmother (Nanny). She never has the pleasure of meeting her mother and father. She is often teased growing up because she was living in the backyard of a white family. Nanny decides that it is better for Janie that they have their own place. Janie often goes and sits under a tree to feel calm and collected. After a while of sitting under the tree, she gets caught up in the spirit of budding sexuality. She decides to kiss a young man named Johnnie Taylor. Nanny sees Janie kissing Johnnie, and gets angry. She decides to marry Janie off to a wealthy middle aged man named Logan. Nanny only did this to try to ensure that Janie had a better life then most.

Chapter 3
Janie soon realizes that she will never love Logan. She does not feel any love towards her and decides to go visit Nanny for some advice. Nanny is disturbed that Janie does not seem to appreciate the wealth that Logan has. She sends Janie on her way and tells her that she still must be patient because the love will come. As soon as Janie leaves, Nanny says a prayer asking God to take care of Janie. A year later Nanny dies. Janie realizes that the love still did not come and never will.

Chapter 4
After a while Logan starts to feel as though Janie is spoiled. He tries to make her help him do farm work. Logan and Janie began to argue quite frequently. Janie soon meets a well dressed man named Joe Starks. He feels her head with his dreams and ambitious. Pretty soon it becomes to much for her and she decides to leave Logan for Joe. The first chance they got the two new lovers became married. The two went off on a journey to an all black town named Eatonville.

Chapter 5
Janie and Joe finally arrive in Eatonville. Joe looks at the town and becomes a little disappointed. He sees that the town is only about fifty acres. He contacts Captain Eaton and decides to buy an additional two hundred acres of land for the town. Joe becomes an inspiration for the town and becomes the mayor. He buys a lamp that is lit in the middle of the town. This lamp is not just a lamp. For the citizens of the town of Eatonville, the lamp is a sign of pride and inspiration. It gives the town a reason to believe. It gives the town a desire for growth and expansion.

Chapter 6
Janie hates to run the store but finds herself loving the small talk of the people sitting outside of the story. She loves to listen to all the gossip that they have to talk about. Joe soon becomes angry at this behavior displayed by Janie. He lets Janie know that she is to good for the people sitting on the porch telling such stories. Janie accuses Joe of not being fun at all. She soon realizes that their sex life started to go down and her relationship with Joe was as well.

Chapter 7
Both Janie and Joe seem to become subject to physical deterioration. Unfortunately for Janie, Joe's changes seem to be very visible. This seems to lower Janie's physical attraction to Joe. Through all of this Janie seems to submit to Joe's higher living style. As time goes on the more Joe goes through the physical deterioration, the more he decides to insult Janie.

Chapter 8
After Janie and Joe express their differences, Joe moves out to a different room. Soon Joe becomes sick. Phoeby informs Janie that there are rumors going around the town that she poisoned Joe to get back at him. She sends for a doctor from orlando to help Joe. He diagnosed Joe's problem as having kidney failure and says that Joe is dying. Janie goes to visit Joe event though he refused to see her. When she sees Joe she feels sorry for him but decides to tell him how she feels.

Chapter 9
After Joe's funeral, Janie felt mourning. Though she was sad Janie felt liberated at the same time. She felt like she was finally independent. She loved being single. After a while men tried to start making moves on Janie, trying to gain her affection. Janie began to hate Nanny. She began to hate her for the morals and values that Nanny instilled in her. Nanny based her teachings on superficial things. Though Janie felt free, in a way she was still under the control. She ran the store that she hated so much which embedded the thoughts of Joe in her mind.