Janie's Relationship in Zora Neale Hurston Their Eyes Were Watching GodIn Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie discovers herself through her relationships with Logan Killicks, Joe Starks and Tea Cake. Each marriage brings her closer to that one thing in life she dreams of having, love. Janie is a woman who has lived most of her life the way others thought she should. Her mother abandoned her when she was young and her grandmother (Nanny) raised her. Nanny has a very strict moral code and specific ideas about freedom and marriage. At the beginning of the novel, Janie creates a visual demonstration that lets us know that there is a big difference between her and the other women in the novel (np). She becomes one with her sexuality after lying down under a pear tree. Hurston said, "Janie saw her life as a great leafy tree with things suffered, things enjoyed, things done and undone. Dawn and doom were in the branches" (p. 8). This eventually leads to her kissing a young man. named after Johnny Taylor. Nanny sees her kissing her and says that Janie is now a woman. (p. 12) She wants her to get married now and suggests Janie marry Logan Killicks because he has shown an interest in Janie by always coming to their house. (p. 13) Janie does not want to marry Logan because she finds him unattractive and he does not resemble her image of a blossoming pear tree. That being said, Nanny leads Janie to believe that no matter who she marries, she will eventually learn to love them (Kubitschek 23). Janie hated Nanny because of the choices she made for her (p. 85). Subsequently, Nanny arranged for Janie to marry Logan Killicks. She thought that marrying him would protect Janie from the burden of being a black woman. Janie only obeyed. Hurston wrote: “Logan Killicks' vision was desecrating the pear tree, but Janie didn't know how to tell Nanny. She just leaned over and pouted at the ground” (Hurston 13). Logan Killicks couldn't give that type of love that Janie is eager to find. Maybe he didn't like her at all. To him, Janie was just another helping hand. He took care of her almost like any other man. He didn't care about her feelings, her hopes and her goals. Janie was worked hard by Logan.