In Zora Neale Hurston's novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, the protagonist Janie struggles to find herself and her identity. Throughout the novel many different people tell her who she should be and how she should behave, but none of these ideas fit Janie perfectly. The main people who tell Janie who she should be are her grandmother and her 3 husbands. The people in Janie's life influence her search for identity by teaching her about marriage, hard work, class, society, love, and happiness. Janie's outlook on life comes from the belief system that her grandmother, the nanny, instills in her throughout life. These beliefs include how women should act in a society and in a marriage. The nanny and her daughter, Janie's mother, have both been raped and left with bastard children, this experience is the catalyst for Nanny's desire to see Janie married to a wealthy gentleman. He wishes to see Janie married to a wealthy gentleman because he wants to see Janie be well taken care of throughout her life. As a result of Nanny's desire to see Janie married to wealth, she forces Janie to marry Logan Killocks, an older black farmer who owns 60 acres and a mule. Janie doesn't love Logan but because the nanny pushes her to get married she believes that love will follow marriage, but the nanny quickly says: “You come with a head full of nonsense on a busy day. Heah, you've got a prop to lean on all your bawn days, and a big protector, and they all tipped you and call you Mis' Killicks, and you come worry me about love." (3.17-20) The nanny believes that a woman should be satisfied with her amount of property and Janie has a hard time agreeing Janie feels she has done something wrong by not being in love with L... middle of paper... ty that doesn't encourage this type of behavior in women. Throughout the novel she is told what to do, how to do it and at one point she struggles with her growing unhappiness until she finally meets her true love. Bibliography Shmoop editorial team “Their eyes were watching God ." Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., November 11, 2008. Web, April 22, 2014. Hurston, Zora Neale. Print. SparkNotes Publishers "SparkNotes in Their Eyes Were Watching God." SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2007 Web. April 9, 2014. "Janie's Learning Experiences Watched God by Zora Neale Hurston: "Their Eyes Watched God Hurston.". 2014. .