A former slave, Nanny is Janie's grandmother, a woman predominantly characterized by traditional perceptions about gender and marriage. Specifically, Nanny focuses on the importance of upward mobility and financial security for women, especially black women, and sees that goal as attainable only through marriage and the primary factor in selecting a husband (as opposed to, say, love). Although Nanny only wishes the best for her granddaughter, Janie feels tremendous frustration at various points throughout the novel for the limitations that Nanny's traditional worldviews have imposed upon her life and her particular desire to seek independence and freedom.
Nanny Crawford Quotes in Their Eyes Were Watching God
The Their Eyes Were Watching God quotes below are all either spoken by Nanny Crawford or refer to Nanny Crawford. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 2
Quotes
"Honey, de white man is de ruler of everything as fur as Ah been able tuh find out. Maybe it's some place way off in de ocean where de black man is in power, but we don't know nothin' but what we see…De nigger woman is de mule uh de world so fur as Ah can see."
Related Characters:
Nanny Crawford (speaker), Janie Crawford
Related Symbols:
Mule
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9
Quotes
Here Nanny had taken the biggest thing God ever made, the horizon – for no matter how far a person can go the horizon is still way beyond you – and pinched it in to such a little bit of a thing that she could tie it about her granddaughter's neck tight enough to choke her.
Related Characters:
Nanny Crawford
Related Symbols:
The Horizon
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
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Nanny Crawford Character Timeline in Their Eyes Were Watching God
The timeline below shows where the character Nanny Crawford appears in Their Eyes Were Watching God. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2
Janie is raised by her grandmother Nanny, and never met her mother or father. Janie and Nanny live in the backyard guesthouse...
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...and absent parents. To provide Janie with a greater sense of stability in her life, Nanny eventually buys a small plot of land, which Janie specifically describes as having a gate...
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...The day of the kiss, Janie spends the day under a blossoming pear tree in Nanny's yard. Janie is moved by the fertility of the tree, finding its shift from winter...
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Nanny notices Janie and Johnny kiss from inside the house, and quickly arranges for Janie to...
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When Janie protests against marrying Logan, Nanny defends her decision by describing her own difficult past. Nanny was born into slavery and...
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Nanny explains that she initially dreamed of providing a better life for Leafy, but those dreams...
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Chapter 3
...ever grow to love her future husband, resolving eventually to comfort herself: to believe what Nanny and other adults assure her – that she will in fact eventually love Logan and...
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..."waits for love to begin" for her new husband until she returns home to visit Nanny. When she does return, Janie complains to Nanny about the absence of feeling in her...
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Janie is then met with severe criticism: Nanny calls attention to Logan's wealth, again making reference to his sixty-acres of property, and reprimands...
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After Janie leaves, Nanny prays that God will take care of her granddaughter. Within a month, Nanny dies. Through...
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Chapter 9
...Janie thinks more critically about her familial origins – and in particular, her relationship with Nanny.
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Janie expresses anger toward Nanny and the values and worldviews she taught Janie as a child. Specifically, Janie says that...
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Despite Nanny's belief that "Uh woman by herself is uh pitiful thing," Janie feels remarkably happy in...
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Chapter 12
...her previous marriage to Jody marked a time when she lived her life according to Nanny's worldview, and that now she is ready to live her own way. When Pheoby asks...
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