An unwritten law in the little community in which Janie Crawford grew up stated that no girl would appear in school better dressed than the other girls, even those wearing second-hand clothes. Likewise, no 16-year-old should live in a neat little house with a yard on land owned by her grandmother. Moreover, no young girl should have a coffee-and-cream complexion and a long braid of dark hair that hangs below her waist. Surely such a child would think herself better than her schoolmates, and later, better than other women. The exception to that unwritten law is Janie Crawford, who continually finds herself being defined by other people rather than by herself — even from the beginning.
For Nanny, Janie's grandmother, Janie represents a second chance to do something right with a child. Born to Nanny's daughter, 17-year-old Leafy who was raped by the town schoolteacher, little Janie grows up as her grandmother's special child. Her father had disappeared long ago, and her mother abandoned her shortly afterward.
Janie's early childhood years are spent in Nanny's household, playing with the white grandchildren of Mrs. Washburn, Nanny's benevolent white employer. Not until she is 6 years old does she realize that she is a brown-skinned little girl — and not white like her Washburn playmates. She is an outsider at school, taunted by the other girls who envy her clothing, her complexion, and her extraordinary hair. Without giving Janie a chance to be friendly, the girls decide that she considers herself better that they are. Janie makes no friends at school.
