An Analysis Of Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neale Hurston

     As two different people, Janie and Tea Cake are allowed to live their lives as equals. When living with Joe, Janie is never allowed to do things such as speaking her mind, playing games, or doing anything which is not completely ladylike. Tea Cake encourages her to do things which were previously not open to her, such as playing chess, speaking openly about her feelings, and hunting. He teaches Janie to shoot and hunt wild game.

Tea Cake returns after Janie’s money was stolen; “He took her head in his hands and eased himself into the chair. She still didn’t say anything” (121). Silence is a major instrument in Janie and Tea Cake’s relationship because instead of fighting him she uses silence as a source of empowerment. Janie learns that her silence shows Tea Cake more insight to her apprehension in their relationship, than verbally attacking him will do. In her relationship with Joe, Janie uses her voice to insult Joe to show her displeasure, but with Tea Cake, she knows how and when to use her voice and understands both herself and her emotions. In the Everglades, Janie actively participates in conversation; “Only here, she could listen and laugh and even talk some herself if she wanted to” (134). In Janie and Tea Cake’s relationship, equality is a major aspect, Janie has both a voice and a position in their marriage. Janie feels like an individual both with Tea Cake and the people in the Everglades, in contrast to her relationship with Joe where people view her as subordinate to Joe. Tea Cake slaps Janie out of jealousy and control and as a result, Janie does not raise her voice back at him. (147). Tea Cake physically abuses Janie, but never tries to mentally overpower her, and

Tea Cake, from the start, does not isolate her. He plays checkers with her, showing that he does not just think of her as a dumb incompetent woman like Jody did.

Tea Cake is Janie’s prince in shining armor. He is her fairytale ending, at least for now. Tea Cake is the embodiment of true love. True love is expressed through respect, trust, and honesty. Tea Cake not only does these things, but he also bases his happiness off of Janie’s happiness, believes that Janie’s age is just a number, and eventually envelops Janie into his world. Tea Cake loves Janie so much that whenever she is happy, he is happy. This normally only occurs in cases of true love, because you need to be practically selfless in order to base your happiness solely on someone else's. When Tea Cake comes back to the store a second time to see Janie, he started humming and mimicking playing a guitar. He did not enter the building, but

He wins her heart with his energy, and willingness to make Janie his equal. Tea Cake is the only husband that actually takes a genuine interest in Janie. He takes her hunting, fishing, and plays checkers with her. She especially enjoys playing chess, the fact that he considers her intelligent enough to learn such a game shows that he thinks more of Janie than Logan or Joe ever did. The town disapproves of Janie and Tea Cake because he is poor and younger than her. They have the impression that he is just after her money. Janie and Tea Cake leave the town of Eatonville and travel to a town called Jacksonville where Tea Cake has work. The sense of gender equality is very important to Janie in a relationship. Tea Cake asks Janie to work alongside him in the Everglades fields. Logan and Joe both wanted her to work, but she resented it. The difference is that Logan wanted Janie to do hard labor because he thought of her as an object like a workhorse. Joe wanted Janie to work in the store, which she also disliked because Joe just wanted to publicly display her as his trophy wife. Tea Cake’s attitude about Janie working is completely different. He gives her the choice of working and doesn’t command her. Janie goes to work the next day, “So the very next morning Janie got ready to pick beans along with Tea Cake. There was a suppressed murmur when she picked up a basket and went to work. She was already getting to be a special case on the muck. It was generally assumed that she thought herself too good to work like the rest of the women and that Tea Cake "pomped her up tuh dat." But all day long the romping and playing they carried on behind the boss’s back made her popular right away.”(133) This is the first relationship that Janie doesn’t care to work. She actually likes working alongside Tea Cake. As time passes the town gets word of a hurricane coming. All the people start fleeing to different places, but the boss

This is not because she did anything wrong, but rather because a neighbor’s brother showed interest in her. Tea Cake was not, truly, free of the misogynistic stereotypes of women, and the event showed deep down the possessiveness he felt for her. “Before the week was over he had whipped Janie. Not because her behavior justified his jealousy, but it relieved that awful fear inside him. Being able to whip her reassured him in possession” (147). Again, Janie is in a marriage where her husband thinks of her as a property. Tea Cake’s character brought much hope for a lifestyle in which Janie could be independent and powerful, participate in conversation and checkers, and be respected on an equal level. Ultimately, Tea Cake was still possessive, and in many ways was not in fact free of the suppressing beliefs of society as a whole. His character is evident of how deep rooted the beliefs were. Tea Cake passed away, but Janie carried on, returned to Eatonville, once again showcasing her

One day while she is in the shop, a man walks in and starts talking and joking with Janie. She finds out his name is Tea Cake and starts to flirt with him. After he sits around and talks to her after a while, he starts to teach Janie how to play checkers. While they are playing Tea Cake makes a move and they are saying” Ah got uh right tuh take it. You left it right in mah way.” “Yeah, but Ah wuz lookin; off when you went and stuck yo’ men right up next tuh mine. No fair”(96). This little act of playfulness shows that Tea Cake wants Janie to be involved in other things besides running a store. Janie then goes to Jacksonville to be with Tea Cake and marry him. They meet there and get married, but Janie doesn’t tell Tea Cake that she hid two hundred dollars in her dress in case he didn’t have the money to pay for things that night. Then, the next morning Janie wakes up to see that Tea Cake and the two hundred dollars are gone. She is worried but not about the money but that she had trusted a man that just wanted her for a quick hit and then leave. But Tea Cake came back and explains what happened. When he gets back he says “Ah see whut it is. You doubted me ‘bout de money. Thought Ah had done took it and gone. Ah don’t blame yuh but it wasn’t lak you think. De girl baby ain’t born and her mama is dead, dat can git me tuh spend our money on her”(121). Tea Cake proves that he really does love Janie and won’t leave her. He also show later how he will do what he says he’s going to do, like when he says he’s going to win Janie’s money back and he does. This shows that Tea Cake truly loves Janie and wants to be with her no matter where they

In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their eyes were watching God the main character Janie is on a quest for self-fulfillment. Of Janie’s three marriages, Logan and Joe provide her with a sense of security and status. However, only her union with Teacake flourishes into true love.

Some can seem good, but actually be very horrible people and some can seem bad, but actually just have a few flaws in their lives. Tea Cake falls under the latter. When Tea Cake was bitten by the rabid dog, he starts to become very ill. He starts going crazy and Janie begins to get scared of him. One night, Tea Cake awakes and threatens Janie with a pistol. Janie had kept a shotgun loaded just in case. Tea Cake starts to shoot, but Janie has turned the revolver to the blank shots. Janie tries to talk him down, but she has to defend herself and shoot Tea Cake. She is charged with murder, and then later proved innocent. Overall, Tea Cake is the best man for Janie because he was a selfless person with her, he loves her with all his heart, and he works hard to provide for her. He treats her the best a man could and also provides an amazing life for her. Tea Cake is just an ordinary man that tries his best to be the best man, and overall, the best husband in the

Tea Cake is Janie’s third husband, and like her previous marriages, he demonstrates a supporting role. The difference between Tea Cake and her other husbands is that Logan and Joe never supported her personal desires, and did not bring her the love and protection she had always sought. While Janie thought Tea Cake took off with her money and just spent it, he told her not to worry about it. As he said deliberately, “Ah told yo’ before dat you got de keys tuh de kingdom. You can depend on dat” (121). The message that Tea Cake is giving, is that he supports Janie and that she is an equal in their marriage, this is the difference between Tea Cake and Janie’s previous husbands. Alongside Tea Cake being a nourishing and kind husband to Janie, he is also a protector, and further on in their marriage, Janie fell into powerful, flowing stream of water during a hurricane in the Everglades. She grabbed hold of a cow for support and there, standing ferociously, was a rabid dog on the cow’s back. The dog was about to attack Janie until Tea Cake, ”split the water like an otter, opening his knife as he dived” (166). This statement provides the proper textual evidence to prove Tea Cake’s sense of protection over Janie. Furthermore, his main goal in their marriage is to not only provide, but to protect. This thoroughly describes Tea Cakes personality and the qualities he has in marriage, and the difference

Tea Cake, the third man, gives Janie the affection she wants in a relationship. The couple is depicted deeply in love through kissing and dancing scenes in the film. However, Tea Cake is not the perfect man. He steals her money and leaves for a whole day. The actress portraying Janie shows the betrayal and disappointment that she must have felt at this point in the relationship. The scene is performed as if the audience can almost see the horrible possible situations running through her mind. The novel shows many cases where the behavior of Tea Cake hurt her. At one point a woman named Nunkie and Tea Cake flirt continuously and "Janie learned what it felt like to be

Tea Cake truly loves Janie. He treats her like they are equals and does not see her as a slave or trophy like her passed husbands. Unlike Logan and Joe, Tea Cake does not need Janie for his own ulterior motives, as he“[loves] Janie for herself, Tea Cake wants only to share his life and have the opportunity to

Like Joe, Tea Cake gave Janie everything she ever wanted, but in different ways.   Joe was a rich man who could buy Janie anything she desired.  Tea Cake was a migrant farmer and occasional gambler who only had the shirt on his back.  Joe owned the only store in his town, and Logan owned a farm with more than sixty acres of land.  Economically, these men were all different, but strove just the same to give Janie what they could.

all without Janie’s knowledge or consent. Another aspect in which Tea Cake helped was integrating Janie into society. Tea Cake and Janie eventually move down to a place called the “muck”. Here Tea Cake works in a field with the other residence of the town, while Janie stayed home. The town members mock Janie as if she is too good to work with them, until one day Tea Cake convinces her to join him, claiming, “Ah gits lonesome out dere all day ‘thout yuh.

Tea Cake Woods is Janie’s true love. He easily wins over Janie with his fun loving carefree nature. She loves his willingness to make her his equal. Tea Cake is exponentially different from her former lovers when he taught her how to play checkers. He has a more modern conception of women than Joe and Logan. Simply by the fact that he considers her intelligent enough to learn such a game.