Character Analysis Their Eyes Were Watching God

     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 returns home after Janie has a panic attack regarding the two hundred dollars she thought he stole. She assumed he had run off, but he returned with it. This sets up trust between the two parties. Additionally, there is understanding between the two of them, as Tea Cake accepts that she wishes to accompany him to future events. This also sets them up to spend time with each other instead of Janie being isolated like she was with Jody.

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

Tea Cake, whose real name is Vergible Woods, is Janie's soul mate, both of them being tree metaphors. He’s the only one of her husbands who haven’t been described as dead wood. Hurston writes, “looked like the love thoughts of women. He could be a bee to a blossom - a pear tree blossom in the spring. He seemed to be crushing scent out of the world with his footsteps. Crushing aromatic herbs with every step he took. Spices hung about him. He was a glance from God.” His nickname too holds significance in referring to something sweet, just as she has hope dor "things swee wid mah marriage" (24). Because Tea Cake is unconcerned with her money, for instance, in that he asks her to keep her savings aside and live from his current earnings, Tea Cake is clearly contrary to the norm of suitors who preceded him following the death of Joe, who didn’t want her for her. He is a man truly in love with Janie, a man who understands her. In instructing “Everytime Ah see uh patch uh roses uh somethin’ over sportin’ they selves makin’ out they pretty, Ah tell ‘em “ah want yuh to see mah Janie sometime.’ You must let de flowers see yuh sometimes, heah Janie?” (181), he shows that he too sees her mirroring, even competing with nature. It is with him, that Janie is pollinated to realize the meaning of the pear tree’s mysteries and

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

Although Janie and Tea Cake’s marriage has its share of arguments and alterations, Tea Cake’s influence

Tea Cake comes into the store in Eatonville where Janie worked at, and she is automatically interested his charm: “She was in favor of the story that was making him laugh before she even heard it” (Hurston 90). They quickly fall in love with each other as Tea Cake treats her like a real woman. Tea Cake respected her and made her feel better about herself, something Logan and Jody had never done: ”... she found herself glowing inside. Somebody wanted her to play… she looked over and got little thrills from every one of his good points” (Hurston 92). Tea Cake lets her play checkers and didn’t treat her as an object or lesser than himself. Soon enough, Tea Cake and Janie fall in love, move to Jacksonville then to the Everglades. Tea Cake gives Janie everything she’s ever wanted. He teaches her to shoot a gun, and doesn’t care Janie has a better shot; he does not care for the power over Janie that Jody did. Tea Cake drives Janie to find security in herself and find her own independence. Janie is finally herself with Tea Cake; however, the novel quickly proves the critical lens when a rabid dog bites Tea Cake. Tea Cake was trying to save Janie from drowning a river after a hurricane hit the Everglades. He had to fight away a mad dog, and he was bitten in the face. His health quickly declines within a mouth. He begins going mad and accuses Janie of not loving him and cheating on him. Before

When the novel reaches its climax with the death of Tea Cake, Janie transforms into a fulfilled character who begins to live a life of acceptance. The death of Tea Cake closes the door on Janie’s third marriage, however, that marriage taught Janie more about herself than any other caregiver. As Tea Cake and Janie begin to spend more time with one and other, the townspeople of Eatonville grow anxious. During her marriage with Joe, Janie is subjugated to severe classism which separates her from the townsfolk. When Janie begins to act like a regular woman and not a noble, the town is surprised, as Pheoby mentions “Janie, everybody’s talkin’ ‘bout how dat Tea Cake is draggin’ you round tuh places you ain’t used tuh” (Hurston 112). With Tea Cake, Janie experiences more adventure and more life than with anyone else. Every day brings a new adventure for their relationship, for example:

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.

Tea Cake is a well-developed character in Their Eyes Were Watching God, and he appears to be the best out of the 3 love interests Janie has, although both Hurston’s novel and Native Son show the oppressive nature of many men including Tea Cake. According to Yvonne Mesa-El Ashmawi in his article titled “Janie's Tea Cake: Sinner, Saint, or Merely Mortal?”, while it could be argued that Tea Cake is irresponsible (such as when he gambled on Janie’s money and partied all night with the winnings) and he chose to live on the Muck which one scholar Ashmawi quoted called a “labor camp”, he is better for Janie than her other husbands were because he teaches her how to do things that are commonly regarded as men’s activities, including playing checkers, fishing, and shooting and he embraces her

In their relationship, they both experience their times of jealousy, but by working in the Everglades Janie and Tea Cake find mutual joy. A hurricane comes, Tea Cake is given plenty of warnings and even an opportunity to flee, but instead he chooses to stay. While trying to get away from the storm, Tea Cake saves Janie from a dog but gets himself bitten instead. Tea Cake gets rabies from the bite, and develops an aggressive behavior over Janie. At the end, Janie has shoot Tea Cake to save herself. She's is then accused for murder, but found innocent. After Tea Cake’s funeral, Janie returns home to Eatonville. She cannot bear to remain in the Everglades because all the memories that remind her of the love of her life. Once is Eatonville she meets up with an old friend, Pheoby Watson, and tells her the whole story of her life. Thus, the story, which actually spans nearly 40 years of Janie's life, is "framed" by an evening visit between two friends. This frame becomes the first part of the structure of the novel. The rest of the story is told chronologically in order of Janie’s

Teacake was charismatic and his character attracted Janie. He was different than Janie’s other husbands, and he showed his affection towards Janie. Teacake later teaches Janie many things, in which she would have never discovered them for herself. As a result of marrying Teacake, Janie learns how to play checkers and shoot a gun. “Put dat two hundred back wid de rest, Janie. Mah dice. Ah no need no assistance tuh help me feed mah woman. From now on, you gointuh eat whutever mah money can buy uh and wear de same. When Ah ain’t got nothin’ you don’t git nothin’." Unlike Janie’s other husbands, Teacake was very opened and understood what love really meant. He never cheated or disloyal Janie in any way. As a man, Teacake is ultimately the one who changes Janie’s life completely. He understands what Janie really wanted and always had what it takes to be her

After his death, she struggles to feel remorse for the loss of her husband. Nine months after his death, she marries Vergible Woods, also known as Tea Cake. He is everything Jody was not, he treats Janie like a woman deserves to be treated and is very confident in his ability to provide for his new wife and remain faithful to her. After having been treated like a pack mule by one husband and silenced by another, Tea Cake provides her with a healthy relationship that she can learn about herself within the walls of. He teaches her new things, and encourages her to develop her skillset and life