Concentration Camps

     Janie's first marriage is to Logan Killicks. Logan enters the marriage with a large portion of land. However, Janie enters the marriage with practically nothing. This ends up becoming a relationship based on inequality because Logan starts to use

Lastly, at the end of, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie’s view of the horizon no longer was viewed as desire and need for love, it was now seen by Janie as satisfaction. Specifically, Janie returns to her home in Eatonville and tells her best friend Pheoby about her love with Tea Cake, “[s]o Ah'm back home agin and Ah'm satisfied tuh be heah. Ah done been tuh de horizon and back and now Ah kin set heah in mah house and live by comparisons” (Hurston 191). The feeling of contentment filled Janie because she was no satisfied with herself and what she had

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.

The final stage in Janie’s development as a woman is her marriage with the twelve years younger Tea Cake. Both are totally in love with each other and Janie lives a live she has never lived before. She experienced a big change when she moves from her formal live as “Mrs. Major” (43) in Eatonville to the Everglades where Tea Cakes teaches her how to farm, fish and hunt and introduces a totally new rural life to her. Janie described her lifestyle in these days with "...we ain't got nothin' tuh do but do our work and come home and love" (127).

In Zora Neale Hurston’s romantic novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, the heroine Janie, a beautiful mixed white and black woman, is on a journey to find someone who will make her feel love to find her own identity and freedom, away from her spouses. Janie’s marriages and quest for love impede her individual search for freedom, but in doing this she has discovered what exactly she wants for herself. Janie’s search for her identity and freedom is very much evident. Being abused and controlled during her marriages has made it clear how she wants to be treated and how she wants to live her life; as an individual who does not have to listen to anyone. The story opens with Janie’s return to town. Janie tells Phoebe Watson the story of her

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

Tea Cake was Janie's third husband.  He was a simple person who returned kindness for kindness.  He saw women as equal human beings and told them that.  He was very passive in thought, but smart in his own ways.  His desire in life was to love and be loved.

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

On the very first page of Their Eyes Were Watching God, the contrast is made between men and women, thus initiating Janie's search for her own dreams and foreshadowing the "female quest" theme of the rest of the novel. "Detailing her quest for self-discovery and

This tells the reader that the ladies who are introduced in the first chapter are older and have known each other for over twenty years. It also shows that the women trust each other and are able to confide in each other. When Janie says, “Ah depend on you for a good thought,” one can assume that Janie

So when Tea Cake asks her to go hunting with him, he is stepping away from the normal and being who he wants. Tea Cake also let’s Janie pick beans. Janie is from a place where the woman sit and look pretty. The days before Tea Cake asks her, he is always stopping by the house to check up on her. A couple days later, Tea Cake stopped by the house and said, “Janie, Ah gits lonesome out dere all day ‘thout yuh.

Janie's immaturity is displayed in her relationship with Logan Killicks. She primarily believes that marriage breeds love not vice-versa. “Husbands and wives always loved each other, and that was what marriage meant” (20). Janie was not exposed to a functional marriage as a child. Because she lacks a secondhand account of love, she is left with childish perceptions.

She just had to do what she was told. Lastly, “Before the week was over he had whipped Janie. Not because her behavior justified his jealousy, but it relieved that awful fear inside him.” (Hurston, 147) This is significant because Tea Cake whipped Janie because he becomes jealous and wants to show who is in charge of

Tea Cakes pride comes from self-confidence, just as did Joe's. He is, in an unassuming way, a leader among the migrants on the muck. Unlike Joe, Tea Cake's self-confidence is not combined with ambition; unlike Joe, he can openly express his love for Janie. He is able to give her the dream of love that Joe Starks never understood. Until Tea Cake died he did everything he could for Janie.