Identity in Hurtson’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, Kingston’s Woman Warrior, and Spiegelman’s Maus

At the beginning of their marriage they have a few ups and downs but they then promise to share everything with each other. In chapter fourteen, because of Tea Cake, Janie decides to start working in the fields on her own free will. This was something neither Logan nor Jody were able to get her to do, but now because of how in love with Tea Cake she is, she works in the fields so she can spend more time with him. She actually enjoys this work and tells him that “Ah laks it. It’s mo’ nicer than settin’ round dese quarters all day” (pg. 133). Her character has changed significantly at this point since the beginning of the novel since, while hanging out with the towns people, she “could tell big stories herself” which she would never have imagined doing while with

Janie's prayer is answered with her next husband, Jody Starks. He is the man who fills the voids of loneliness and love, and continues her development as a woman. When they first met, Janie was convinced that Jody believed she was a very special person because of the compliments he gave her. For two weeks, before they married, they talked and Janie believed that Jody "spoke for change and chance" (28). The problem Janie had with Jody was that he did not treat her as equal. He would not let her speak in front of people, teach her to play checkers, or participate in other events. Janie notices the problem early in the relationship and confronts Jody about it when she says "it jus' looks lak it keeps us in some way we ain't natural wid one 'nother. You'se always off talkin' and fixin' things, and Ah feels lak Ah'm jus' markin time. Hope it soon gits over" (43). Janie realizes that she cannot be open with Jody and that he is not the same man she ran off with to marry. Jody has many of his own interests, and none of them are concerned with Janie. "She found out that she had a host of thoughts she had never expressed to him ... She was saving up feelings for some man that she had never seen" (68). Jody only gave material goods to Janie. She knew she

     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 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.

Identity is something each person uniquely has. As a person matures and experiences new parts of life, their identity also grows and develops along with them. However, a person’s identity is comprised of all of their experiences. The way someone views themselves may also be very different than the way others view them as well. In dramatic literature, the way a character’s identity is portrayed is essential to the events in the play. Four characters in three works of drama convey how vastly different each person’s identity can be from others as well as how their own sense of identity differs from others views about them. These characters include the Duke in My Last Duchess by Robert Browning, Big Eight in Rodeo by Jane Martin, and Benjamin Wong

Our identities are key to our understanding of the world. Mental models through which information is processed are built off of life experience, taught ethics and morals, and upbringing. Identity is discussed in the following texts - The Politics of Exile by Elizabeth Dauphinee, “Unlearning the Myth of American Innocence” by Suzy Hansen, and “Letter to America” by Aida Hozic - through various themes of American culture. Dauphinee, in particular, examines the depth of personal identity and its ability to change. All three works consider the many components of personal identity and its formation as well as its undoing.

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

Janie’s relationship with Logan, her first husband, is seen as unacceptable to her due to his old age and the fact that Janie did not have any say in the marriage. Due to Janie’s opposition to being with Logan, he “seem(s) violent without actually committing violence”. Hurston uses Tea Cake’s youth and the fact that Janie was not forced into a relationship with him to make Tea Cake appear to be a ‘better’ person than Logan. However, Tea Cake is the one who actually whipped Janie. Tea Cake commits many violent acts, but because of his attractiveness, Tea Cake is excused “even when he executes violence” (Harris, 92). Tea Cake had shown signs of abuse and had a gambling addiction, whereas Logan was verbally cruel to Janie, but never physically hurt her. Hurston emphasizes the faults of society through Tea Cake and his effect on Janie. Tea Cake is the cruelest of Janie’s husbands, but the way he is presented makes it seem as if he is the best of them. Tea Cake, representing society, initially encourages Janie to be strong, then molds her into an object of his pleasing. In Janie’s mind, Tea Cake is perfect and cannot make mistakes, even after he whipped her. Mrs. Turner, who lives in the Everglades, believes that Tea Cake is too colored for Janie and that she needs to be with a lighter skinned man, like her brother. She pushes her brother

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:

     Identity is one of the main questions throughout all of our readings, because it is hard for people to accept who they are in society. Accepting their identity as a minority with little if any freedoms

First, as mentioned, also she did have prestige with Jody, that came at a cost for her, as she was unable to connect and communicate with the townspeople, which in turns meant that she lacked friends, one key component in advancing. However, this no longer seems like a significant problem as she has Pheoby, a loyal friend that had obviously earned her trust as she discussing her life story with her. Nonetheless, while with the mayor, she lost the sense of her real self and from Jody’s perspective, she becomes a proper wife to a mayor. Accordingly, with Jody’s death, she is freed from her oppressed social life and carried on with life with the ambitions that she has. Additionally, and most importantly, she reflections upon her relationship with Tea Cakes. Unusually, her relationship with him was unlike all others she had previously because she enforces that in order for two people to have a truly loving bond, they must have mutual feelings along with civility between each other. Therefore, she realized what happened was ultimately fixed, as it was not something that Tea Cakes would do but due to the certain circumstances that were in place, it just happened like that. Therefore, she does experience that she truly was in love unlike the rest of the previous men, meaning her relationship with Tea Cakes was satisfactory. As a result, she feels like inspired by this particular relationship and feels safer than those preceding, as he was the only one to treat her how she should be treated. Accordingly, she makes amends and is at peace with him, allowing her to illuminate her path to self-success and accomplishment that is

Once Joe had died, she became a new person. “She tore off her kerchief from her head and let down her plentiful hair. The weight, the length, the glory was there”(83). She finally became who she wanted to be and didn’t feel like she had to act a certain way for someone. It was almost as if she had removed a mask that she was wearing throughout her entire marriage with Jody. Janie was finally herself. She was finally free. When she meets Tea Cake, she is no longer mourning over the death of her husband. “Her next thought brought her crashing down. He’s just saying anything for the time being, feeling he’s got me so I’ll b’lieve him…”(100). Although she is happy, she seems to be wary of Tea Cake after what she went through with Jody. The way that she was treated messed with her mind and her opinions when it came to men. Could she trust them or not? She overcomes her trust issues and falls in love with Tea Cake over time. “Janie buried Tea Cake in Palm Beach…Janie had wired to Orlando for money to put him away. Tea Cake was the son of Evening Sun, and nothing was

Janie got married to Jody right after she ran away from Logan Killicks. Janie was immediately attracted to Jody because of his confidence and wealth, and at the time, was everything Janie wanted in a man. Soon after Jody became the mayor of Eatonville he becomes focused on gaining more power and ignored Janie's needs and wants. Jody, like Logan, expects Janie to act like a proper wife of that time. Janie eventually just puts up with Jody's demands but discovers that she is miserable because of it. In this marriage with Jody Janie learns how honesty is important to a stable

As time went on Jannie began to realize that Tea Cake was extremely different, that he meant what he said and truly loved her. He even thought that she was one of the greatest people there was. Tea Cake was a huge improvement to Joe Starks. When Janie looked at Tea Cake she “felt a self-crushing love” (pg. 128), that she had never felt with Joe or with Logan. Tea Cake was the one who helped Janie to transform into a happier and hardworking woman, who was very loyal to her new husband. She learned to put trust into him and she learned what marriage was supposed to be like. Tea Cake showed Janie that, as the wife, she wasn’t supposed to be treated as if she were a slave, but she should be treated as if she were royalty. Tea Cake was able to convert her outlook on life from fairly negative to very positive, and she loved Tea Cake more than any of her former

Joe is a cruel and abusive man who lives a materialistic power-driven life that Janie has no interest in living. He treats her better than Logan does in terms of loving her, but still controls her life. “Janie loved the conversation and sometimes she thought up good stories on the mule, but Joe had forbidden her to indulge. He didn’t want her talking after such trashy people.” (53). Outside of the general store that Janie runs, the townspeople engage in banter outside and have a good time. Joe doesn’t let her speak out and this isolates her from making new friends and growing as a person. Instead, she has to take the role as the mayor’s wife and act like she’s above the citizens. Janie stays loyal to Joe for many years and does what he tells her to do. “I god, Janie,’ Starks said impatiently, ‘why don’t you go on and see whut Mrs. Bogle want? Whut you waitin’ on?’ Janie wanted to hear the rest of the play-acting and how it ended, but she got up sullenly and went inside.” (Ch 6). Joe believes he has more of a right to entertainment than Janie. He doesn’t care that Janie wants to have fun as well, or that she wants friends. All throughout their marriage, Janie has called him Jody but know uses Starks. This is the beginning of the cold feelings she has towards her husband. Towards the end of their marriage, she stands up to Joe and when he passes, she feels free and happy, while everyone around her feels she should be in mourning. She is finding that she doesn’t care what the town thinks of her and is redefining her life. A young man named Tea Cake walks into her store one day and not long after, they get