Janie And Tea Cake's Critical Analysis

In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie’s most significant growth happens after meeting Tea Cake. Janie experiences life through differents porches, but Tea Cake’s porch helps her get the freedom she has longed for. Tea Cake unlike Logan and Jody pushed Janie to achieve her dreams and to explore the world around her. This is seen in the novel when Jaine assert,“Jody classed me off. Ah didn’t.

In Their Eyes Were Watching God Janie and Tea Cake’s relationship is healthy and positive because they both value words of affirmation. When Tea Cake visits Janie in the middle of the night and confesses his feelings, Janie says, “Well, Ah love tuh find out whut you think after sun-up tomorrow. Dis is jus’ yo’ night thought” (Hurston 105). Janie likes people to share their feelings with her, because it makes her happy and makes her feel like she is worth something. When Tea Cake confesses his feelings during the night, Janie thinks he doesn’t mean it and wants him to come back in the morning to prove to her that he really does care for her. Later, when Tea Cake asks Janie to go to a picnic with him he tells her, “You got de keys to de kingdom”

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

Tea Cake respects Janie and he’s a very supportive partner. Joe Starks and Tea Cake’s marriage with Janie were the two important life changing lessons in Janie’s life. Two characters, Jody and Tea Cake, shared similarities but also differences. Jody and Tea Cake both want to take control of Janie.

He “[invites] Janie to be…herself” and he “does not limit her to a particular role” (Domina 315). As a result, there are no expectations for Janie to fulfill. She has no need to conform to a certain type of behavior or appearance, which allows her to finally reconcile the differences between internal and external versions of herself. Professor Deborah Clarke describes Janie’s time with Tea Cake as an opportunity for Janie to flourish and learn how to “formulate a self which is not predicated upon oppression” (Clarke 607). Because Tea Cake does not impose societal expectations upon Janie, she is able to navigate a relationship in which her innermost self that she has kept hidden can now rise to the surface.

He hits her when he suspects her of wrongdoing, and she does so to him as well. During her marriage to Tea Cake, she has more control of her voice, and “her partnership with Tea Cake contrasts with her subordination to Jody.” (Kubitschek 116). When she was with Jody, she was much more obedient to his demands than she is with Tea Cake; This greatly demonstrates Janie’s growth as a

Despite the disrespect Janie and Tea Cake’s relationship faced from Mrs Turner, I believe that Janie’s self-esteem was not heavily impacted by it because she was already growing to become perfectly content with herself and her marriage. Her sense of achievement about her relationship and the life she built on the muck provided her with enough peace to be happy about her life. Following Janie’s needs of esteem being fulfilled, she reaches self-actualization, the top of the

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

Janie and Tea Cake have some changes in their relationship when Oprah makes the movie. “With her new husband, Janie does not mind returning to a poor rural life” (Janie). Janie does not even get married to Tea Cake in the movie. This changes the way Janie’s character looks significantly. Oprah makes Janie look classless by doing this. Janie would only run around with a man in the book if she had married that man. In the movie when Tea Cake takes Janie’s

Even before Joe’s death, Janie “was saving up feelings for some man she had never seen. She had an inside and an outside now and suddenly she knew not how to mix them.”(75) Joe’s influences controlled Janie to the point where she lost her independence and hope. She no longer knew how to adapt to the change brought upon her. When she finally settles and begins to gain back that independence, the outward existence of society came back into play. “Uh woman by herself is uh pitiful thing. Dey needs aid and assistance.”(90) Except this time Janie acted upon her own judgment and fell for someone out of the ordinary. Tea Cake was a refreshing change for Janie, despite the society’s disapproval. “Janie looked down on him and felt a self-crushing love. So her soul crawled out from its hiding place.”(128) This was what she had always dreamt of. When she was with Tea Cake, she no longer questioned inwardly, she simply rejected society’s opinions and acted upon her own desires.

2. How does Janie react to this change? How is this different from her response in previous marriages?

Janie was no longer letting anything control her any longer. She was making her own decisions now by talking to Jordan and not listening to her grandmother, who told her to respect her husband. With the results of this, Janie ran from Killicks to marry Joe for numerous years while waiting for her hunger for love to be filled. However it never was with Joe. After the death of Joe, Janie soon found Tea Cake, who gave her the love she starved for: “after a long time of passive happiness, she got up and opened the window and let Tea Cake leap forth and mount to the sky on a wind” (Hurston 107). Hurston gave Janie Tea Cake to show that she was no longer going to wait around and wait for love. She was now going to find it herself. Proving that she was no longer the naive girl who sat under a tree and dreamed all day.

Janie still didn’t give up hope in finding her identity and how she wanted her freedom. She tried marriage for the third time with tea cake. She knew tea cake would be different form the rest. He treats Janie better and he treats her more as a human and he actually treats her as if she belongs. When they got married he gave her gifts. Tea ake is humble and he knows where he come from he doesn’t act luke he has it all. “According to In order to demonstrate his lack of interest in material things, Teacake takes

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.

     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.