Selfless Qualities In Their Eyes Were Watching God

Unlike her previous husbands, Tea Cake does not stifle Janie’s potential, but instead allows Janie to comfortably express herself due to the “possibilities opened up by [their] relationship,” as evidenced by Professor Tejumola Olaniyan’s criticism of the novel. (Olaniyan 34). Not only is Janie free to behave in whichever way she desires, she is also confronted by a man who genuinely loves her. Moreover, Janie feels a “self-crushing love” with Tea Cake, that makes her feel content enough that “her soul [crawls] out from its hiding place” (Hurston 128). By finally allowing her soul out into the open, Janie unlocks her inner strength,

Joe is power hungry and seeks to dominate Janie, who cannot be held back and craves the freedom to manage her own life. With such caustic tension, it seems odd that Janie would stay with Joe until his death. Clearly, she was not afraid to walk out on a husband, so why did she choose to stay? Though Joe was frequently an oppressive dictatorial husband, he still offered more love to her than the cold, quasi-emotionless Logan Killicks. Only after finding love with Tea Cake, however, would Janie realize one of the major themes of the novel: in order to gain true happiness, you cannot sacrifice one desire for another, in her case freedom from oppression for love.

     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.

During one of Joe and Janie’s arguments, Joe says, “ T’aint no use in getting mad, Janie, ‘cause Ah mention you ain’t no young gal no more’. Nobody in heah ain’t lookin’ for no wife outa yuh. Old as you is.” (pg.79. ). Joe was alway putting Janie down for her age. He didn’t want anyone to be looking at her and he wanted to be in control. Once they argued, Janie stood up to him and “ Joe Starks didn’t know the words for all of this, but he knew the feeling. So he struck Janie with all his might and drove her from the store.” Hitting Janie made him feel in control, but she was in plenty of pain. Janie tried to stand up, but she ended up being in more

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

In Janie’s second marriage, she is forced to work for her husband in his store. The suppression of Janie in this relationship is more intense than in her previous marriage.

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 Catholic doctrine, the seven cardinal sins are the basis from which all the “sins” of humanity stem. In this system, any moral infraction a person may commit would be categorized under one of these seven sins (also known colloquially as the “seven deadly sins”). This system has been widely adapted throughout culture over the centuries, and is a common tool utilized to examine the actions of humans. In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, the main character, Janie, enters into three marriages, two of which fail based on the failings of her husbands, and the third of which succeeds in spite of the failings of her husband. Each of these husbands, in fact, displays traits which fall under the cardinal sins, and the sin of pride in particular; even the third husband, Tea Cake, displays the very same sin, leading to the downfall of their marriage.

The book, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is about Janie Crawford and her quest for self-independence and real love. She finds herself in three marriages, one she escapes from, and the other two end tragically. And throughout her journey, she learns a lot about love, and herself. Janie’s three marriages were all different, each one brought her in for a different reason, and each one had something different to teach her, she was forced into marrying Logan Killicks and hated it. So, she left him for Joe Starks who promised to treat her the way a lady should be treated, but he also made her the way he thought a lady should be. After Joe died she found Tea Cake, a romantic man who loved Janie the way she was, and worked hard

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

Throughout a fair part of Zora Neal Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie’s low class create problems when it comes to men. She lives with men she does not love because they give her the financial stability she cannot have yet on her own. Janie marries Logan Killicks at a young age even though she does not want to

Tea Cake allowed Janie to express her voice and be who she wanted to be. When they first meet, Janie and Tea Cake begin to play a game of checkers. Tea Cake “set it up and began to show her and she found herself glowing inside. Somebody wanted her to play. Somebody thought it natural for her to play” (95-96). Janie is enjoyed to finally meet a man who seems to treat her with equality. Tea Cake respects women enough to let Janie play checkers with him, equally. Janie is oblivious to the negative aspects of her marriage with Tea Cake, because she is so happy to be in a relationship where she is able to express herself. But Tea Cake is also abusive, just slightly less than Logan and Joe. Tea Cake establishes his control over Janie with physical strength. Tea Cake hits Janie multiple times. Though Janie thinks that he does this out of jealousy and love, there is never an excuse for domestic violence. From Tea Cake, Janie learns that just because a man appears to treat her right, she has to be cautious of the potential dangers in her relationships.

In this world, there is no such thing as a perfect husband, they can have a lot of good traits but also some bad ones. In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, their were a lot of examples of how a husband should and shouldn’t act. The character Janie got married two different times before she married the guy she really felt infatuated for. Although he wasn’t the perfect husband, his traits outweighed the other two guys. In her first marriage with a man named Logan Killicks, she was not allowed to have any input in the marriage therefore did not have the feelings which a relationship really needs. Her second marriage was a lot better than the one with Logan Killicks, but with Joe Starks, he was completely controlling over her

In Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, emotions such as love and hatred are showcased through the multiple marriages of Janie Crawford and her three husbands, impacting her life with bitterness, torture and ultimately peace due to Janie’s naive ideals of lust and desire. Nanny arranges Janie’s marriage to Logan Killicks, a responsible and financially stable man, after she catches Janie kissing the handsome Johnny Taylor. Although Nanny’s intentions are for the well-being of her only granddaughter, Janie finds herself losing interest in Killicks as the marriage turns bitter. Expecting love to save her lifeless marriage with Killicks is a false ideal leading Janie to leave the relationship and fall into the arms of Jody Starks. As jealousy captures the suave and idyllic Starks, he turns into a demanding monster, dictating the miniscule movements of Janie, torturing her mind and soul. Although Janie’s innocent desire for passion revives during her marriage with Tea Cake, several misunderstandings lead to a devastating end but eventually brings peace to her heart. Hoping her granddaughter will find happiness, Nanny arranges the marriage of Janie to Logan Killicks, a respected and monetarily secure man. After a year, Janie realizes her marriage to Killicks is a loveless union causing bitter disputes.