The Ain't-half-bad Tea Cake in Their Eyes Were Watching God
Hurston did not design her novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God with the intent of creating a protagonist figure in Tea Cake Woods. Hurston’s characters just naturally fit into the roles and personalities that African American women have been socialized to expect and accept from black men. The good over the bad; turn the other cheek; don't let it get you down. Forever taught that the road ain't gonna be easy and that a ain't-half-bad man is better than no man, African American women have been instilled with the belief that abuse, bitterness, and sadness can be ignored if there is something else to focus that energy on. In Janie's case, we are moved to accept Tea Cake,
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There is still a chance with Killicks that somewhere on his land we will find our peach blossoms. Once again, Nanny's guiding voice informs, "Dat's de very prong all us black women gits hung on. Dis love! Dat's just whut's got us uh pullin' and uh haulin' and sweatin' and doin' from can't see in de mornin' till can't see at night." (22) Somewhere within the reader, one factor subconsciously prepares the stage for Tea Cake's entrance: there is a dream deferred; a fantasy of a man who will touch us on the inside and warm us on the outside. The personal goal is superseded by the social goal which Nanny attempts to impress upon Janie, yet, the personal goal is still within--pulsating, waiting to be born.
It is this pulsating, prenatal dream which prevents the reader's acceptance of Killicks. Despite the fact that he seems to embody all which that "voice" has told us we need, the reader cannot embrace him as the end of Janie's romantic journey. In our world, where our dreams are the norm, Killicks is set up as the "other" who will not garner our love and merely serves to distract Janie from her rightful path. With this adolescent frame of mind, the reader enters Janie's relationship with Killicks fully aware of his temporary status, eager to dismiss him as a necessary mountain over which Janie must climb in order to reach the
There is an immense divide between what an individual contemplates and what an individual veritably decides to act upon. In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, protagonist Janie Crawford’s actions vastly differ from her inner thoughts as she attempts to please the people surrounding her. Consumed with the desire to find the love that she believes will bring her true contentment, Janie strives to fulfill the expectations of those closest to her. However, her quest to please those around her costs Janie her voice and influence, and at times, her happiness. By contrasting Janie’s passive deeds with her strong-minded thoughts, Hurston introduces the notion of conformity in order to communicate the pressures of society and how
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.
In the beginning, Janie is captivated by a bee that associates with the blossom of a flower. She sees a “bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom” and meet with the “love embrace and the ecstatic shiver of the tree” which was “creaming in every blossom and frothing with delight” (p 11). Hurston incorporates the bee and the blossom symbol to represent Janie’s desire for love’s pleasure. The author reveals to the audience of how she is taken away by the overwhelming desire and passion shown from the “creaming” of the tree and the bee. This marks her virginity as she is presented pleasingly to the desire of lovemaking, yet also conserve her purity through creating her expectations for her later affectionate lovers. Further, Hurston portrays the shattering of Janie’s bee and blossom dream when she is left to realize that being with Joe and his personality is an illusion as he slaps her. She “stood where he left her for unmeasured time and thought” and saw that “her image of Jody tumbled down and shattered” causing her to have “no more blossomy openings dusting pollen over her man” (p 72). Hurston revealing Joe’s actual image to its reader depicts Janie’s apprehension of how he was never the man of her dreams and just persuaded herself to believe that he was just a better man than Logan. She is left with the
Zora Neale Hurston is considered one of the most unsurpassed writers of twentieth-century African-American literature. Published in 1937, Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God depicts the life of Janie Crawford, an African-American woman, who is in search of true love and ultimately her true self. In the novel, Janie shows us that love comes in all shapes and forms, and love is different with each person you choose to love. In the opening of the novel, Hurston uses a metaphor to say that, while men can never reach for their dreams, women can direct their wills and chase their dreams. Hurston uses this metaphor to make a distinction of men and women gender roles, and Janie went against the norms that were expected of her.
Overtime, no matter what kind of circumstance set up towards the term superiority, the meaning of it being expressed has not changed. It has not been expressed differently between any kind of man, even during the early 1900s era where they claimed their dominance over women. Women were put through the same overwhelming motive of repression that man (regardless of the race) had attempted to suffocate them with. It is in the hands of a women on how they take the repression that has been brought upon them by man. Portrayed in Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie is an African American women who endures the superiority of man. As an African American women she is brought up to know when she is allowed to do as she wants and when she is not. She exemplifies the standard view that society has set up for a male to have the last word in the way a female must live their life. Unlike a women who has been pampered her whole life to do as she wants whenever she wants as brought to us by Edna in The Awakening by Kate Chopin. The two must try to coexist within the superiority brought by man.
In Claire Crabtree’s journal article, “The Confluence of Folklore, Feminism and Black Self-Determination in Zora Neal Hurston’s ‘Their Eyes Were Watching God’”, it addresses the large role that folklore plays regarding Janie’s growth as a character. Moreover, it states how the influence of Folklore culture shaped Janie’s experiences as a Black woman in the South. Initially, Crabtree described the integration of folk material and how it developed Janie’s journey of identity. Folklore culture affected Janie’s perception in relationships, career aspirations, and her limited role as a woman. Nevertheless, Crabtree explains how folklore is merged to the themes of feminism and Black self-determination. Moreover, she discusses how the style of narration and the novel’s unique storytelling frame amplifies the authentic aspect of the text. She
Janie shows the issues African Americans faced during this period and the their newfound confidence but also shows differences from the beliefs of this era. Hurston uses these departures and similarities to allow the reader to further understand the novel and the time period in which it takes
From her first kiss to the tragic death of her soul mate, each quest for love and enlightenment lends shape to Janie’s emerging voice. For example, at the beginning of Hurston's narrative, Janie quiets her inner voice by succumbing to Nanny's influence
Taking place in the 1920’s, Harlem Renaissance was a period of time where cultural, social, and artistic expansion took place in the American society. Hurston’s uniqueness led her to write about the problems of individuals, particularly white ones and black ones. In her own words, she stated, “Many Negroes criticise my book, because I did not make it a lecture on the race problem. I have ceased to think in terms of race; I think only in terms of individuals. I am interested in you now, not as a Negro man but as a man” (“Although her reputation”). In addition, Hurston portrayed the lives of black people as constantly miserable, downtrodden and deprived. For instance, in Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, the main character, Janie Crawford, finds her second husband, Joe Starks, only to mislead her life. Janie figures out that she once again lacks the love she had longed for. Joe considered Janie to be his possession. He expected Janie to be a well-behaved wife, who would not speak up for herself or disobey him. He additionally expected her to follow every order he had for her, such as forbidding her to interact and play checkers with people (“The most prevalent”). During this time, men were showing off their masculinity by ordering their wives around and ruling over them. However, Janie refused to accept herself to be oppressed, rather “outspoken and headstrong” (Zora Neale Hurston’s). Hurston is trying to portray that women should have the courage to speak up for
What qualities make a good man? For Janie Crawford the protagonist in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God a good man should be loyal, considerate, compassionate, and selfless. Janie is a young, beautiful African American woman. Throughout the story, Janie married three different men. Each man possessed some good qualities but in the end only one was right for Janie. Although Logan Killicks, Janie’s first husband, is a landowner, and Joe Starks, Janie’s second husband, is a successful business man neither of them ultimately make Janie happy. Tea Cake, Janie’s third husband, is not wealthy, but he best exemplifies good husband qualities.
Zora Neale Hurston had an intriguing life, from surviving a hurricane in the Bahamas to having an affair with a man twenty years her junior. She used these experiences to write a bildungsroman novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, about the colorful life of Janie Mae Crawford. Though the book is guised as a quest for love, the dialogues between the characters demonstrate that it is actually about Janie’s journey to learn how to not adhere to societal expectation.
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.
In Zora Neale Hurston’s, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie goes through three marriages, discovering herself along the way. At one point in her life, Janie marries Joe, an important leader for the town of Eatonsville, a large contributor to the town and well respected by many. Afterwards, she marries Tea Cake, a younger man but also well respected by his fellow workers. While both of their funerals may have the basic similarities of being funerals themselves, having many people, and being somewhat fancy, upon a closer look Joe’s funeral is an outreach of his being controlling others, while Tea Cake’s funeral is a memorial to him created by his friends and family, which reveals how much better of a husband and friend Tea Cake was.
Zora Neale Hurston was an influential African-American novelist who emerged during the Harlem Renaissance. (Tow 1) During the Harlem Renaissance Hurston’s novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God, was written in southern dialect so that the African American audience can relate, mainly because Hurston could only write about what she knew. “In the case of Hurston, dialect, as a regional vernacular, can and does contain subject, experience emotion and revelation.” (Jones 4) when Hurston's novel first was released many people didn't not accept the writing for what it really was. “When Their Eyes Were Watching God first appeared in 1937, it was well-received by white critics as an intimate portrait of southern blacks, but African-American reviewers rejected the novel. (Telgen, Hile 1) In this modern day the novel is well accepted and has been called "a classic of black literature, one of the best novels of the period" (Howard 7) In "Their Eyes Were Watching God", Janie takes on a journey in search of her own identity where each of her three husbands plays an important role in her discovery of who she is.
In Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, the protagonist, Janie, endures two marriages before finding true love. In each of Janie’s marriages, a particular article of clothing is used to symbolically reflect, not only her attitude at different phases in her life, but how she is treated in each relationship.