Their Eyes Were Watching God Analysis

Tea Cake performs the old courtship rituals, indulges in shooting and razor fighting, and plays the dozens and the blues. Compared with Killicks and Starks, former husbands of Janie, Tea Cake prefers interaction and people to ‘things’: “So us goin’ off somewhere and start all in Tea Cake’s way. Dis ain’t no business proposition, and no race after property and titles. Dis is uh love game” (134). In this pastoral setting, Janie regains her voice to tell narratives. Janie feels free to join the notorious ‘lying’ and tale-telling sessions whenever she wants to: “She got so, she could tell big stories herself from listening to the rest” (158). Yet, even with Tea Cake, she has to face intermittent crises and physical aggression. S. Jay Walker has

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

After gradually increasing their time spent together and the strength of their relationship together, they move together to the muck. Living there, Janie sees an improvement in her life compared to being tied down in the store by Jodie, but still, problems arise. One weekend, without apparent reason, Tea cake had whipped Janie. It wasn't done because “her behavior justified his jealousy, but it relieved that awful fear inside of him. Being able to whip her reassured him in possession”(147). Similar to her experiences of being beaten by Jodie, Janie simply keeps quiet and raises no noise about it. She continues to love Tea Cake, without any hostility towards him. At some point in her life, Janie must stand up for herself, and not just continue herself to become victimized by men who clearly are misusing her. Even when Tea Cake had his “affair” with Nunkie the Chunkie, and Janie was outspokenly upset, she refused to truly confront the problem. She screams at Tea Cake, “You done hurt mah heart, now you come wid uh lie tuh bruise mah ears!”(137). This seemed like the first instance where Janie finally became more than just self aware. Unfortunately, after saying this, she succumbs to Tea Cake once again, and releases her disapprobation for what Tea Cake had

As time passed, Janie grew afraid that Tea Cake wanted her only for her money. “Then again he didn’t look like he had too much. Maybe he was hanging around to get in with her and strip her of all that she had” (Hurston 100). Janie was skeptical for a while until Tea Cake proved her fears wrong. Tea Cake showed Janie a friendship kind of love, a love in which she had yet to experience.

Despite the happiness Janie feels with Tea Cake, Hurston makes it clear that she has not found an ideal man. Janie’s relationship with Tea Cake begins to be perplexing, controlling, and challenging. Tea Cake and Janie’s relationship begins to show a lot of flaws. For example, when Tea Cake hosts a party with the money he stole from Janie. He begins flirting with other women, he gambles more often than before, and he even beats Janie to prove how much power he has over her.

Tea Cake does not believe in dominating women, rather in living a life based on equality with creativity and joy. Janie allows herself to flirt with Tea Cake because she is independent and can choose a relationship on her own. Tea Cake’s attraction a relationship with Janie is based on mutual interests in creative and joyful activities; He teachers he checkers, takers her to baseball games, they go fishing. They enjoy each other’s company. Furthermore, Tea Cake teaches Janie how to shoot a gun, pick beans, and socialize with the workers down South. She feels alive again as he teaches her checkers, takes her to baseball games and goes fishing(112). She finally finds a man who enjoys her company. All of the activities that she would never be able to do with the other two husbands. Tea Cake is not using Janie for her labor or her money. He does not want Janie's money to support them; he tells her “from now on, you gointuh eat whutevere mah money can buy uh wear de same"(128). He feels manly being able to provide for her and his controlling the money does allow him to enact a stereotypical male role. However, Tea Cake is dissimilar to Logan and Joe in that Tea Cake values Janie's opinions and thoughts. He is not afraid to console her when she is feeling

For the first two husbands, the changes are largely decided by the husband, while in Tea Cake’s case, Janie had more independence and a bigger chance to define herself. However, for the other half of the book, she is completely defined by her husband. The main purpose for this in the book is to illustrate the unequal grounds on which women stood back in the time period the book is set in. Their husbands were able to control and force an identity on them, which is especially apparent in Joe’s case. Tea Cake represents positive societal change, since he treats Janie as an equal, rather than as a possession. Yet even with him, there are situations like the one where he hits her, just to show he is in control. The book can be interpreted as a protest against the sexist (and racist) nature of society at the time. The use of Janie and her situations are especially effective to show why the system was wrong and needed to be

With Jody’s unpleasant traits, these exhibits the amiable traits of Tea Cake. The novel states, “Yuh can’t beat uh woman. Dey jes won’t stand fuh it. But Ah’ll come teach yuh agin. You gointuh be uh good player too, after while.” “You reckon so? Jody useter tell me Ah never would learn. It wuz too heavy fuh mah brains.” “Folks is playin’ it wide sense and folks is playin’ it without. But you got good meat on yo’ head. You’ll learn.” (Ch.10, Pg.96). Unlike Jody, this reveals how Tea Cake shows fairness and equality towards both men and women. He reassures Janie that she has the ability like men, to have the skills and the knowledge to learn something like the chess. Jody is seen to be in a position of a high status, as he is the mayor of Eatonville. His personality conveys how he is arrogant and is aware of how society visualizes him. This demonstrates how Jody is egoistic as he is self-centered. In the novel, Jody says, “Thank yuh fuh yo’ compliments, but mah wife don’t know nothin’ ’bout no speech-makin’. Ah never married her for nothin’ lak dat. She’s uh woman and

In Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, her symbolic use of the horizon supports the message that demonstrates the desire to meet goals while also addressing that there may be many struggles encountered while striving for one’s dreams. The horizon can be viewed as the process of Janie finding her ‘pear tree love’. It represents the outcome of one’s life and what certain confrontations one must go through to reach what they truly want. For example, when Hurston says, “Two things everybody’s got tuh do fuh theyselves. They got tuh go tuh God, and they got tuh find out about livin’ for theyselves” (Hurston 192). Janie is saying that her journey to reach her horizon, required her to find God in her struggles and not just live for

As time goes on Janie realizes Tea Cake is just what she needs, he is different than her other husbands. He truly cares for her and he understands her better than her previous husbands. He doesn’t make her do anything she

Plot and Theme: The book Their Eyes Were Watching God was introduced through the eyes of the town’s people, judgmentally watching Janie return home for an unknown reason. The plot really starts however, when Janie begins to tell Pheoby of her childhood and being married off to Logan Killicks by her Nanny. After spending time with Logan however, she discovers that marriage and love are separate entities and after arguing with him over what her place on the farm is, she meets an ambitious man, Joe Starks, who promises her an easy life. She leaves Killicks for Joe and moves with him to the future Eatonville, where she becomes “Mrs. Mayor”, but quickly discovers that Joe’s promises were short-lived and she feels isolated, mistreated, and inferior.

Tea Cake is Janie’s soulmate and the first person to truly understand her. Tea Cake cared for and loved Janie, teaching her things and showing her a love she had never experienced before. Their relationship was intimate and loving, which Janie lacked in her first two marriages. While Janie grows and finds herself throughout the story, Tea Cake effects her the most. After meeting Tea Cake, Janie experiences the most growth and finds herself truly happy, thanks to the love he shows her.

Dev Patel Ms. Meier AP Literature and Composition 8/2/14 The Namesake Outline I. Major Characters: A. Gogol Ganguli: rebellious, divided between cultures, searches for a new identity Gogol Ganguli, the son of Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli, is a first generation American. Born in America to Indian immigrants, Gogol struggles to find his own identity and to fit into American society as he continues to witness the differences between his American and his traditional Indian cultures. Gogol also struggles to understand the significance of his namesake.

Even though Janie had many husbands, each husband gave Janie an experience that developed her into a woman. Janie was a woman searching for true love and many of her friends couldn’t see that. Everyone thought Teacake took over Janie and left her, but Janie repeatedly said, "me an Teacake had us a real love." Throughout all of Janie's marriages and husbands, Janie is now a worker, a house wife, and a stronger

After Jodie dies, Janie meets Tea Cake, who is a younger man that she finds herself both physically and emotionally attracted to. At this point in the novel the roles have been reversed since Janie is now rich and Tea Cake isn’t, though once the couple are married Tea Cake does hit his wife because in this point in time this was the norm. The relationship starts similarly to how her relationship with Jodie started. She and Tea Cake both seem to want to be with one another until something goes wrong, in this case the thing that goes wrong is Tea Cake steals money from his wife and disappears. Although, he didn’t steal all of Janie’s money and he does eventually come back, once he has used the money, this sets the tone for the relationship because