Violence in Hurston’s Seraph on the Suwanee and Their Eyes Were Watching God

In Seraph on the Suwanee, by Zora Neale Hurston, she creates an image of the town using descriptive language and literary devices like simile, and allegory. Using unique organization to order her description of the town Hurston is able to create vivid images for the reader. And with the use of repetition in her writing structure, we begin to see her characterize the town and give its members personality.

He thought the only thing she could do was work at home. Tea Cake has a very different idea about women. He thinks that Janie can do anything she wants to do, that she is just as smart as a man and has the capacity to learn and do many more things than what Joe would allow her to do. Throughout their marriage, Janie seems to have taken Joe’s ideas to heart and believes them herself. Tea Cake rejects these ideas and helps Janie begin to feel confident in herself and forget what Joe made her

     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.

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.

Tea Cake has saved Janie’s life but not his. The bite from the dog gave Tea Cake rabies. Tea Cake later dies and Janie has now reached rock bottom again and cannot pick herself up anymore. Nature has once proved how it feeded Janie with her ambitions of love but crushed her dreams and ended her adventure in the most catastrophic way

Thereafter, she meets and falls in love with Tea Cake. He is significantly younger than her; however, he is the first man to listen to her and treat her as an equal. For example, the day she met Tea Cake, he shocked her when he taught her to play checkers. The fact that someone thought it was natural for her to play pleased Janie. They both enjoyed caring for and helping each other feel relaxed and satisfied. Therefore, Janie, once again, leaves to start a new life despite warning from her friend, Phoebe, and the risk that Tea Cake could be using her for her money. Happily, she adjusts to a new life working alongside Tea Cake in the Everglades. Later, a hurricane tears through the Everglades, forcing them to leave. While they flee, Tea Cake rescues Janie from a wild dog and is only a scratch is left on his cheek. Until he becomes horribly ill, they think nothing of it. The doctor tells Janie she can’t sleep with him and she must stay away when he has ‘fits’. Due to this, Tea Cake believes she has grown tired of caring for him. The disease affects his behavior and in his crazed state he points a gun at Janie. He forces her to shoot him. While she weeps, Janie holds his head and thanks him for the opportunity to love him. Later that day, she is tried for his murder and acquitted. Afterwards, she cannot bear to live in the Everglades without Tea Cake; so, she moves back to

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

Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God recounts the life and loves of a bi-racial woman in the racially charged South during the 1900s. After the death of her third husband, Janie returns to Eatonville amid judgment and gossip, prompting her to share her life’s lessons with dear friend Phoeby. As Hurston’s protagonist relives her turbulent loves, she embarks of a journey of self-discovery, her voice transforming from suppressed to empowered over the course of her marriages.

Throughout parts of the novel, Teacake emotionally and physically beats Janie down to reassure himself and to ensure ownership over her. For example, “Before the week was over he had whipped Janie…Being able to whip her reassured him in possession...He just slapped her around to show he was boss” (Hurston 147). In order to cover his own insecurities, Teacake manifests his worries into physically aggression. He is overcome with jealousy, and treats Janie as his individual property in order to keep her around. However, Teacake loves Janie and only scourges her since he is solely afraid of losing the woman he loves most. In fact, he pampers and commiserates with her much after the incident to express his condolences. Regardless, Janie is completely understanding of Teacake’s hostility and feels not one ounce of anger since she loves every aspect of him. Ultimately, the two contain such strong and deep affections for one another that they are willing to overcome any difficulties and inspire each other to be the best version of

This idea of perception is also presented in Hurston’s Their Eyes were watching God. At the beginning of the novel we see Janie coming to the realisation of her skin, ‘”Aw, aw! I’m coloured!” ‘Den dey all laughed real hard. But before Ah seen de picture Ah thought Ah wuz just like de rest.’ Janie’s lack of awareness about her skin can be seen to be the result of her surroundings; she grew up with a white family, went to a white school, and lived in a white area. This becomes one of the few times what we are aware of her mixed heritage, as her race is replaced by the significance of her hair. The repeated images of Janie’s hair becomes her identifier; it is her hair that attracts men, and it is her hair, which also places her outside 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

Because of his possessiveness, Tea Cake becomes jealous of his wife. He wants to take control over her life and does not allow her to go anywhere alone. One day, Janie discovers that Tea Cake keeps a pistol on their bed. She is afraid that he will use it against her. Janie tries to hide it because his jealousy may lead to a tragic end of their marriage. As a matter of fact, Tea Cake tries to kill her but she manages to survive. Then, in self-defence, Janie unconsciously shoots him to death which was “the meanest moment of eternity ... she had wanted him to live so much and he was dead” (Their Eyes Were Watching God, 1990).

     Community is an important concern in both black and women's literature. The racist and patriarchal nature of American society, what Morrison refers to as the master narrative of our culture, places blacks and women and especially black women in a position of powerlessness and vulnerability. Communities serve as a protective buffer within which black women must function in order to survive. However both Hurston and Morrison identify and criticize how the patriarchal nature of the master narrative is present in black communities. The male-female hierarchy in the black community mirrors not only the patriarchy of the dominant white culture, but also the white-black

Teacake was charismatic and his character attracted Janie. He was different than Janie’s other husbands, and he showed his affection towards Janie. Teacake later teaches Janie many things, in which she would have never discovered them for herself. As a result of marrying Teacake, Janie learns how to play checkers and shoot a gun. “Put dat two hundred back wid de rest, Janie. Mah dice. Ah no need no assistance tuh help me feed mah woman. From now on, you gointuh eat whutever mah money can buy uh and wear de same. When Ah ain’t got nothin’ you don’t git nothin’." Unlike Janie’s other husbands, Teacake was very opened and understood what love really meant. He never cheated or disloyal Janie in any way. As a man, Teacake is ultimately the one who changes Janie’s life completely. He understands what Janie really wanted and always had what it takes to be her

R: At this point in the story, Janie is much less controlled by the male presences within her life. From Mr. Killicks, who completely controlled her life, to Jody, who gave her the illusion of self-control but in fact had her in a subservient position, Janie has not had much of a say in her own life. Yet, with Tea Cakes there is a newfound sense of independence, in that she chooses to work in the field to stay close with her husband instead of being forced to do manual labor. However, without taking a risk and leaving the life that she took for granted, Janie would not be able to find this freedom. In a sense, she reflects the human spirit. Often we are so used to something in our life that we think there is any possible alternative. It takes