Throughout Hurston's novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, the protagonist Janie endures two failed marriages. Her first partner Logan Killicks, she was forced into marrying at the age of only 16. He was the safe choice according to nanny; he had land and a stable income so Janie would never have to worry about life on the street. However, Janie was unappreciated and completely un-attracted to him and runs away with Joe Starks. The beginning of their time together was promising, he wanted to treat her right and she was practically royalty as the mayors wife. However, over time Janie was forced to become more and more isolated and couldn't live the free life she wanted, and eventually Joe grew violent with her. After his death, she wants to be an independent woman and live life for herself. In the mean time, she curves men left and right, all wanting to be her business partner and marry her.
This all changes unexpectedly when Tea Cake comes walking into Janies store one day. They immediately hit it off as friends and Janie finds something refreshing in him. She likes that she can joke and be herself around him and she treats her like an equal. He doesn't throw himself at her like the other men have. He teaches her how to play checkers and eventually they spend more time together and he teaches her how to drive and shoot. Janie finds herself falling for Tea Cake not because of his looks but his personality, only after she realizes she starts to notice he's a good looking guy. Eventually they decide to leave town and tie the knot, many people have something to say about it. For one, Tea Cake is much younger than Janie and also has significantly less money. People grow worried that he's essentially just gold digging.
Those of you that were skeptical of Tea Cake from the beginning had every reason to be. He ends up taking Janies extra 200 dollars that were hidden from him and spends it all (while disappearing for 2 days). While yes, he comes up with this elaborate story and yes, he gambles all the money back and more; he was still in the wrong in the first place. Janie however, unfazed and in fact mad he didn't invite her to join the fun still remains totally in love with him. Fast forward to when he lays his hands on her to prove a point to another man, TONS of red flags are raised in this situation. For starters he could've just gone and beat up the other guy, and perhaps the weirdest part of all, the men were proud and the women were jealous. But the scene just shows that Tea Cake is jealous and possessive of Janie and is willing to lay his hands on her to prove a point that he is hers and that does not sit right.
Great post! Its interesting how at at first, tea cake seems like a lot better than everyone else on the surface, but then as soon as Janie commits to their relationship lots of red flags show up. Your post was also easy to follow and made a lot of sense, good job!
ReplyDeleteHi, I agree with your point that while Tea Cake does present himself as something different from Joe Starks and Janie does feel that contrast, their whole relationship feels really weird, even violating at some points. Tea Cake does feel refreshing to Janie and he does normal stuff with her but I feel like she kind of enshrines him, especially since her previous husband was not a great person. I agree that taking the 200 dollars was wrong, even though he won that and more back and honestly, by the red flag scene, their relationship felt kind of hopeless. Nice job!
ReplyDeleteLili, I'm glad to see a blog post focusing on Tea Cake. I have conflicting feelings about this character, because I think the author's portrayal of Tea Cake differs from my own perception of him. From our discussions in class, I think I've gathered that Hurston wanted Tea Cake to be a romantic and sympathetic character, but for many of us, the things he does conflict with this ideal. As you said, Tea Cake stealing Janie's money and beating her does not appear to be a healthy relationship. It's a hard topic to think about, because it is true that the best part of Janie's life is with Tea Cake, and in overall terms, he understands her better than anyone else has. However, I agree with you in that Tea Cake raises a ton of red flags, and he isn't the fairytale romantic interest some may believe him to be.
ReplyDeleteHi Lili, I agree that the situation with Tea Cake is really weird and conflicting. I think in a lot of ways the fact that he is young and very charismatic makes people forgive his abusive actions towards Janie, including Janie herself. In her past relationships, Janie didn't feel any love for her husbands so it was easier to leave them (in Jodie's case it's more like she emotionally left the relationship) than it is for her to leave Tea Cake because she fell in love with him. Within her relationship with Tea Cake, I feel like we can see Janie revert back to her younger self who wanted to find true love, and so when she finally finds it (or something like it) with Tea Cake, she forgives him much quicker because she wants to hold on to her childhood daydreams.
ReplyDeleteHey Lili, nice post! I think you did a great job exploring both the reasons why some people thought Tea Cake was good, and also why people were skeptical and why they were correct. I think Tea Cake is a really odd character to read about because he is set in such a positive light yet he does these horrible things. Nice job!
ReplyDeleteNice post! I totally agree that Tea Cake seemed like such a good character when he was first introduced. I guess that we should have taken this over-perfection of his character and relationship with Janie as just too good to be true. It is difficult to understand completely Tea Cake's intentions and whether or not he is well meaning. However, in the end we see that Janie deserved more than Tea Cake.
ReplyDeleteHey Lili, this was a great post! You do a good job of explaining why Tea Cake was perceived as a good character at first and how it was right to be a little suspicious of him. I agree with you that Tea Cake is like a walking red flag and that we should not romanticize him or his treatment of Janie. Great post!
ReplyDeleteHi Lili, this is a great blog post! You did a great job of laying a clear foundation for the reasons as to why Tea Cake is viewed as this "perfect" character and also the reasons why he is not an ideal person for Janie and not really a good person. I agree that Tea Cake's intentions with Janie are definitely questionable especially when his behaviors become worse. Great Post!
ReplyDeleteHi Lili, I agree with pretty much all of the points you made in this blog post! I think in a lot of ways, the depiction of Tea Cake to the reader is in the same grain that he is presented to Janie. Of course, there are some suspicions about his motives, but in a short time, he seems to have charmed the reader and Janie. Of course, that is before he hits her and continues to manipulate her. I think from our perspectives as modern day readers, our perception of this relationship is very different from Janie's, making the reading of this novel to be all the more confusing and frustrating. Overall, great blog post!
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