The novel “Their eyes were watching god” takes place during 1937. This time period is shortly after the women’s rights movement, and this is very critical to the novel and its characters as well. Janie, is a women of a new era and she is expected to do more than just domestic chores, she is expected to have opinions and feelings. Janie, is always the leading role in every relationship. Tea Cake plays a very significant role in her life but she always is always the main focus. Tea Cake is crucial in Janie’s life because he brings a sense of self-realization in her life, she is presented more maturely in this relationship significantly, and lastly the relationship empowers her greatly. After leaving two previous marriages, Janie seems to have finally found love when she meets Tea Cake and this relationship provides …show more content…
Both her and Tea Cake are not bound by the laws of society. "Things lak dat [age] got uh whole lot tuh do wid convenience, but it ain’t got nothin’ tuh do wid love." (62, Hurtson) When Tea Cake expresses his feelings about this sensitive topic, it makes Janie like him even more and she recognizes that she is grown now and is more care free and not as worried about her surroundings. Furthermore, she is mature enough to appreciate this new relationship because Tea Cake is very open and honest with her. Lastly, being till the end with tea Cake, empower Janie as a women and she is finally comfortable being alone. Before tea Cake even come Janie has a sense of being a prideful and strong woman. However, upon Tea Cake’s arrival she reaches a different level of spirituality. He helps her grow by making her comfortable to express herself. He also shows a great deal of value to her which raises her self-esteem. At the end when she has to end his life, it shows how she has become so independent and finds security within
Tea Cake trusts Janie and he doesn't feel threatened by other men but feels the need to be kind and caring and let Janie have the freedom she deserves. Janie enjoyed spending time with Tea Cake and loved the new experiences that he brought into her
Next, Janie continues on her determined journey for love when she goes off to marry Tea Cake. In the quote,
Self-discovery is essential to a prosperous life. In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie, the main character, discovers who she is through her relationships. Janie learns from each of her experiences, but the most significant are her husbands: Logan, Jody, and Tea Cake. Each of these people attempt to control her thoughts and actions, but Janie rebels against them. Janie stands up for what she believes in, and through these confrontations, she better understands herself.
She questions why Janie would marry a dark man like Tea Cake. Mrs. Turner falsely assumes, like the rest of the people form the town, that Janie only married Tea Cake for his money because she could not possibly love him. Janie informs Mrs. Turner that her assumption is incorrect because Tea Cake was not wealthy when they met, and he is the only person that has made her truly
When tea cake shows up janie 's feels something she has never felt before, she is set free but the townspeople don 't think so. “‘Ain’t you skeered he’s jes after yo’ money him bein’ younger than you?’” (Hurston pg.133)Janie is in love with Tea Cake because he loves her for her youthful young side that was forced into hiding for so long because of her previous husbands. However the rest of the community is discouraging her and trying to keep her in the image as a mayor 's wife. They told Janie that Tea Cake was after her money
In the beginning Janie feels as if Tea Cake’s age would effect their relationship. She has strong feelings for him, but on the other hand people are saying he will run off with her money. Janie proves them wrong and runs off and gets married to Tea Cake. He makes Janie feel wanted, she feels like she could be herself. Janie states, "We been tuhgether round two years.
For example, just like Jody, Tea Cake also physically abuses Janie to display his authority over her. What makes Janie 's relationship with Tea Cake different from her other relationships is that it is based on a love that runs much deeper than her motivation in staying in her other relationships. Janie married Logan in search of love. She married Jody in search of wealth and his ambition. When both of these relationships failed, she entered into her relationship with Tea Cake with low expectations.
1. Unlike Janie’s previous husbands, Tea Cake treats Janie with compassion and respect. In addition, he loves Janie for her personality instead of her looks and her role as a woman (housewife). 2. The speech characteristic that Tea Cake encourages Janie with is truth.
From the time they met, Tea Cake treats Janie like a regular person, not like how the rest of Eatonville treats Janie as being “better than” the rest of them. Janie loves being around Tea Cake because she can have fun and do “regular” things. Through his words and actions, Tea Cake gives Janie the freedom to be herself and make her own decisions, which was something she had never encountered from a man before. She is finally happy in her life. After getting married, Tea Cake and Janie move to the Everglades, a large natural environment where Janie experiences many new things, such as new cultures and work experiences.
By killing Tea Cake, in a self defense action, Janie overcomes the barrier of “men being superior” and not needing a man to live successfully. Through her experiences, she was able to ignore the gossip of her neighbors as she was criticized for overtaking her husband. By ignoring the gossip and unwavering towards the isolation, Janie overcomes the
In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, the protagonist Janie, is influenced by others to change her ideals. Hurston vividly portrays Janie’s outward struggle while emphasising her inward struggle by expressing Janie’s thoughts and emotions. In Kate Chopin’s The Awakening the protagonist is concisely characterized as having “that outward existence which conforms, the inward life which questions,” as Janie does. Janie conforms outwardly to her life but questions inwardly to her marriages with Logan Killicks, her first husband, and Joe Starks, her second husband; Janie also questions her grandmother's influence on what love and marriage is.
She meets Tea Cake, falls in love, and later marries him. This marriage is by far the most special and unique marriage Janie has had. Her relationship with Tea Cake is her first true love; which consists of affection, happiness, understanding and everything else that follows. This marriage makes Janie feel like she has a second chance in life to relive her youth. Janie has lots of fun and is truly blessed and happy with Tea Cake.
In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie is a main character whose outward existence conforms, and her inward life questions. This tension helps to evolve the author’s theme of the importance of individuality and how individuality creates happiness. Janie experiences most of her life in trying to conform, and grows to despise it. Once free, she becomes herself and becomes happy. Early in the novel, Janie marries Logan Killicks.
“Their Eyes Were Watching God” is a novel written by Zora Neale Hurston. The novel portrays Janie, a middle aged black woman who tells her friend Pheoby Watson what has happened to her husband Tea Cake and her adventure. The resulting telling of her story portrays most of the novel. Throughout the novel, Zora Neale Hurston presents the theme of love, or being in a relationship versus freedom and independence, that being in a relationship may hinder one’s freedom and independence. Janie loves to be outgoing and to be able to do what she wants, but throughout the book the relationships that she is in with Logan,Jody and Tea Cake, does not allow her to do that.
Thus it is still possible to see Tea Cake as having a degree of control over Janie until the moment of his death. In each of her relationships, we watch Janie lose parts of herself under the forces of male domination. The men are not the only characters who see the traditional take on gender relations, where the men are dominant, and the women are obedient, as necessary and