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Character Analysis: Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neale Hurston

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Some of the most renowned novels include major characters who act on a whim, resulting in actions that contrast with their normal personality. This is character complexity. Zora Neale Hurston in her novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, employs this device to show how a character exhibits contrasting traits, creating conflict. Tea Cake is loving yet jealous, which causes him to whip Janie. Tea Cake’s ferocity at the end of the novel is measured by his kindness in the earlier stages of his marriage to Janie. Tea Cake’s loving personality is evident in his response to Janie during their time spent in Jacksonville. Upon Janie’s questioning on why Tea Cake left her for an entire day, Tea Cake responds, “You’se de onliest woman in the world Ah ever even mentioned getting married tuh… you bein’ older don’t make no difference” (Hurston 121). Tea Cake feels affectionate and devoted to Janie, and believes that he could not love any other woman like he loves Janie. Tea Cake is also unpretentious, as he feels that age does not play a factor in his love for Janie. …show more content…

In response to the arrival of Mrs. Turner’s brother to the Everglades, the narrator exclaims that Tea Cake “had a brainstorm” and “had whipped Janie” (Hurston 147). The idiom describing Tea Cake’s reaction exemplifies Tea Cake’s jealousy of Janie’s heart belonging to another man. To guarantee sole control of Janie, the narrator writes that Tea Cake whips her because “it relieves the awful fear inside him” (Hurston 147). Since Tea Cake loves Janie so much and is appalled by the thought of another man loving Janie, he acts jealously by whipping Janie. Complexity is evident as his kind, loving traits conflict with his jealous, protective

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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.

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“It was generally assumed that she thought herself too good to work like the rest of the women and that Tea Cake “pomped her up tuh dat.” But all day long the romping and playing they carried on behind the boss’s back made her popular right away” (Hurston 157). Men on the field were surprised to see her pick of the basket to pick beans, but as time went on they grew fond of her and their opinions of her changed. TeaCake and Janie’s relationship is going so strong and so well, and Janie starts to reflect on her previous relationships and how they compare to hers with TeaCake. He makes dinner with her, respects her, and see’s her as equal to him, whereas the men in past relationships have not treated her, or seen her, like that.

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After Joe’s death, Janie meets Tea Cake. Tea Cake is younger, but he is kind to Janie, unlike Joe. At first, Janie thinks he may be using her for her money, but this is proven false when he promises to be the sole wage earner and never touch her savings. Tea Cake and Janie’s relationship are drastically different from Janie’s past relationships. She is treated as an equal, rather than as a lesser human being.

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Tea Cake also listens to what Janie has to say. Janie’s past husbands belittled her and did not take her opinions seriously. Janie’s most dynamic display of power in Their Eyes Were Watching God occurs after Tea Cake is bitten by a rabid dog. Tea Cake loses his mind and attempts to kill Janie. Janie shoots her husband out of self defense.

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Tea Cake and Janie get into a fight at home and solve it by Tea Cake avoiding his violent, angry gender role but romantically loving his wife and avoiding a fight. “They wrestled on until they were doped with their own fumes and emanations;till their clothes had been torn away; till he hurled her to the floor and held her there melting her resistance with the heat of his body, doing things with their bodies to express the inexpressible; kissed her until she arched her body to meet him and they fell asleep in sweet exhaustion.” From Hurston writing “fell asleep in sweet exhaustion” we can infer that Tea Cake did not beat Janie at all but loved her and proved that to her to end their fight. Tea Cake does not act in violence or aggression but is loving and rebels against his societal norm. The word “wrestled” although may sometimes connote anger and fighting, in context actually shows loving, play fighting.

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Together, they moved to the Everglades and harvested beans while living in a small hut. These sacrifices were worth it for Janie though. She was willing to give up everything to achieve her dream of love, which she found with Tea Cake. In this relationship, Janie was free to interact with the people around her, which Jody prohibited her from doing before, and was encouraged her to interact in activities with Tea Cake. Janie’s past relationships all helped her understand that her love was Tea Cake was real and what she had been searching for.

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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.

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This new environment to her was familiar to Tea Cake. Tea Cake knew a few people there and one happened to make Janie jealous. A woman followed Tea Cake around and Janie’s, “...little seed of fear was growing into a tree” (Hurston 136). As Janie watched Tea Cake working she notices an admirer staying close by him. Nunkie was constantly on Tea Cakes toes and almost throwing herself at him.

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Janie clearly recognizes that she does not need men at all. Furthermore, Janie lives an interesting lifestyle still after the death of her third husband Tea Cake by picking up where she left off after Jody’s death. After being acquitted for the murder of Tea Cake, Janie decides to return to Eatonville where she had lived with her second husband Jody. Janie quickly realized upon arrival there that “ . . . the place tested fresh again [and] [t]he wind through the open windows had broomed out all the fetid feeling of absence and nothingness” (Hurston 183).

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They would lay down watching the stars, talking about all the things they could think about. Janie at first believes that Tea Cake is only interested in her money, but he says he was going to pay her back when in the book it states, “And honey, don’t you worry ‘bout yo’ lil ole two hundred dollars. It’s big payday dis comin’ Saturday at de railroad yards” (“TEWWG”, Page, 125). After some time, Tea Cake becomes a very jealous man and when he believes Janie is cheating on him, he whips her. In the book it states, “Being able to whip her reassured him possession” (“TEWWG”, Page 147).

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As we see in the storm, Janie tells Tea Cake, “Once upon uh time, ah never ‘spected nothin’, Tea Cake, but bein’ dead from the standin’ still and tryin’ tuh laugh. But you come ‘long and made somethin’ outa me. So Ah’m thankful fuh anything we come through together” (158). Despite having gone through a deadly situation that nearly killed her due to Tea Cake’s ignorance to the warnings of the storm, she still loves him. He endangers her life, yet, rather than expressing anger or disappointment, she expresses appreciation toward him for being in her life and giving her a life to live—a life of joy.

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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