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Were Watching God Pear Tree

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Maya Angelou once said “I’ve learned that I still have a lot to learn” and this applies to Janie when going through her marriages with Logan, Joe, and Tea Cake. In Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, she expresses how a girl can mature through her womanhood by facing many obstacles in her life, but not allowing them to stop her but to make her better. The use of motifs help the reader grasp a better understanding of the change and progress by using items such as the pear tree, the mule, and Janie’s hair to provide a deeper understanding of the context. There was plenty of symbolic representation in the book such as the pear tree which symbolizes Janie’s life and how through each marriage she grew on to the peach tree. The idea …show more content…

Nanny wants her to have a man with money, but as Janie undergoes her marriage with Logan she finds out that the bond is more important than the money. Janie didn 't love Logan and didn 't like how he treated her. This relates to the motif of the pear tree because all Janie wants is love from a man, like how “the tree receives from the pollen-bearing bee”( Dilbeck 102).The tree represents her life and how she is looking for that special man which the bee represents. Janie’s marriage with Logan made her realize that she should not be treated like property and that she deserves better. After the marriage with Logan failed, Janie thought that Joe was the one. He turned out to be very controlling and possessive of her. He did not allow her to do anything and thought that “a pretty doll-baby lak [her] is made to sit on de front porch and rock and fan [herself] and eat p’taters dat other folks plant just special for [her]”(Hurston 29). Janie realized that she should be able to have some type of freedom in her marriage, and not feel …show more content…

In this marriage she experiences freedom and finds out what love really is, which allows her to grow. Joe did not allow Janie to play checkers but Tea Cake did. Tea Cake “..set it up and began to show her and she found herself glowing inside. Somebody wanted her to play. Somebody thought it natural to play”(Hurston 95-96). Janie instantly knew that Tea Cake was different. The control that her other husbands had over her made her understand how important her freedom was. Throughout her whole life, Janie experiences two different marriages before Tea Cake, so she knows what she is looking for in a man. She wants a man to treat her as an equal, compliment her, and most importantly love her. Tea Cake fulfills all three of those things and that is why Janie loves him. He shows her how to love and makes her become aware of the freedom she deserves in a marriage. Janie goes her whole life looking for a special man that meets her standards and finally find

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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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She expected to obey for her husband like others. “He ordered Janie to tie up her hair around the store” reveals that she did everything to his happiness not for her. Even though she is a wife of a mayor, she didn’t get any privilege rather she lost her social relationship with other people. She lived under the dominance of her husband

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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.

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Unlike her previous relationships that were full of contention and sadness, she has found the perfect love by being with Tea Cake. When Janie first meets Tea Cake she finds him very attractive and agreeable to be around. He asks her to play checkers with him and teaches her the rules of the game.

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Her final husband is Tea Cake, who in the book is portrayed as a perfect husband for Janie by being adventurous and saving Janie from her boring life working in a store. The flaws in Tea Cake quickly begin to show, he practices gambling regularly, for example before the big Saturday “Tea Cake was busy practicing up on his dice” (119). This gets him into many situations where he could get seriously hurt and one day he is, but when he says “Dey cut me, dats all”(120), his tone makes it feel like it has happened before. This reveals that Tea Cake’s sense of adventure Janie loves is only there because it’s an adventure just for Tea Cake to get money. Later in the book Tea Cake mirrors Logan’s opinion of women “‘git uh job uh work’”(127).

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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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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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Finally, she married Tea Cake who showed her what it was like to be loved and feel love. In each of these marriages, Janie fights for her independence that was previously denied from her. She refuses to give up on her dream for true love and is only satisfied after she finds it with Tea

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Janie reacts in different ways to people in her life trying to control her, and this can be seen with Grannie, Jody, and Tea Cake. Grannie forces her to marry Logan, but Janie stands up for herself when she decides to leave him after Grannie dies. Throughout the novel Janie is looking for love, and she

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Women were to do what they were told and to marry when they were told to. But when Janie and Teacake moved, things were different. Janie felt a sense of freedom and power because Teacake was not as overbearing as Joe, her previous husband, or her grandmother. Geography is also significant because it started to change Teacake’s attitude towards life and Janie. Janie begins to have some complex questions about Teacake’s character.

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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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While Nanny’s decision to push Janie into what Janie viewed as a loveless marriage is not malicious in intent, it demonstrates Nanny’s influence and power over Janie’s life. Nanny is trying to give Janie a secure

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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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