Zora Neale Hurston uses the term “silence” to represent powerlessness and strife in Their Eyes Were Watching God, especially in the character of Janie. Janie’s first two husbands didn’t attempt to understand their wife as a person, alternatively choosing to see her as a labor source or an object to be won. These men silenced her personal dreams and desires, keeping the power in the relationship for themselves. Tea Cake, in contrast, gets to know Janie on a personal level; he learns about her own hopes and aspirations. The power in their relationship remains evenly split. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston reveals that being silenced results in a loss of power. Janie’s first husband, Logan, tells her to be quiet, limiting her power in the relationship. Janie and Logan discuss their relationship in bed together. When Janie suggests that she could leave him, Logan doesn’t even address the idea. He shuts it down immediately. Logan scoffs and demands, “Let’s don’t talk no mo’” (Hurston 30). Logan …show more content…
When Janie and Tea Cake open their house to their new friends in the Everglades, Janie compares her life now to her life in Eatonville with Joe. She notices that, unlike Joe, Tea Cake doesn’t forbid her from interacting and conversing with the men and women they’re spending time with. Janie realizes she could “talk some herself” (134). Janie is able to use her own voice while communicating, instead of remaining silenced while Tea Cake speaks and takes control over Janie’s opinions. The speaking abilities that Tea Cake doesn’t take away from her contributes to the even split of power in Janie’s relationship with Tea Cake. Tea Cake isn’t confiscating the power she holds in the relationship. Instead, he listens to Janie as she speaks and she listens to him. Tea Cake and Janie’s relationship evenly distributes authority and
Janie’s treatment of Tea Cake shows that she does not consider him to be suitable for a serious relationship. In a sense, she is using him so that she can have fun. Janie’s progress as a person is still being overshadowed by her fear of being judged by her community. She had to make Tea Cake leave after their night at the lake because she knows what people will say if they find out.
In The Eyes Were Watching God, the author Zora Neale Hurston expresses the main character Janie Crawford as beautiful, young, fair skin, and very attractive. These aspects allow Janie to experience many different kinds of relationships and marriages. Janie’s first relationship and marriage was with Logan Killicks. Logan believed the stereotypical roles in a house were correct and that the woman should cook and clean. The relationship was a financial security blanket forced upon her by her grandmother.
Tea Cake is talking to Janie about her happiness, in which he states, "Well then, Janie, you meant whut you didn’t say, ’cause Ah never knowed you wuz so satisfied wid me lak dat. " Tea Cake is gaslighting her to make her feel bad about his mistakes, and to make her like him more. By appearing as if he doesn't realize she loves him, he makes her feel as if she doesn't give him enough attention or recognition. Joe Starks takes a more straightforward approach when he states, "But Ah ain't goin' outa here and Ah ain't gointuh hush. Naw, you gointuh listen tuh me one time befo' you die.
but do our work and come home and love’ ”(133). In her relationship with Tea Cake, Janis is able to be honest without fear of punishment. This allows her to grow and develop her own being alongside of Tea Cake. Unlike Janis’ past husband Tea Cake allowed Janis to do as she pleased, she did not have to hunt or go fish with him, or watch him gamble, or even work in the field. Tea Cake was merely a conduit in which Janis was allowed to grow from.
Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie Crawford, marries three different men throughout her life. Logan Killicks, Jody Starks, and Tea Cake all were very different in which they taught Janie a new perspective of love. Throughout the story Janie reveals the hardships that she endures with all three men. Each guy had a different personality and characteristics that made them each different from one another in which they show their strengths and weaknesses. Janie's relationships all were unique in various ways which are shaped by their personalities and events that happen.
Janie has started to talk about her life to Phoebe, she started to talk about how "[s]he was stretched on her back beneath the pear tree, soaking in the alto chant of the visiting bees, the gold of the sun and the panting breath of the breeze when the inaudible voice of it all came to her” (43). This quote is significant to the motif of language and voice because it shows an important moment in the growth of Janie’s character. She is imveloped by the experiences of nature, about the bees, the breeze and the sun. This experience is a form of communication in itself, and it sets the stage for Janie to discover her own voice. The phrase “inaudible voice” is particularly important, as it suggests that Janie is hearing something that cannot be expressed.
Surprisingly, Janie does not feel upset, and does not fight back. Rather, it seems attractive to her because Teacake is assuring Janie belongs to her, showing love rather than ignorance and inequality. This element of feminism brings irony. The major reason that seperated Janie from Jody has become a form of attraction for her. Hurston shows that such violence of feminism is can be shown not only by lack of respect and love, but rather too much of them.
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
After Tea Cake’s death, Hurston wrote “She had come back from burying the dead.... The people all saw her because it was sundown” (Hurston 1). This quote illustrates that the brightness of change died with Tea Cake, but the memories and lessons lived on forever through each new sunrise of every forthcoming morning. Janie learned that although marriage consists of a relationship between two people, marriage must contain individuality to a particular extent. Janie finally experienced satisfaction in a marriage when Tea Cake allowed her personal freedoms and individuality through inviting her to be equal to him in such activities as playing games and hunting with guns.
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie suffers from hardship in two relationships before she can find her true love. Janie explains to her best friend, Pheoby, how she searches for love. Therefore Pheoby wants to hear the true story, rather than listening to the porch sitters. Throughout the book Janie experiences different types of love with three different men; Logan Killicks, Joe Starks, and Vergible "Tea Cake" Woods. At 16 Janie marries Logan Killicks.
Tea Cake’s Negative Impact on Janie's Life A successful marriage requires more than just love; it requires trust, communication, and mutual respect. In the book “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie's relationship with Tea Cake begins as a fairytale, but ultimately leads to the destruction of her life. The lack of trust, communication between the two, combined with Tea Cake's financial recklessness, overbearing ego, controlling nature, and domestic abuse all played a negative role in Janie's life, eventually leading to the downfall of their fairytale type romance. Tea Cake’s irresponsible and selfish behavior when it comes to money plays a detrimental effect on Janie and their marriage.
During this marriage Janie found true love and happiness when being with Tea Cake. This was the first time Janie felt respected and equal in a relationship since the last two men ended up treating her very poorly. After spending time with Tea Cake she realized that the horizon she once dreamed of reaching was possible and all had to do with the man she chose to be with. Janie was given another chance from God to relive her golden days, and she saw it as a rebirth in which she had the chance to experience the fun and adventurous side of herself. After Tea Cake decides to take Janie's money and throw a party behind her back, janie is more mad at the fact that she didn’t share those memories with her. "
In the first instance, Tea Cake is alive and physically sleeping beside Janie. However, at the end of the story, after Tea Cake has died, Janie’s adoring and loving memories of Tea Cake continue to live on and that in itself is enough to make her feel at ease. By paralleling Janie’s soul in these two moments, Hurston highlights the
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston uses speech as a tool to show the progression of the story. Janie Crawford, the main character of the novel, finds her true identity and ability to control her voice through many hardships. When Janie’s grandmother dies she is married off, to be taken care of. In each marriage that follows, she learns what it is to be a woman with a will and a voice. Throughout the book, Janie finds herself struggling against intimidating men who attempt to victimize her into a powerless role.
This “low” dialogue of her lashing out shows, when Janie expresses bottled up feelings, instead of basing her accusation on the reasoning she establishes, she expresses frustration while talking to Tea Cake. Had she not let her emotions get the better of her, they could have been peacefully discussing her concerns. She allows her jealousy to become anger, which leads her and Tea Cake into a small fight. This demonstrates a significant difference in Janie’s thinking between her inner thoughts, and what she says in a