pictures

hurrican

watching God

gambling problem

Tea Cake's love

death

rabied dog

overalls 

shooting

LOVE 

Chapter 9-20

Overall symbols, themes, character, plot

At the beginning of chapter 9, Janie feels no remorse or responsibility for attending and planning Joe's funeral. She does her duties as a widow, while others that attend break down and show their sorrowness and thankfulness for what Joe brought to the small town. With the ending of his life, one is able to see Janie's freedom. At this point she lets down her hair, looks at the horizon, and throws out all her head rags. Aside from that, she makes no changes; she keeps the store with the help of Hezekiah but this time feels free to sit on the porch, talk to whom she wants, and even later play checkers.Now that Joe is gone, suddenly men are ready to ask her for her hand in marriage and settle down with her, but Janie would rather enjoy her freedom and feel more alive.

The theme portrayed in this part of novel is that all genders should be treated equally. Janie actually gains strength from Joe's death. Even though Janie endures intense loneliness, she is strong enough to manage her personal life and the store as a result of Joe's constant ridicule. She spared no expense to make sure that Joe left "as he had come — with the out-stretched hand of power," and felt that she didn't own him anything and now that he's gone she will be able to start over. One other positive outcome of Joe's death is Janie's deepening friendship with Pheoby. No longer is Janie restricted from maintaining friendships and socializing with the townspeople. With Joe's death, Janie has gained the freedom she has always desired.

Next the reader is introduce to Tea Cake, whom appears as a costumer at the store. He discovers that he has come to the wrong town, but he stays to spend time with Janie. He is portrayed as a handsome, young gentlemen (much younger than Janie), and flirtatious. At the beginning he is shocked, figuring out that Janie doesn't know many things a normal person would (playing checkers). Janie feels an instant attraction towards him. For the first time, Janie enjoys herself and feels like she has known Tea Cake her whole life.. 

Tea Cake brings excitement and new experiences to Janie's life, starting with the game of checkers. Joe forbid Janie to play the games, by screaming at her and again ridiculing her, because that was another way he could gain power and control over Janie. In addition, Joe would not want Janie to associate with the men of the town, since he would consider them a threat to his marriage with Janie. For Janie, this meeting with Tea Cake is truly just the beginning of her personal freedom, risky adventure, and new experience to the world. Tea Cake unlike Joe, sees beauty and equality towards Janie. This reminds me about how in class we spoke about global equality (men and women). It shows how women and men play a different role in society physically and internally but are the same person in the end. (all humans)

Trust is another factor that is played out as a theme in the novel (from chapter 9-11)  Janie is unsure that she can trust him, and Tea Cake is afraid that he will lose her. Although they fight a lot, in the end she always accepts his intentions. One example is when, Tea Cake disappears for four days and this causes Janie suffering. When he returns, Tea Cake just apologizes and again they reconcile.

As a result of her two unhappy marriages, Janie is reluctant to build a relationship with Tea Cake, especially since Janie is older than Tea Cake. However, Tea Cake encourages Janie to enjoy life and realize her beauty. The author uses key words to express the season of spring where bees, flower, and everything beautiful blossom. Neither Logan nor Joe was compared using the metaphor. For the first time in the novel, Janie has found the love she has craved since she was a teenager. Unlike both her previous husbands, Tea Cake does not judge Janie. The porch sitters, Logan, and Joe have judged Janie on her beauty. One example is when Joe makes her wear a head rag while Tea Cake is shown braiding her hair (sense of beauty)

The theme of judgement again enters the story, when the townspeople give Janie misguided looks when confronting her dating a younger man, returning in her overalls, and the big climax at the end. 

Tea Cake is an independent and reliable man, and he is not after her money, Janie explains. She plans to live her life as she wants to live it, no longer following Nanny's wishes or Joe's control. Pheoby hints a bit of envy as she warns her friend about the risks of marrying Tea Cake. Also, the townspeople judge Janie. They believe that Joe has not been dead long enough for Janie to be involved with another man. (so they criticize everything) Finally, she explains to Pheoby, "Ah done lived Grandma's way, now Ah means tuh live mine."

Character: Phoeby is genuinely concerned about her happiness.

Janie boards a train in Eatonville and goes to Jacksonville to marry Tea Cake. The get married quickly, and his first unencouraging act is to take Janie's money and gamble. Janie then believes that Tea Cake is like Mrs. Taylors ex young boyfriend, whom after stealing all of her money, abandoned her, and left her with nothing. 

After hours of Janie's fretting and worrying, a smiling and joking Tea Cake finally returns. He explains that he did not run off with another woman and that he never has any intention of doing so. He confesses that he couldn't resist the temptation to throw a huge party for the men who worked on the railroad gangs with him and their wives and friends.

Hurston also highlights class differences in this chapter. Tea Cake reveals to Janie that he didn't invite her to his party because the people there were not "high muckety mucks." According to Tea Cake, "Dem wuz railroad hands and dey womenfolks." He fears that Janie would not be accepting of these people, simply because she has been playing the important role for quite a while. They are able to resolve these class differences when Janie reveals to Tea Cake that she wants to be with him, no matter where he is or who his friends are.

In a short time, Janie gains acceptance from the other migrant workers, but only after enduring their initial judgments. After dealing with the boredom of keeping house and Tea Cake's loneliness for her, Janie decides to work in the fields with her husband. Many of the migrant workers believed that Janie "thought herself too good to work like the rest of the women." The workers pass judgment on Janie because she had not worked from the beginning.They assumed that she considered herself too privileged.

Mrs. Turner:

For the first time, Janie faces prejudice. Mrs. Turner only pursues a friendship with Janie because she has lighter skin than the rest. She shares her strong beliefs with Janie as she tells her that "Ah can't stand black niggers . . . . Ah hates tuh see folks lak me and you mixed up wid 'em." Ironically, though, Mrs. Turner's her life depends on the other working African Americans. 

Before long, Mrs. Turner's brother arrives to chase after Janie, which get Tea Cake mad. Tea Cake begins to identify Janie as his possession.

Lastly, at the end of the book hurricane season comes in (the indians warned Tea Cake and Janie) but they don't leave. Janie feels that where she is born she will stay and should have no fear towards death. 

 In prayer, Janie and the rest of the characters are watching God. They are almost swept away by all the water crashing in. In effort to helping Janie, Tea Cake gets bit by a dog, which later the author is told that it is a dog with rabies. Tea Cake suffers quite a bit towards the last two chapters of the book, and never recovers. For the first time, Hurston uses the phrase that she also uses as the title for the novel. .. "their eyes were watching God." They realize that in the midst of such a powerful and destructive hurricane, they have no power to stop the storm. They must wait for it to end and hope that they will survive it.

Through the wreck and Tea Cake working for the white men, (burying) he becomes deathly ill. Janie is sincerely appreciative of her husband's efforts to save her life, and she urges him to see a doctor about the dog bite. In the fury of his illness, he struggles with Janie. He suddenly threatens her with a gun. In the act of defending herself, she shoots him.

The last theme is racism, in which the author has tried to portray throughout the whole novel. All of the white people who died in the hurricane will be buried in coffins, while the black people will just be buried because there aren't enough, and it would be considered "wasting" if you allow it for the blacks. While Tea Cake's funeral is similar to Joe's in that they both were given a different farewell. Janie does not wear traditional mourning attire to the service; rather, she wears her overalls, clothing that she associates with her husband. 

Janie's flashback ends, and the novel returns to Janie's conversation with Pheoby that began in Chapter 1. It is almost as if Janie's life story could serve as a lesson both to her dear friend, Pheoby, and to the readers of the novel. Finally, Janie realizes that as long as she lives, the memory of Tea Cake will live within her heart. By the end of the novel, Janie has found the peace.

I enjoyed this novel, because it taught me a lot about love, even as a teenage growing up in a different society. It also taught me about roles of gender, and how we will never be able to completely achieve equality but live in the peace of who we are. I also enjoyed the ending and the moral lesson of racism, and the twist of how Janie is just recounting her whole life story to Phoeby. 

<3 Elle 

Chapter 4 starts out where Logan starts to put Janie to work. He does this by going out to buy a mule and showing dominance over her. He also brings up that her grandma has spoiled her too much and that is why she need to feel it hard.  At the end of the chapter, Janie begins to flirt to a new man in town by the name of Joe Starks, whom she later marries and starts a life with.

Chapter 5 starts out with Janie and Jody moving to a new town in Florida. Jody begins to ask if their are any positions open as mayor of the town and to his suprise and quickness there weren't. The reader is also introduced to two new characters.. Lee Coker and Amos Hicks.

After buying the land to Jody, a business-like, proffesional guy announce he is buying a store. Furthermore in this chapter, the author is able to see jealous and ownership through this era, when Jody tell Janie to put her hair up 

Chapter 6 also follows the business of running the store, which Janie shows she hates. In this chapter Matt Boner mule runs away, which shows a sign of freedom, and judgement of the town. 

In chapters 7-8 the reader is able to view Janie's vivid picture of death, when her husband passes. The author expresses it, through dark tone and mood, and continues to say how one only has one life and that it is only a cycle, in which we cant do anything about! 

Long Hair

Family

Marriage vs. Money

Biracial

Theme: Their Eyes Were Watching God (chapter 4-8)

Men and women have very different roles in this novel. Woman are considered weak and are defined by their relationship towards their husbands, and for that marriage is a big deal. In the novel, it is shown that women can only gain power through marrying ambitious men but must be held confined to their strict rules. One can see this happen when Jody doesn't allow Janie to wear her hair down, and beats her. Men impose these standards on women by silencing them, limiting their actions, and insulting their appearance.

Her hair play an importance on the story and Jody's determination to keep her (Janie) to himself because she (Janie) is not allowed to wear it down, or allow anyone to touch it. In texture and appearance, Janie's hair represents a biracial unity because of her white father and black mother. Connected to this, her hair creates a sense of beauty that to her is freedom, which Jody doesn't like. Lastly, Janie's reluctance to let her hair down once Jody passes, indicates her wanting to be loved and free from what the community believes should be accepted. 

When Jody beats her, it shows dominance and power again, that men have over women in their community. Because Jody is ambitious it is considered justified when he hits her because, most people in the community are scared to speak up. When Jody is introduced at the beggining of the novel, he is a stylish, rich guy and for that no one messes with him.

Chapter 1-3

Chapter 1- In the first few pages of Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie returns to her hometown of Eatonville, Florida, after nearly two years absence. The setting of the story as Janie is introduced is a sunny southern town, where the local residents are watching her as she walks down the road. The first one to notice her, and not judge her is a girl named Phoeby Watson. As everyone notices her dirty overalls, they begin to gossip about how she left the town with a younger man and how he took her money, and left her to find a younger woman. One believes that they are just jealous of her beauty and for that she pays them no mind.

Phoeby a character introduced as an onlooker, visits Janie's house that day bringing food. Janies explains to her that she has returned alone because Tea Cake (who she left with) is gone but not for the same reason that the crowd on the porch assumes; but that she is no longer happy there. One believes that the rest of the trajectory of the story is going to focus on Janie's search for happiness, as she begins to recount her story to Phoeby. 

Analysis

Their Eyes Were Watching God, opens with a focus on judgement as a theme. The porch sitters in the first couple pages are the ones that treat her especially harsh. They criticize her for her appearance, the reason she has come back, and the rest of her past. The author has most likely portrayed judgement (at the beggining) to show the era of how black people were especially judged by their color.

Chapter 2- Janie is raised by her grandma, Nanny. The author shows how she never met her mother or father, and she lives in the backyard of a white family. Janie plays with Mr. and Mrs. Washburn's children (white family) and thinks that she herself is white, until she sees a photo of herself. This shows how the author is trying to depict a sense of identity and segregation between white and black people at the time. The children of the town are also mean to Janie bringing up the Washburn's dog hunting down her dad, bi-racial family, and much more. Nanny eventually buys some land and a house because she thinks that having their own place will be better for Janie. 

Also in this chapter, Janie is seen kissing a local boy named Johnny and is caught by Nanny who decided to marry Janie off to Logan Killicks, a more wealthy guy. She wants to Janie more protected economically and emotionally. When Janie gets mad, Nanny tells her about her hard times as she grew up in slavery. She was raped by her master, and has a daughter named Leafy (Janie's mother) When the master's wife found out that it was their child, she hsa Nanny whipped, and Leafy sold. 

Analysis- Their Eyes Were Watching God, begins at the end of the story: we first see Janie after she has already grown old and her story then spins out of her own mouth as she sits talking to Pheoby. From the very beginning of the book, language and culture plays a crucial role 

Chapter 3- Janie prepares for her marriage to Logan, she understands that she doesn’t love him but believes that after marriage, love will come, as Nanny has been telling her. Two month after marrying Logan, Janie visits Nanny to ask for advice. Nanny then sends Janie on her way, again telling her that, in time, she will develop feelings for Logan. A year passes, and Janie still feels no love for Logan and doesn't understand how she can possibly develop love for such a man. 

One Nanny dies, Logan stops pampering her and begins to make her do manual labor. One day, he leaves to buy a second mule so that Janie can help him work in the fields. While Logan is getting the mule, Janie begins flirting with a new guy named Joe Starks, a stylish, ambitious man. He tells her that he is from Georgia, has money, and has come to Florida in search for a community full of blacks. From there him and Janie start to meet secretly. He dazzles her with his big dreams, and Janie’s hopes for love. Finally, after about two weeks of flirtation, he says that he wants her to leave Logan and marry him.

Analysis- Chapter 3 opens up with a theme about love and how marriage is defined. It shows how women focus on marriage as a symbol of love and commitment. When Janie feels unhappy, she quickly runs towards Joe Starks whom she feel more safe with and believes that love can come alive again! Although, I as the reader, believe that she is still disillusioned and this is possible because her grandma has set out rules in which a woman must obey when marrying a man.