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