So far in Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie has had a significant relationship with three men. The first man is Logan Killicks, who Janie was forced to marry because her grandmother thought that he would provide her a solid future. She was not happy in this marriage because Logan was much older and expected her to work on his farm. Soon after, Janie met Joe Starks who charmed her into running off with him.
The initial attraction to Joe was something that Janie hadn’t really felt before, and I think that is one of the reasons that she so willingly moved away with him. Before Joe, the only man that she had a relationship with was Logan, which was not a relationship based on love. When Joe drove up, and started talking to her about a better life, Josie was all on board:
“De day you puts yo’ hand in mine, Ah wouldn’t let de sun go down on us single. Ah’m uh man wid principles. You ain’t never knowed what it was to be treated lak a lady and Ah wants to be de one tuh show yuh…” (29)
He says that he will treat her like a lady, which sounds a lot better to Janie than her life with Killicks, where he makes her work on the farm. Soon after marrying Joe, however, she realizes that he isn't always as charming as he was when they met. He still makes her work, but in a different way than Logan. Their marriage eventually turns into a facade for the town, because they really don't feel the sparks that they initially had anymore:
“The spirit of the marriage left the bedroom and took to living in the parlor. It was there to shake hands wheneber company came to visit, but it never went back inside the bedroom again.” (71)
After Joe dies, Janie finds that she really likes the freedom of being single. But soon, another man comes into her life who is very different from both Logan and Joe. Janie fell for Tea Cake because of his super charming and cute personality. We haven’t read much about what happens with Tea Cake yet, but it is almost like things are too good with him. I think that it is possible for the reader to be skeptical of Tea Cake because he is so charming and so interested in Janie, who is much older than him.
Hurston does seem to make a point emphasizing each of Janie's relationships with her husband and what makes her eventually dislike each one. The idea of something new and unexpected is always enticing to Janie and it seems like she follows her emotions. It does seem like her relationship with Tea Cake is too good and maybe it will end up just like her last two relationships but at this point in the novel we can only guess. At this point, Hurston has repeated a similar occurrence of events between Janie and her lover, and with the introduction of Tea Cake, is simply tempting the reader with the possibility of a happy outcome. Tea Cake and Janie could just as well live happily ever after, but from what we have experienced happening earlier in the book, we have reason to think otherwise.
ReplyDeleteNice post, I also wrote about Janie's relationships and why she chose them. I agree that the main reason she leaves logan for Joe is because joe shows her what she is lacking from her marriage to Logan and promises he could treat her better. I think Tea Cake is slightly different because of how they interact and from what i can read she seems really happy to be around him. Of course i am skeptical and am watiting for him to make a wrong move.
ReplyDeleteSimilarly to what Isandro mentioned, most of this book has been about Janie's life with respect to men--how she and the man are introduced, how they live together, and eventually how Janie leaves them, metaphorically or literally. This is significant because Janie's outcome and philosophy is primarily based on her experiences with these men. The Janie we first meet is a product OF said life experiences, thus I strongly believe there will be an emotionally critical event in her relation ship with Tea Cake--for better or for worse--that changes her character: as Yamini said, we should watch out to see what happens with Tea Cake and the significance of this on Janie's life.
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