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Their Eyes were Watching God

Tea Cake, a character in Zora Neale Hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God," is an

unlikely hero who saves Janie physically and emotionally. Before meeting Tea Cake, Janie had

been subjected to over two decades of emotional torture at the hands of Joe Starks. Janie and Tea

Cake's love was so powerful that it felt like they had known each other forever when they first

met. When the hurricane hit, Tea Cake not only helped Janie recover emotionally, but he also

saved her life twice. As soon as a rabid dog was poised to pounce on the girl, she leaped into

action. Tea Cake was so devoted to Janie that he would instead be injured than see her suffer,

which was a sensation Janie had never had before: pure love. Tea Cake's presence in Janie's life

ensured that she would never have had the opportunity to experience genuine love and joy.

On a day while the entire town was at a baseball game in Florida, a mystery man from the

Everglades stepped into Janie's store and sat down with her. He knew Janie's name, but she didn't

know his. This made Janie a bit uneasy. The fact that they had never met made it seem as if they

had known each other for a long time. Janie's character began to expand, and she became more

self-reliant as a result of Tea Cake. Even though he was penniless and Janie was well-off, many

people made assumptions about his intentions because they had an instant connection.

Janie was reared by her grandmother, Nanny when she was a child. There were two of

them living in the backyard of a White family, the Washburns. As a child, Janie believed that she

was white because she had grown up around white people. It was not until she was six years old
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that Janie realized she wasn't white, she explained to Pheoby. Until a man "came long takin'

pictures and without askin' anyone..." discovered it. "(Hurston 8)" When Janie was a child, she

had difficulty defining her own identity. As a teenager, Janie sat under a pear tree in her

backyard to relax. One day, she was "summoned to view a revelation" when she saw the bees

buzzing about a pear tree in awe (11). Amid the conversation, Janie came up with her ideal

marriage. Janie dashed to the front gate and surveyed the landscape. He appeared, and she

embraced him. Nanny caught her in the act and informed Janie that Logan Killicks, a wealthy

farmer who could provide financial security for Janie's future, was the man she intended her

daughter to marry.

Janie and Nanny have very different views on what constitutes an ideal marriage. Nanny

wished for Janie to marry a respectable man who could provide for her financially. To ensure

Janie's well-being, she was aware of her impending death and wanted to make sure she was in

good hands. On the other hand, Janie wanted to marry someone she truly cared about and have a

family. First and foremost, Janie has suffered the loss of her idealized vision of a happy

marriage, characterized by passion and genuine feelings of affection. When Logan Killicks

proposed to Janie, she knew she had no romantic feelings for him. Even though she married him

to appease Nanny, she had expected to fall in love with him once they were settled down.

However, "the vision of Logan Killicks was desecrating the pear tree," as she put it. (14).

Logan Killicks' marriage to Janie was a complete catastrophe. Despite her best efforts,

she was unable to build feelings for him. Before the year was over, Janie noticed that he had

"ceased conversing in rhymes to her" and had stopped seeing her hair (26). He had tried to get

her to do hard labor six months earlier and regularly compared her to his former wife, who

"never worried me 'bout choppin' no wood nohow" (26). As a result of Logan's insistence that
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she work with him, she could not have a healthy relationship with him. Later, Janie meets Joe

Starks, an attractive man who offers her something different. Joe Starks The man had big plans

for her and said he'd teach her "what it felt like to be treated like a woman.." (29). When Logan

asked Janie to help him carry manure again, she thought to herself, "What was she wasting so

much time for?" and decided to find the resolve to leave Logan behind her. Furthermore, since

Nanny was no longer alive, she had no one else to please but herself. In the absence of Joe, she

believed that "the change was going to do her good" (32). That was the beginning of her journey

toward discovering her perfect relationship and herself.

Janie falls in love with Tea Cake, a poor man. Janie's town was on edge because they had

heard stories that Tea Cake was a poor man chasing her money, and they feared for her safety.

This Tea Cake has no stoop in her lengthy legs." Anyone like "you" should not be familiar with

him at all (Chapter 10). When Janie first met Tea Cake, everyone in town had an opinion about

him, despite having never met him before. As Janie is considerably younger than Cake, he is an

unlikely hero because he does not appear to have much of an impact on her life. To Janie's

benefit and Tea Cake's, the reader discovers that Tea Cake is far wiser than he appears. When

Joe died, she finally stood up for herself, and through Tea Cake's presence in her life, she became

even more self-confident.

Tea Cake protects Janie's emotional well-being by demonstrating the true meaning of

love and empowering her to take care of herself. Because of Tea Cake, Janie came to understand

that she was not stupid after all and could take care of herself. Her response when she first sees it

in action during a game of checkers is, "You reckon so? Jody used to tell me that ah would never

learn his lesson. My head couldn't handle the weight of it (chapter 10). Many things she couldn't

accomplish with Joe were finally possible when she met Tea Cake. She realized this while
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playing checkers. Tea Cake is also essential in allowing Janie to experience true love for the first

time after a string of loveless relationships stretching back several decades. He appears familiar

when he enters Janie's store, even though she has never met him before. "Tea Cake wasn't

weird," the town's residents discovered after some time. Appeared to be a long-time friend"

(Chapter 10).

When Tea Cake saves Janie from drowning in a cyclone and subsequently being killed by

a vicious dog, the reader sees Tea Cake as his most heroic. Tea Cake!" When he heard her, he

jumped to his feet. Let go of the water and grasp hold of Janie's tail because she was struggling

to swim. Don't walk on your toes! Even your hands will do. "Come on, that's correct!" This is

Chapter 18 (Chapter 18). The only way Tea Cake can protect her from drowning is by guiding

her step-by-by-step through the procedure of swimming to the cow. Tea Cake recognized that the

dog on the cow's back would attack her once she was on it. Tasty Tea Cake jumped into the

water and opened his knife like an otter. "He managed to bite his cheekbone once, but Tea Cake

finished him off and threw him to the ground," he said. It's (Chapter 18). This comment reveals

Tea Cake's love for Janie, even though he didn't know what was wrong with the dog and that it

would cause him to become ill as a result of it.

Unexpected heroes abound in all forms of media: books, movies, and real life. There are

many examples, including Katniss Everdeen from the Hunger Games novels and films. Katniss

is an unexpected hero because all she does is volunteer as tribute in place of her sister but ends

up spearheading a revolution that frees the United States from the despotic President Snow's

grip. In the novels to come, Katniss' actions will have a profound effect on the future of the

United States. The arrival of Tea Cake is Janie's life does not change things, but without Tea

Cake, Janie would never have recognized that she was worthy of love and a better life.
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Works Cited

Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. 1937. Archive.org, 2000,