So Janie pretty much is Zora Neale Hurston. Convieniently, Zora Neale had a relationship with a man much younger than she was when she was 40. Zora Neale's relationship was also looked down upon, just as when Janie returned to Eatonville, the women were gossiping about her scandalous relationship with a younger man. Also, Janie and Zora Neale expressed who they really were in these controversial relationships. "She had wanted him to live so much and he was dead. No hour is ever eternity, but it has it's right to weep. Janie held his head tightly to her breast and wept and thanked him wordlessly for giving her the chance for loving service. She had to hug him tight for soon he would be gone, and she had to tell him for the last time" (184). Janie felt genuine love for Tea Cake, and her relationship with him only grew throughout the novel, no matter how many people disaproved of them. Janie's free spirit and pride allowed her to not really care about what others thought about her. I think that this is a major benefit to Janie, her ability to act herself and not be upset over other's opinions of her. Zora Neale was also filled with pride for her culture as well as who she was as a person. Zora Neale's relationship with a younger man inspires her to write "Their Eyes Were Watching God," which is clearly shown in the central conflict between Janie and choosing love over money or the 'proper ideal'. Zora Neale's pride and ability to put aside what others may have thought about her, also allows her to stand up for such things as opposing desegregation in conjunction with standing up for her less than conventional relationship. Zora Neale, like Janie, exerted her independence and most importantly lived the way she saw fit. Zora Neale did not act like a woman or a black woman should in public in her days, but she had a free spirit and her pride shielded her from feeling ashamed.
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