Many of the themes in Hurston’s novel have transcendentalist views, and one of them is: One should not go along with society’s ways and should not care what others think of them when they do something that they believe to be right. Not only does Janie go against norms and stops wearing mourning clothes, but people condemn her for going out with Tea Cake, because she had just recently lost her husband. Not to mention the fact that Tea Cake was not of her class (I mean God forbid…) When Janie’s husband, Joe Starks, dies and she starts seeing T.C., this theme begins to develop.
People are aghast that Janie would ever think to wear bright clothes when she is in the midst of grieving. The people of Eatonville judge her for it, “…dressed in blue! It was a shame. Done took to high heel slippers and a ten dollar hat! Looking like some young girl…Poor Joe Starks. Bet he turns over in his grave every day” (110). It almost sounds as if Joe Starks himself were speaking. He has had that much impact on the town that they begin thinking like him, and they judge Janie on everything that she does that Joe would be against. But Janie doesn’t care, and she’ll do what she pleases, and as she tells Phoeby, “Ah ain’t grievin’ so why do Ah hafta mourn…De world picked out black and white for mournin’, Joe didn’t. So Ah wasn’t wearin’ it for him. Ah was wearin’ it for de rest of y’all” (113), she has only grieved for Joe because the town expected her too. She was pressured into the ‘norms’ of society and she decided to break it when she dressed in blue for T.C.
People are aghast that Janie would ever think to wear bright clothes when she is in the midst of grieving. The people of Eatonville judge her for it, “…dressed in blue! It was a shame. Done took to high heel slippers and a ten dollar hat! Looking like some young girl…Poor Joe Starks. Bet he turns over in his grave every day” (110). It almost sounds as if Joe Starks himself were speaking. He has had that much impact on the town that they begin thinking like him, and they judge Janie on everything that she does that Joe would be against. But Janie doesn’t care, and she’ll do what she pleases, and as she tells Phoeby, “Ah ain’t grievin’ so why do Ah hafta mourn…De world picked out black and white for mournin’, Joe didn’t. So Ah wasn’t wearin’ it for him. Ah was wearin’ it for de rest of y’all” (113), she has only grieved for Joe because the town expected her too. She was pressured into the ‘norms’ of society and she decided to break it when she dressed in blue for T.C.
Not only do the townspeople find it offensive to not wear mourning colors, they find it wrong to be seeing another man when her husband died so recently. They think things like, “Another thing, Joe Starks hadn’t been dead but nine months and here she goes sashaying off to a picnic in pink linen” (110). They think it’s too soon for her to be seeing other men…especially if it’s, “Tea Cake and Mrs. Mayor Starks! All the men that she could get, and fooling with somebody like Tea Cake!” (110), and they believe T.C. will desecrate her reputation. Just the fact that she is seeing T.C. annoys them and disgusts them. All they can think about is how T.C. is poor and how he has nothing to offer Janie, but they got it all wrong. Money has nothing to do with it. What he has to offer is love, companionship, passion, honesty, integrity, and life. That is what Janie is searching for, but their minds continue to revolve around money and they try to cajole her to stay away from him, “Dat long-legged Tea Cake ain’t got doodly squat. He ain’t got no business makin’ hissef familiar wid nobody lak you. Ah said Ah wuz goin’ to tell yuh so yuh could know” (102-103). Janie’s response to Hezekiah’s statement was, “Oh dat’s all right…thank yuh mighty much” (103), and she ends it there. She will hear all they have to say, but she will not follow any of their advice or agree with any of their opinions. She does what she wants and goes out with T.C. People say things such as, “You better sense her intuh things then ‘cause Tea Cake can’t do nothin’ but help her spend whut she got” (111), and “De men wuz talkin’ ‘bout it de grove tuhday and givin’ her and Tea Cake both de devil” (111). The are so against Janie being with T.C., but she ends up marrying him anyways (girl power!) and she says to Phoeby, “…Tea Cake ain’t draggin’ me off no where Ah don’t want tuh go. Ah always did want tuh git round uh whole heap…” (112). Besides the fact that Janie doesn’t care about T.C.’s wealth, she is following her heart and doing what SHE wants to do and not what anybody else tells her. She was told by Nanny to marry Logan Killicks and she did. She was ordered around by Joe Starks for twenty miserable years and she did what he asked. And now? She is doing what SHE wants, and she marries T.C. Now that’s what I call transcendentalist. You go Jay & T.C.
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