External and Internal Conflict

Throughout the novel Janie has many problems with males in general, and all of these conflicts lead to her having to choose what to do on a more personal level. Janie's first internal conflict involving men is when Granny wants her to marry Logan Killicks so that she will be well of in life, unlike both Nanny and her mom. Janie has to choose between listening to Nanny, the women who she loved and had raised her till her young adulthood, and listening to herself and all of her dreams. If Janie decides to marry Logan, all of her hopes in life seem, to her, to be unreachable. Janie pushes herself into listening to Nanny by telling herself that love will come with marriage, and that if she goes through with the marriage she will learn to love Logan and be happy. "Finally out of Nanny's talk and her own conjectures she made a sort of comfort for herself. Yes, she would love Logan after they were married. She could see no way for it to come about, but Nanny and the old folks had said it, so it must be so. (21)" This quote goes to show that Janie does not want to be with Logan, but she tells herself that she will love him and be happy if she marries him, and this is why she goes through with it. After trying it Janie realizes that marriage does not create love and she will never love Logan and she moves on with Joe Starks. This internal conflict Janie faces teaches her a lesson she doesn't forget throughout the novel and that is that she has to want to be in a relationship for it to work out. She takes this on a broader scale and does everything in life only if she wants to.
Later on when Janie realizes Joe is not the man she is looking for, she has to decide how to deal with this fact. Janie can choose to openly fight back against Joe and how he is holding her back or be peaceful and let him have the power. Janie chooses the latter of the two, and Joe begins to take her for granted more and more. Eventually Janie snaps because of her decision to try and bottle up her feelings and what she wants. This decision to be merely Joe Starks wife does not settle for Janie and after he takes her for granted she can not continue to live this way. This conflict leaves Janie with another self taught life lesson that is exemplified by her throughout the rest of the novel. She learns to do what she wants regardless of what others think, and it is how she is able to go with Tea Cake and explore the world. Even though Pheoby and the rest of the town think she should be mourning over Joe, she moves right on to Tea Cake. "'Sh-sh-sh! Don't let nobody hear you say dat, Janie. Folks will say you ain't sorry he's gone.' 'Let 'em say whut dey wants tuh, Pheoby. To my thinkin' mourning oughtn't tuh last no longer'n grief.' (93)" This quote shows Janie completely disregarding what the unannounced "rules" of mourning are, and moving on whether the town thinks she should or not. This shows that Janie has taught herself a very important life lesson that she intends to follow. Both of these internal and external conflicts shape Janie through the rest of the novel, and without these conflicts, this self realization Janie has would never have happened and therefore these conflicts were necessary in Their Eyes Were Watching God.

Hero Journey Archetypes (Blog 5)

The Hero Journey definitely plays a role in Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. The Archetypes reveal themselves in certain characters or objects in the story. The Hero in Hurston’s novel can be either Janie or Tea Cake, because both undergo a journey and learn along the way. I have decided to decipher the archetypes in Tea Cake’s Hero Journey. Tea Cake is the Hero, which is defined as a character who is meant “to serve and sacrifice”. He serves Janie, protects her, and sacrifices his life for her during the hurricane. As he lives life with Janie, he grows more and learns what true love really is.
Tea Cake’s mentor is his guitar. At one point he uses an imaginary guitar as a way to swoon Janie, “Tea Cake stood there mimicking the tuning of a guitar. He frowned and struggled with the pegs of his imaginary instrument watching her out of the corner of his eye with that secret joke playing over his face. Finally she smiled and he sung middle C, put his guitar under his arm and walked on back to where she was” (100). It allowed him to charm her and flirt with her. He sold his guitar to save up money to rent a car to bring her on a picnic, and it helped in that aspect. It guides him to Janie, and allows both to love each other. It gives Tea Cake reassurance, but then, during the hurricane he loses it, “Tea Cake had to throw his box away, and Janie saw how it hurt him” (161), and everything goes downhill from there. Tea Cake’s life ends shortly after having lost his mentor.
For Tea Cake, there are many Threshold Guardians, but there were four that stood out the most to me; one of which he wins, two of which he fails, and one of which he neither passed nor failed. First came the test of Nunkie, the girl who works in the fields with Janie and Tea Cake. She was added to Tea Cake’s journey to test his commitment to Janie, and it is hard to say whether he succeeded or failed, because we do not know his true intent. We are unsure of whether or not he was going to do anything, because Janie stopped the situation before anything happened. Next came the test of jealously, and this test Tea Cake failed. He becomes jealous of Mrs. Turner’s brother when he comes to town, and though Janie did absolutely nothing wrong, he castigates her, “Before the week was over he had whipped Janie. Not because her behavior justified his jealousy, but it relieved that awful fear inside him. Being able to whip her reassured him in possession” (147). He let his fears of infidelity get the best of him, and his jealously of all the men’s yearnings for Janie. The hurricane was the next obstacle for Tea Cake. It was a trial of his commitment and love to Janie, and he succeeded. He protected her, carried her through the water when she did not have enough strength to swim on, and saved her from the rabid dog. He took a nasty bite from the dog to defend her, and he ended up getting rabies, which then leads to the last assessment. Sickness was the ordeal that led to Tea Cake’s demise. He can’t fight off the sickness, and it causes him to threaten Janie and then attempt to kill her with a revolver. He ends up dying in the end. He is purged of his sickness, but is not alive to witness it and live on.
The Herald in Tea Cake’s Hero Journey is the ball game. It may not happen in the beginning of the novel, but it occurs in the beginning of Tea Cake’s Hero Journey. Tea Cake walks into Janie’s store because he ended up going in the wrong direction, “Dat’s ‘cause Ah’m dumb. Ah got de thing all mixed up. Ah thought de game was gointuh be out at Hungerford. So Ah got uh rude tuh where dis road turns off form de Dixie Highway and walked over here and then Ah find out de game is in Winter Park” (95). He goes, what he thinks, is the wrong way, but it was actually the path leading to his calling. It led to the “significant change” in his life, which was about to be Janie. The issue was that he got mixed up and thought the game was in one town when it was really in another, but it lead him on the path of his discovery.
The Shapeshifter in Tea Cake’s Hero Journey is all other men. Mrs. Turner’s brother especially so, because he is the reason why Tea Cake to hit Janie. But it is men in general that leave doubts in Tea Cake’s mind, “A great deal of the old crowd were back. But there were lots of new ones too. Some of these men made passes at Janie, and women who didn’t know took out after Tea Cake. Didn’t take them long to be put right, however. Still and all, jealousies arose now and then on both sides” (147). The men, and women in Janie’s case, lead Tea Cake to question whether Janie really wants to be with him or not. They appear throughout the novel and Tea Cake tells Janie that there are many men out there who want to be in Tea Cake’s position and have Janie as a wife. All in all, Tea Cake is left with qualms because of the men throughout the novel and always looks for reassurance from Janie because of that.
I think we all know what the Shadow is in Tea Cake’s story: the rabid dog and the sickness it bestows on him. The dog brings about fear, and Tea Cake’s fear is losing Janie. The dog is extremely close to killing Janie but Tea Cake stopped it just in time, yet he got bitten as a result. The disease passed onto Tea Cake is foreshadowed, “Then Tea Cake finished him and sent him to the bottom to stay there. The cow relieved of a great weight was landing on the fill with Janie before Tea Cake stroked in and crawled weakly upon the fill again” (166). Tea Cake thrust the sickness deep inside of him and left it there to ignore it. He didn’t accept help (which also makes him a tragic hero!), and therefore the sickness grows inside him and consumes him. The cow is relieved of “a great weight”, which can be interpreted as the disease, and it was passed on to Tea Cake. The dog’s eyes also foreshadow death when Janie says, “…Ah don’t speck you seen his eyes lak Ah did. He didn’t aim tuh jus’ bite me…He aimed tuh kill me stone dead” (167). Death was seen in the dog’s eyes by Janie, and this foreshadows Tea Cake’s death, because he was ‘bit’ and soon after died. The Shadow is defined as a “…lurking within the Hero that must be accepted or purged”, and the disease is what needs to be purged, but unfortunately, it is immutable, and can only be taken away by Death.
Janie is the Trickster in Tea Cake’s Hero Journey, yet she is less of a sidekick and more of a partner or companion. She brings change into Tea Cake’s life and vice versa. One of the descriptions under “Trickster” is: “uses laughter to help the Hero see the absurdity of a situation”. There is a direct occurrence of this experience when Janie causes Tea Cake to laugh several time, one of them being the instance when they talk of whites and their relationships with blacks, “Janie said this and laughed and Tea Cake laughed with her. She calms Tea Cake down after he ranted about how whites treat blacks they know with respect, and all other blacks they don’t know like dirt. Janie is Tea Cake’s other half, and she disrupted his world and brought about change in his life in a wonderful way.
All things considered, Tea Cake can be identified as a Hero in Hurston’s novel because all of the archetypes appear in the story and directly relate to him and his journey.

Language Appreciation and Interpretation- Janie's Soul

"He drifted off into sleep and Janie looked down on him and felt a self- crushing love. So her soul crawled out from its hiding place" (128)

When I read this line back in Chapter 13, it really caught my attention, one of those lines that make you stop what your reading and think about it a little. With that one sentence, "So her soul crawled out from its hiding place," I think Hurston truly illustrates what Tea Cake means to Janie, but with really interesting imagery. This line brought a strange picture into my mind; all I could think of is a soul, so in my mind a spirit-type looking thing to be exact, coming out of a crawl space in an attic.

In her previous marriage to Joe, Janie had to force her soul into this crawl space. She could not be herself, she could not even speak her mind; Joe even says "...mah wife don't know nothin' 'bout no speech-makin'. Ah never married her for nothin' lak dat. She's uh woman and her place is in de home" (43). In that one sentence, Joe suppresses all that Janie is, by categorizing her as a "woman" who's place "is in de home." Joe even makes her tie up her hair, hiding her true beauty, forcing her soul farther and farther into it's cramped hiding space. She eventually lashes out at Joe, but that instance is not a release of her soul; it is rather revenge for its imprisonment.

Loving Tea Cake is what finally frees Janie. She can be all she could not be with Joe. She wears her hair down, she says what she wants without worrying. She socializes with other people, whereas with Joe she was afraid to sit on the porch outside the store and express her opinion to others. Through all of these actions, and this beautiful line, Hurston demonstrates that Janie's soul has come out from the crawl space, stretched, and dusted itself off to be all it was before it went into hiding, thanks to Tea Cake.
This is what happens when you type "crawl space" into Google images. Not quite what I had in mind, but it serves its purpose... :)

Reaction to Peer Post

In Ellen's post, she analyzed Janie's supposed tendency to make poor choices in men. I strongly disagree with characterization. Rather, Janie became entrapped in two stifling, abusive, and unfulfilling relationships because of circumstances, rather than her own free will. Nanny, whether with Janie's best interests in mind or not, forced her into a marriage with Logan "tree stump" Killicks. Entrapped and desperate as she was, she can not be held accountable for her decision to run away with Joe Starks.
Once Joe dies, though, Janie gains her freedom. Ellen asserted that her short period of freedom ends when she, "although her conscience tells her not to, she allows him to come into her life and begin to dominate [her]". I disagree with this depiction of Tea Cake. I believe that her freedom allowed her to make a decision about who she lets into her life, from an advantaged position. I also believe that she chose correctly, marrying Tea Cake, a loving and kind man.
By claiming that Janie marries Tea Cake because he has dominance over her, and would have forced her anyway, denies the depth of her and Tea Cake's love for one another, and Janie her personal agency. It may be easy to fault Tea Cake for his transgressions, but Janie deserves more credit for her independence, and Tea Cake is much more complex. He gambles, is jealous at times, and even dips down to the level of domestic violence, however these flaws only show him as a round character, and ultimately a good man.
Indeed, the presence of violence in every relationship shown in the novel, the victim blaming that goes on after Janie shoots Tea Cake in self defense, and the horrendous and appalling way the men talk about beating their "women" on pages 147 and 148, are evidence that violence towards women is an unfortunate feature of society, especially of that time, and often of the black community. While Tea Cake in no way deserves a free pass for his actions, he is more a product of his time, than a bad man.

I, actually, really enjoyed reading about Tea Cake and Janie's relationship. They are honest with each other, and both have bouts of insecurities and jealousies, just as real couples do. Their fighting is more indicative of how much they care about each other than any true resentment or struggle for dominance.
One instance that struck me, was how Janie wore blue because Tea Cake liked it. Ellen saw this as a display of dominance, but I thought about it quite differently. Unlike Joe, who kept Janie's beauty locked up and hidden away, Tea Cake celebrates Janie's beauty by letting her know how pretty she looks in blue, and helps her feel secure in it and also take joy in it by showing herself off in blue. Both Tea Cake's compliment, and Janie's acquiescence are acts of love, rather than dominance and submission. I know that, for instance, I wear contacts when I go out with my girlfriend because she doesn't like glasses hiding my green eyes. It isn't that she is dictating what I do, or that I'm being subservient. Instead, I do this for her because it makes me feel beautiful and loved, and makes her feel special and loved because I'll do this for her.
Additionally, one can see that Tea Cake makes no pretense of dominating Janie because he is willing to be emotionally vulnerable with her. He asks her to take care of him, and he cries in her lap. The times in which he does have dominance, for instance when he saves her in the flood, is no simple "damsel in distress" stereotype, but a selfless act of love.
I know, it's surprising to hear the feminist not being cynical about male demonstrations of dominance and heterosexual relationship mores, but I really believed in Tea Cake and Janie, as a couple. I thought their story was beautiful.

Author's Biographical Information

Janie makes no pretense of being above other people, in the same manner that Hurston didn't in her life. During the Harlem Renaissance, when many black authors were writing works that boasted their intellect, Hurston continued in her own unique style. They worked to appear worthy and on the same level as whites, abandoning the folklore and less "refined" parts of black culture. Hurston fought against this. Knowing, without having to prove it, that the races were indeed equal, she saw it fit to embrace her culture for what it was. Janie does the same in the novel. Though she has Caucasian features and lighter skin that Mrs. Taylor fawns over, she doesn't see herself as above her darker friends, nor does she wish to assimilate and join whites. Beyond racial hierarchy, she resents Joe's attempts to place her above the other people in the town. She wants instead, to talk and laugh with everyone, choosing enjoyment, love, and the folklore culture, over removed and unfulfilling superiority.
The path that Hurston chose must have made her a happy woman, as she paints her protagonist as having chosen that path as well. Huston often draws from her own experiences, for instance, living in Eatonville, growing up without parents, to create a truthful and poignant tale, but this is one such case where she uses lessons she lived by, to instruct her readers on what she believes is the best way to live. Speaking as one of her readers, I definitely agree with her.

The community as a Symbol

The community is obviously a big part of Janie's life. Wherever Janie is, she is always surrounded by a large community, whether she is in the Mucks or back in Eatonville. In Eatonville, the community is made up of "the people" that sit around the porch of Joe's store. They gossip, tell stories, and have mock debates. In the Mucks, Janie and Tea Cake are also surrounded by crowds of people: "The house [Janie and Tea Cake's house] was full of people every night. That is, all around the doorstep was full. Some were there to hear Tea Cake pick the box; some came to talk and tell stories, but most of them came to get into whatever game was going on or might go on" (133). Sometimes Janie wants to join the community to talk and laugh along with them. At other times, I feel as though Janie looks down upon the community and sees it as a gossipping, pointless entity. This makes "the community" a symbol. Janie's conflicting feelings for the people of her society represents her conflicting feelings for her relationships. Sometimes she yearns for a loving, steady relationship with a man, while at other times she abominates her marriage, and wants to be independent.

When Janie wants to be a part of the community, the community is depicted as a warm, enjoyable, supportive place. In Eatonville, Janie enjoys listening to the townspeople talking: "When the people sat around on the porch and passed around the pictures of their thoughts for the others to see, it was nice. The fact that the thought pictures were always crayon enlargements of life made it even nicer to listen to" (51). She wants to be a part of this good-humored society. Later in the Mucks she is again surrounded by an affable community she loves being a part of. The happy, rowdy workers of the Mucks pull her right along with them. They tell tall tales, dance, and gamble in a comfortable way. Janie's desire to join the community is like her desire to be in a relationship filled with love and respect. When she wants to be in a relationship, the relationships seem fun and rewarding.

However, sometimes Janie realizes that the community is not at all supportive. Sometimes the community turns its back on her, and that is when she scorns the society and does not want to be a part of it. In Eatonville, the community turns against her when she starts dating Tea Cake. At the beginning of chapter twelve, the people gossip viciously about the couple. They disapprove of the relationship, and Janie knows it. Later when she returns to Eatonville from the Mucks, the townspeople again judge her and tears down her image with their gossip. Janie passes by them without more than a brief greeting. She does not wish to be a part of this petty, gossiping community. In the Mucks, the originally warm and embracing society rejects Janie after Tea Cake's death. They misunderstand her, and they blame her for his death: "They were all against her, she could see. So many were there against her that a light slap from each one of them would have beat her to death. She felt them pelting her with dirty thoughts" (185). After the trial and the funeral, she does not want to stay with the community of the Mucks, even after they forgive her. She does not want them judging and silently blaming her, so she leaves for Eatonville. Janie's rejection of the community represents her rejection for relationships at times, and her need for independence.

The community in the book may seem warm and comforting at times. This is like Janie's view of relationships. Relationships may also seem welcoming and exciting to Janie, such as the beginning of her marriage to Jody. However, communities can also turn against Janie and become judgmental and unaccepting. This is like how Janie's relationships may also become stifling. Joe's relationship with Janie quickly becomes stale and oppressing when Janie realizes that Joe wants to control every aspect of her life. Then, Janie is not afraid to reject the community and the relationship. In doing so she is recognizing her need for independence.
So basically Janie's desire and rejection of the community reflects her desire and rejection of relationships.

Theme: Follow Your Heart

One of the central themes presented in this novel is that the only way to live a fulfilling life is by following one's own heart. Janie's journey through life definitely had its ups and downs, but she was only ever truly happy when she could follow her own dreams and do what she wanted.

As a kid, Janie had enjoyed her freedom immensely. In her free time, she would go outside and sit under the blossoming pear tree in her backyard, thinking about the wonders of the world. Her curiosity was insatiable, as she was always "looking, waiting, breathing short with impatience. Waiting for the world to be made" (11). However, Nanny was always there to watch her every move, making sure Janie followed the rules and didn't do anything too reckless. When Janie kisses Johnny Taylor, for example, Nanny reproves her for behaving like an immature child, and tells her that she is a woman now. She marries Logan because Nanny tells her that having a life filled with security is more important than one filled with adventure and spontaneity. Essentially, as a child, Janie threw away her dreams of a fun and carefree life in exchange for Nanny's dreams. Because of this, her marriage to Logan was doomed to fail. Janie needed to follow her own dreams in order to be fulfilled, and being the independent woman that she was, Janie ultimately wouldn't sacrifice her own happiness just to live out Nanny's dreams.

After running away with Joe Starks, Janie thinks she is on her way to a better life, but as it turns out, Joe is rude and oppressive, only using Janie as a trophy wife. He makes her tend the store, and he forces her to cover the beautiful hair that defines who she is. But Janie decides to put up with Joe rather than leave him, and in the twenty years she wastes married Joe, Janie is never happy with her life. Instead, she feels trapped with nowhere to go. Only after Joe dies does Janie feel free again. She admits to Pheoby, "'Tain't dat Ah worries over Joe's death, Pheoby. Ah jus' loves dis freedom'" (93). Janie's unhappy marriage to Joe enforces the fact that one must follow one's heart and do what he or she wants in order to live a fulfilling life.

Janie finally finds happiness and self-fulfillment when she meets Tea Cake. They are happy together because he allows her to be herself and treats her as an equal. He teaches her how to play checkers, something no one else had ever bothered to do before, and Janie "found herself glowing inside. Somebody wanted her to play. Somebody thought it natural for her to play" (96). As a woman who values independence and freedom, Janie really needed a guy like Tea Cake, someone who allowed her to break away from the norms of society and go down her own path. Tea Cake doesn't hold Janie back, but rather pushes her to explore more of the world. Because he allowed Janie to follow her own heart and do her own thing, she was able to live with him happily.