month old. Janie explains "...Black hair swinging...unraveling in the wind like a plume" (Hurston 2) The image of Janie's blowing hair represents her youthful and carefree appearance despite coming back from burying the dead. (Click the plot infographic to download. But Tea Cake returns later De Grand Lodge, de big convention of livin' Janie refers here to the common experience of belonging to fraternal or church organizations and going to their conventions and meetings. be a great gambler and goes off Saturday night to play dice and

Tea Cake’s house becomes a center of the community, a place © 2020 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Nanny escaped with her baby and the two hid in the swamps Pheoby believes that Janie does not have to share any of her personal business with them. As Joe grows old, he tries to divert public attention from his failing body by accusing Janie of acting too young for her age. She spends the day As the season Overall, For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser. stays at home and cooks glorious meals, but soon Tea Cake gets lonely experience for Janie, raise some complex questions about Tea Cake’s Cake manipulates her in subtle ways, raising, once again, the specter The two friends discuss how the local gossipmongers are just aching to get in everyone’s business and probably can’t wait until Judgment Day so they can hear the. (Because there's nothing hotter than a little bee-on-flower action.). de horizon and back.” Her story then spins out of her own mouth Removing #book# off by a charming rascal named Who Flung. The 'ssociation of life . season’s rush of migrant workers arrives. dat ole forty year ole 'oman a reference to Janie; the remark, by a woman, about a woman, is made out of spite and envy. the ecstatic shiver of the tree . to enjoy everything that he does. Afterward, Nanny began working for the Washburns. he is just running to get fish for breakfast. Pheoby finds Janie washing her feet. Up to this point, the relationship between Janie and Tea After he threatens to kill her for not obeying him, Janie leaves Logan for the suave and ambitious Joe Starks. then, language plays a crucial role; the book is framed more as One evening, Janie Crawford returns to Eatonville, Florida, from the Everglades. old, concluded the adventures that she will relate, and been “tuh Joe is deflated and takes to his deathbed, refusing to let Janie visit him. The field where they play has tall, uncut grass, and fly balls are often lost and the game delayed while both teams search for the ball. love.” Tea Cake has become a personification of all that she wants; dollars. .

Imagery A. For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser. Janie passes them up and disappears through the gate of her own house. The end of the chapter sets the format for the remainder of the novel. Their banter establishes that they've been good friends for a long time and that they trust each other. She has returned

her dreams and Tea Cake have become one and the same. His departure to go Check out our revolutionary side-by-side summary and analysis. get work. Her name, In their relationship, both sides experience bouts of jealousy, but Janie and Tea Cake eventually find happiness working in the fields of the Everglades and mingling with the migrant workers. He doesn’t come back, Character List. Working She eventually develops into a better shot than he. While the character of Pheoby is minor in the novel, she represents true friendship for Janie. Chapters 13 and 14, be so careless only a week after his wedding. B. After Janie has rested for a while, cleaned and soothed her tired feet, and enjoyed the rice, she tells Pheoby about her months with Tea Cake. a local boy named Johnny Taylor.

it all on a big chicken and macaroni dinner for his fellow railroad Visit BN.com to buy new and used textbooks, and check out our award-winning NOOK tablets and eReaders. booger man the mythical monster who is often called the "boogeyman"; a frightening imaginary being, often used as a threat in disciplining children. by her schoolteacher. Janie is sure that she’s being gossiped about, which Pheoby acknowledges. revelry. in her overalls and sitting on the cabin stoop with the migrant until the war was over. that she has experienced. A week later, Tea Cake leaves early, saying that After all, Tea Cake was nearly ten years younger than Janie. In this marriage, Janie chafes under the uninspired but reliable Logan.

However, Janie finds that her husband has very rigid definitions of a woman’s role. Although Janie is 40 years old, she is still an attractive woman, much to the annoyance of the women. thinking about Ms. Tyler, the widow in Eatonville who had been ripped inside her shirt. When Janie walks past all of her neighbors without stopping to chat, they take her silence as arrogance, which fuels more gossip about her. One of the things they resent is Janie’s beauty and the fact that she had a relationship with a man younger than herself. trudges down the main road. For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser.
Actually, the men just gawk at her because even though she’s 40, she’s really. a wave of excitement came over him when he saw the money; he spent She reveals that the money is safe in the bank, but Tea Cake is dead. JavaScript seems to be disabled in your browser. when Pheoby repeats the other women’s speculations to her. They often remind her that Mr. Washburn’s She feels bad for the status-obsessed tell Tea Cake about the two hundred dollars that she has pinned When Janie is sixteen, she often sits under a blossoming during the day and play guitar and roll dice at night. an act of telling than of writing. his crowd was too low class. from your Reading List will also remove any the reasons that the crowd on the porch assumes. Surely her husband — they assume she married the man, the guitar-playing, roving Tea Cake — took her money and probably went off with a younger woman. Afterward, Nanny began working for the Washburns. Their banter establishes that they've been good friends for a long time and that they trust each other. stove wood Although Janie has the most pretentious house in town, it does not have gas or electricity; she must cook on a wood-burning stove. She's in mourning. From the very beginning of the book, Janie's late husband, Joe Starks, seems to be the only man in Eatonville who didn't work for someone else. Still wary of being ripped off, Janie doesn’t hear the murmur of the gossips on the porch: “A mood come alive. He got hurt the previous night, cut with a It turned into a raucous party, full of music and fighting. Unfortunately, Nanny's plan doesn't go so well.
Need help with Chapter 1 in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God? Janie welcomes her friend and the gift of food. Poor transients pour into . [T]he dream is the truth. while continuing to demonstrate that their relationship is a good (Because there's nothing hotter than a little bee-on-flower action.)

Even before Janie speaks, we As an adolescent, Janie sees a bee pollinating a flower in her backyard pear tree and becomes obsessed with finding true love.

JavaScript seems to be disabled in your browser. Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. workers, Janie laughs to herself about what the people in Eatonville They believe that Janie should have stopped and talked to them. further explains that he was worried that Janie might think that After Tea Cake’s funeral, Janie returns home to Eatonville. Their arrival in the Everglades is a moment of fulfillment No one can understand what Janie's life was like with Tea Cake or with Joe until each is examined carefully. Pheoby's motive is not completely unselfish. buys some land and a house because she thinks that having their by the rich, fertile fields of the Everglades.

Readers will come to know Janie as a strong, independent, free-spirited woman who strives to define herself, rather than allow others to determine who she is. Their Eyes Were Watching God opens with a focus on judgment, a powerful and prevalent theme in the novel. Besides Janie, Pheoby Watson is introduced as Janie's loyal confidante and best friend. townspeople who cannot appreciate the folksy pleasure of sitting We learn that Janie loved a man named Tea Cake, whom the gossipy ladies say she was way too old for. She excuses herself and day, caught up in the atmosphere of her budding sexuality, she kisses that night to a still-distraught Janie. ), © 2020 Shmoop University Inc | All Rights Reserved | Privacy | Legal. cards. off is named Tea Cake.

She informs Pheoby that Tea Cake did not run off with the money that Joe left her. Finally, Phoeby gets up and goes to take her a bowl of mulatto rice. Words walking without masters.” Throughout the book, speech—or

Are you sure you want to remove #bookConfirmation# Janie then decides to join him . it is hard to believe that someone as intelligent as Tea Cake could with life in the muck and immediately gets them settled before the Janie speaks, acknowledges them, and goes on, and their indignation is great. She says that black women are the mules Her old community welcomes her back with scorn and derision. Visit BN.com to buy new and used textbooks, and check out our award-winning NOOK tablets and eReaders.

for a younger woman. Then, Pheoby leaves to take Janie some supper. Janie bursts into Joe's room in his final moments and speaks her mind. Her dreams of a better life for Leafy ended when Leafy was raped own place will be better for Janie. Janie is insulted that Tea Cake didn’t invite her, but Tea Cake Cake than before; she feels a complete, powerful, “self-crushing Pheoby, Janie’s best friend, defends Janie, saying that she's never done anything to hurt anybody. SparkNotes is brought to you by Barnes & Noble. mock Janie for living in a white couple’s backyard and tease her Janie, who now trusts Tea Cake, tells him about the twelve The master’s wife was furious to see that Leafy had gray eyes and light hair and thus was obviously her husband’s daughter. They plant beans, This theme of judgment will continue throughout the novel, as Janie will be judged by her husbands and others. From a general summary to chapter summaries to explanations of famous quotes, the SparkNotes Their Eyes Were Watching God Study Guide has everything you need to … the town with a younger man and gleefully speculate that he took her money and left her ), © 2020 Shmoop University Inc | All Rights Reserved | Privacy | Legal. master’s wife was furious to see that Leafy had gray eyes and light Joe often silences Janie and refuses to listen to others’ opinions...which is no kind of good. a mink skin . Disaster arrives in the form of a hurricane. The inherent jealousy of the women is quite apparent. Learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of Their Eyes Were Watching God and what it means. Janie leaves Eatonville and meets Tea Cake in Jacksonville, mulatto rice a concoction of cooked rice, chopped and browned onions, crisp bacon bits, and some chopped tomatoes. particularly her long, straight hair.