Comparing Janie's Relationships in Their Eyes Were Watching God Essay

Compare the relationship Janie had with Joe to the one she had with Tea Cake.

In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God wrote by Zora Neale Hurston Janie as a young girl has some romantic bones in her body. Her magical experience underneath a blossoming pear tree has a profound effect on her. She thinks Joe Starks is the one who can give her true love. Joe also makes her believe that she has keys to kingdom. After 20 years of her marriage to Joe she doesnt think she received her true love, because Joe made Janie socially and emotionally isolated. After Joe died, Janie married to Tea Cake; he gave Janie freedom to whatever she likes. And after living with Tea Cake Janie finally feels that she had lived a satisfying life.

Joe Starks, a man Janie thinks she love. She is blinded to his faults by her own vision of pear blossoms and bees and his entrepreneurs charisma. Joe values ambition and material wealth more than Janie. She suffers under his iron rule. Janie is forced to be silent, refrain from associating with the locals, hide her beautiful hair, and putter around the store. Joe keeps Janie socially and emotionally isolated. Janie is merely an ornament for Joe to show off. They had a big fight when Joe in front of people said I god almighty! A woman stays around store till she gets old as Methuselah and still cant cut a little thing like a plug of tobacco. Dont stand there rollin yo pop eyes at me vid yo rump hanging nearly to yo knees. After this fight they didnt talk to each other and Joe got sick and died and he was still cursing at her before her died.

Janie feels like a free bird from the cage being with Tea Cake. Janie is cautious when she first meets Tea Cake. He is younger than Janie, obviously not from the upper class. He won Janies heart by his fun-loving, egalitarian nature- a characteristic none of Janies previous husband had. Tea Cake tells his friends that Janie is wherever Ah wants her to be. Dats de kind uh wife she is and Ah love her for it. With tea Cake Janie doesnt mind returning to poor rural life. In facts, she rather enjoys the freedom it brings to associate with everyone she wants and speak freely. Tea Cake doesnt try to stifle Janies nature; he even encourages her to try new things, like checkers and hunting.

The conclusion is that Tea Cake was the better husband to Janie than Joe was. Joe use to stop Janie from doing anything socially and didnt allow her to communicate with people. Whereas Tea Cake allowed Janie to do anything she wanted and for the first time in her life Janie feels that how it feels to be loved. Janie thanks Tea Cake to giving her opportunity to love and for taking her far beyond her horizons. While living with Tea Cake Janie finally feels that she has lived a full and satisfying life