Monday, May 2, 2011
Chapters 14-17 (jealousy and color consciousness)
Hurston is covering a lot of ground here, efficiently showing us the external pressures on Janie and Tea Cake's relationship. How do you react? I for one was happy that Hurston surfaced and dealt with the issue of Janie's lighter skin and straighter hair. The whole book I've been flinching a bit every time someone fetishizes her hair; finally Hurston addresses the issue head on and has Janie say, "We'se uh mingled people"--and the reader is like: Yes! We may still feel uncomfortable about Hurston's choosing a straight-haired woman (or, for that matter, a woman with "pugnacious" breasts) to be her protagonist, making us kind of wonder whether liberation is possible for women who look different from Janie--but at least Hurston shows that she is aware of the issue. How liberated she is (and how Tea Cake deals with the external pressures) is a whole other issue...
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I love how Janie was finally allowed to particpate in listening to all the stories and working like a normal person - I think it's less a separation of gender than a perceived separation of class that doesn't exist so much in the everglades, whereas it did in Eatonville, mainly because of Joe. I loved the part where Janie gets jealous over Tea Cake, just because it shows a meaner, stronger streak in her character; I was slightly disappointed by Tea Cake, however, when he says that he loves Janie because she has something that all the others doesn't, in comparison to the other girl, who is "chunky." I wasn't sure if he was talking about looks or personality that made Janie different; I hope he meant personality. Ms. Turner intrigued and disgusted me; her logic seemed so contradictory and I almost wanted to laugh at her, but I felt bad for her as well. In chapter 17, it was strange that I didn't react with outrage to Tea Cake hitting Janie; in such a loving relationship as theirs, for some reason it didn't seem unnatural, even though Hurston used language about how Tea Cake was trying to "reassure himself of his posession."
ReplyDelete- Catherine Marris
After reading chapters 14-17 my question from the last blog has been answered. Tea Cake is a nice loviing make. He can't live without Janie. He even comes home early from work to spend time with her. A much greater man than Jody
ReplyDeleteTea cake is a loving husband to janie in this section. He really shows his love and it is nice to see that Janie is more confident about their relationship. Mrs.turner is a little wierd and I don't really understand her motives but It is good that Janie does not listen to what she says. I really looks like Janie and Tea cake have have set up a good life in the town and from the looks of it they don't seem like they are going to be moving anytime soon. In the end though I wonder why tea cake always feels like he needs to get involved in violence that takes place?
ReplyDeleteGood interesting stuff in this chapter. Especially with Mrs. Turner. One thought I was while reading was that it was pretty ridiculous how far Tea Cake went to defend her. Trying to stop an unnecessary commotion is one thing but to go as far as to say Mrs. Turner is a good woman after all of the awful and stupid things she said is taking it a step too far. I think in an attempt to portray Tea Cake as noble, Hurston made Tea Cake more of an "Uncle Tom".
ReplyDeleteSo I am a bit confused. Has all the attention Janie has gotten been because of her fair skin and "white" features? If so, I don't really understand what Hurston is trying to say. It changes the book from a story about a strong black women to something else, I am not quite sure to what yet though. Janie in the past has felt white, lived with white people, and now apparently looks white. I think this will play a part in her future somehow. - Amina
ReplyDeleteIn these chapters, Tea Cake do act suspicously around Nunkie, but he soon show his passionate love toward Janie afterwards. I felt that by spending almost a whole chapter with Mrs. Turner talking to Janie about the skin color and how Mrs. Turner hates Blacks was really good connection back to the author. I am kind of mad at Tea Cake for whipping Janie, cause Janie didn't do anything she didn't deerve it. It was Mrs. Turner that said Tea Cake is not right for Janie. Janie didn't say that.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting how Janie seems to not feel as abused in her relationship with Tea Cake, even though Tea Cake beats her as Jody did. She accepts when Tea Cake beats her after Mrs. Turner's brother comes. She remains silent just as she did with Jody, but still loves Tea Cake much more. What does her silence in this case mean?
ReplyDeleteThese chapters especially sharply contrast with the rest of the book, which so far has been divided into five sections: Janie's childhood and adolescence, her first marriage, her second marriage, the time in the city with Tea Cake, and their idyllic life in the everglades. I feel like each section could have developed into a separate story continuing her life in that place, especially since each one is so sharply defined by different places. It is more realistic that as much energy is devoted to each one, but it also makes for an awkwardly abrupt transformation of her story. Looking at these divisions, I am also impressed by how much of it was defined by nature and the landscape, especially since Hurston describes so little of it. She gives almost no clues as to the physical appearance of her characters' world, but the imagery I get from her writing is still very strong nonetheless, which is something that surprised me.
ReplyDeleteThis part of the book, as a continuation of the last few chapters, does seem to be a very different section. After the skimming over of all of Janie's twenty something years spent with Jody, we are finally getting a much more minute description of what Janie's life is like and individual events that pass. I feel like the book is slowing down and easing up, allowing Janie to bloom as a character, and allowing us more insight into both her own thoughts and her relationship with Tea Cake, which comes a such a contrast to the distant Jody.
ReplyDeleteOn a different note, I really loved the passage at the end of chapter 16 that described Mrs. Turner's deification of the white body. Hurston's language is beautiful, and strikingly powerful. She seems to write very confidently, and is unafraid to make statements like "real gods require blood".
I think Ariel's comment is really interesting. I also wondered why Tea Cake would defend Mrs.Turner if he does not like her and Janie's friendship. Why is he in her restaurant in the first place? I think the author was making a point about masculinity and defend women. Tea Cake is strong and defends Mrs. Turner while she needs help. I'm wondering about the significance of Mr.Turner and his not defending his wife like Tea Cake did.
ReplyDeleteAfter these reading chapters, my reaction was the Janie finally found a nice man that she likes. Before it was someone who she didn't like and it was someone who was picked for her. Now it was her choice. Though at sometimes Tea Cake does act suspicious or a little abusive towards Janie, he always ends up showing that she is the real woman he cares for and loves.
ReplyDeleteI cannnot for the life of me condone TC's gambling habits. Somehow I just find it wrong and immoral, just like smoking or doing drugs. It's kind of like a vice imo.
ReplyDeleteI kind of like the way Janie is free to do whatever she wants in chapter 14 (she can laugh and joke around, without Joe breathing down her neck and being a control freak)
I love the jealousy going on in chapter 15. Jealousy is a good sign---shows that they love each other enough to be jealous. It's a healthy kind of jealous...not like Joe's opressive jealousy, but rather a "i want u to love me because i love u too" kind of jealousy :)
I was shocked at how viciously TC insulted Turner's body. I mean like wow. That's soooo harsh lol xD (he could've been nicer about it)
After reading Turner's little spiel, I was appalled at her racist view. I rolmao-ed when Turner compared "negroness ratio" to "pecking order in a chickenyard" xD
Chapter 16 was weird. So TC beat Janie in order to show that he is her master? That's kinda...weird. And the fight was just horrible. Why do they have to fight, when they can just talk it out.....
What stood out the most in these chapters was Tea Cake beating Janie. He acted like it was a normal thing to do and was admired by other men for what he did. Janie reacted very lightly to the beating and did not speak up or defend herself. Here again we have a sign of Janie being dominated by a male. Perhaps her love for Tea Cake outweighs the fact that he beat her, but I still find this very strange and confusing.
ReplyDeleteI was really confused by the last section of the reading. Was the whole thing just a set-up to drive the Turners out of town? I couldn't tell if Tea Cake was genuinely trying to be a good person or if he wanted to cause even more commotion than there already was.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Amina, that the fact that Jamie looks like a white person really change the message of the story. How can she represent a strong, black woman who is proud of herself if she is above all other black women and doesn't even look black? It is also hard for her to portray this idealistic black woman if her husband beats her and she doesn't even have a reaction to it.
Overall, these chapters created very different personalities for Janie and Tea Cake, and changed how the reader sees their relationship.
I agree with Hannah in that the beating was strange because Tea Cake did it as if it was normal and natural, and Janie just seemed to accept it and go along with it because of her extreme love for him. It seems weird that Tea Cake would go along with beating Janie, and that Janie wouldn't make such a big deal or really complain about it. Like Hannah, I found this strange and confusing.
ReplyDelete-Sydney
I share Sarah's confusion, in that I don't understand if the fight at the restaurant was set up or if Tea Cake was actually trying to win over Mrs. Turner. Now I'm leaning towards a set up, to get them out of town, because Tea Cake made it clear that he didn't care what she thinks. Another thing I found interesting, was when Tea Cake beat Janie and other people from the Muck were actually proud and jealous of him for taking control. I wonder if this reaction had something to do with the their location and the type of people around them?
ReplyDeleteHenry Lucey
I used to think that Tea Cake was a better man than Jody, but now I'm thinking that he was just a rebound. Maybe those women (or people in general) that warned Janie about him were right. He did what they said he'd do- he took her money, for one (like when he took the $300 and used it for the party). Also, he's not trustworthy/reliable, since he used to leave all the time. And third, he beat her- that's one of the things which bothers me the most. I doubt that Janie and Tea Cake will work out after all.
ReplyDeleteTo me, Tea Cake is proving himself more and more to be something special, different from the other men in Janie's life. Neither Joe Starks or the man she was forced to marry was able to put Janie to work and under their control, yet Janie is more than willing to work with Tea Cake. Tea Cake is even able to beat her on one occassion and she holds no grudge.
ReplyDeleteI definately think Zorston is definately trying to hint the reader on some of the flaws in Janie and Tea Cake's relationship and to show that this is indeed an imperfect relationship. Some of those hints were when Tea Cake went away and spent(without permission)almost all of Janie's 200$ even though he did promised to get it back. Despite winning the first time being mentioned, the idea of Tea Cake making $(risking some of Janie's $) is a bad sign too(the author even notes that Tea Cake doesnt always win and sometimes "loses badly) Many of the stories that cover up Tea Cakes disappearances also have no proof of actually being true and it leads the reader with a shadow of doubt within this relationship
ReplyDeleteAndrew chan
Aaaah what happened? This book is slipping. I hate Mr and Mrs Turner, why're they becoming major characters? Tea Cake beating Janie was so weird and out of character. Nunkie's flirting was also crappy (I really hope that doesn't evolve into some ridiculous love triangle).
ReplyDeleteRace is finally becoming an issue in the novel... If not for the "black women are the mules of the world" one liner, you wouldn't have known this book featured all black people. Race just never came up. But now, with Mrs. Turner, it is.
I found Mrs. Turner's disgust of people darker than herself very disconcerting. Lee Coker has the appropriate response to this earlier in the book when he says, "Us colored folks is too envious of one 'nother. Dat's how come us don't git no further than us do. Us talks about de white man keepin' us down! Shucks! He don't have tuh. Us keeps our own selves down."
ReplyDelete-Benny
The combination of Mrs. Turner and Nunkie are putting a lot of pressure on Tea Cake. Until now the fact that he is poorer, younger and darker than Janie has not been an issue, or even addressed, but now they are all suddenly huge issues in their marriage. I am expecting some horrible event to happen soon to Tea Cake that plays on these 'flaws' of his. I believe Hurston was foreshadowing this when Tea Cake spoke of dying to Janie. Also the book is almost over and I'm expecting something major to happen soon that ties it to the beginning.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't surprised when there began to be an increase in obstacles between Tea Cake and Janie. Their energetic and "so-in-love" relationship seems too good to be true. When the first signs of jealousy from both sides came about, I did not hesitate to accept them. However, I was surprised about how Tea Cake dealt with the possible endangerement of his authority over Janie. I could understand Janie's tantrum over Tea Cake's playfulness with Nunkie, but I was taken back by Tea Cake's response to hit Janie for Mrs. Turner's brother. It just seems so different to how they were acting before. I never got a sense that Tea Cake was in control until this event occured.
ReplyDeleteJanie's behavior toward TC is so different than it was toward Jody. First, there's the whole white vs. Black thing. Like Mrs. Turner says, TC is much "Blacker" than Janie, but she doesn't see this as an issue. Yet, what attracted her to Jody was how much he looked like a white man- so race does matter?
ReplyDeleteThen there's the issue of violence: Jody beat her for humiliating him in public and for cooking a bad meal, arguably "her fault". But TC beats her knowing that she is not to blame, he simply wants to assert dominance. Yet when Jody beats her, Janie is not forgiving - she is emotional and upset. However, when TC beats her, she doesn't seem to care. As the other workers note, she continues to cling to him and show her love for him.
Even though in some ways TC is equally as terrible as Jody, Janie is completely under his spell. I can't help feeling that her undying faith in him is going to lead to their ruin.
Although Tea Cake uses violence to assume dominance over Janie just as Jody did, Janie is still infatuated with Tea Cake. Tea Cake and Janie's relationship is more closer than that of Janie and Jody - Jody's wealth pushed his desire to seek political power and a higher seat in the social hierarchy of his mini-kingdom. Tea Cake has no such wealth, nor does he seem to desire it. Just as Matt said, I'm looking to see what ties this strange story to Janie's initial state.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Teacake and Janie are both more happy in the Everglades than they ever were in Eatonville. However, I do not think that their relationship is perfect at all. They both still feel jealous of one another and do not trust eachother completely. This is seen when Janie accuses Teacake of wrestling with the girl and Teacake beats Janie to show her that he thinks of himself as "in charge." Each of them do not take much offense to it, but I still do not see this as a normal relationship.
ReplyDeleteThe beating was out of place, but I see why he did it, wasn't the right way to do things mind you. But I do think he is still better than Joe. Remember Tea Cake has given Janie, love, freedom, and a sense of belonging, much more than Joe ever did, and yes this beating is bad, I am not justifying domestic abuse. Tea Cake did one (VERY) stupid action, hitting Janie, but does that mean we should place him in the same boat as Joe?
ReplyDeleteAlthough this book explores the liberation of Janie, a black woman, does the book really do anything...because Janie receives so much attention because she looks white! What is the purpose of this?!?!
ReplyDeleteThroughout these last few chapters janie has been the center of attention. Mrs.turner tries to persuade her into leaving tea cake. Tea cake beats on janie.. Etc these chapters were very interesting
ReplyDelete