Analysis Of Janie In Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neale Hurston

In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston exposes the story of the love life of Janie. The relationship between Janie and her third husband, Tea Cake, was above and beyond the most positive of the three relationships with men she had and summoned forth her best assets. The relationships she had with these three men permitted her to be subjected to her first true love, expand her knowledge of working and taking care of herself, and discover a new culture/society. Janie’s relationship with Tea Cake was the first instance she truly fell in love with someone. Although Janie had previously been in two marriages, she did not truly fall in love with the men she married. In actuality, she mostly resented them and wanted to leave them. Her grandmother arranged Janie’s marriage for her, and Janie utterly hated her husband and her marriage to him. She did not feel ready for marriage, which she states on page 12 saying, “What Ah know ‘bout uh husband?”. Her second husband abused her and did not allow her to speak her mind or do as she pleased. He accomplished this by keeping her in his
While Janie and Tea Cake stayed in the marshes of Southern Florida to farm on the bean plantations, Tea Cake educated Janie in the ways of shooting a gun hunting. These are both valuable skills to have when you are low on money and in need of food. Tea Cake also had Janie work in the fields with him during the day, which allowed Janie to see what real labor was like. If Tea Cake were ever to leave Janie, she would easily be able to fend for herself with her new knowledge of farming and hunting, two key factors in self-preservation and survival during their time. Hurston is expressing to the reader through these experiences that even though one learns to take care of someone else in marriage, they also learn how to take care of themselves in