Jo Starks is depicted to be a very contrasting character to Killicks. Where Killicks was rough, simple, and expected Janie to work, Starks was much smoother with his words, ambitious, and does not want Janie to work at all. This actually ends up turning out to be the problem for Janie. In the initial stages of the relationship however, she is much happier than her previous marriage. While in her first marriage, she was frustrated with the amount of work Killicks give her, in this one, she gets angry internally about how Starks won't let her do anything. Starks's ambition and set ideas about his role in society has taken away Janie's independence. It made me curious how the author meant to portray Janie with these situations. Did she want Janie to seem unreasonable with her idea of men? or was she setting up Janie for a Goldilocks-type story where she finally meets someone just right for her? This raises the question about Tea Cake. Will he be another of Janie's ex-husbands she remembers with bad feelings or the one that Janie will be able to love even after he's gone?
Friday, October 18, 2019
Janie's Husbands
One thing I noticed while reading their eyes were watching god was how each of Janie's husbands seems to characterize a particular theme or characteristic. Janie's first husband was "chosen" by her grandmother after she had her first kiss. As our class discussed, Logan Killicks represented security and safety economically for Janie. He had a house and land, and he was eligible to be married, so he seemed to be the perfect choice for Janie. However, Janie could never fall in love with Killicks. Throughout their marriage, he became less romantic and started to order her to work around the farm. From an outside perspective, this could show equality and Killicks' respect for Janie, but she took it in a very different way. She believed that her role was to stay in the house while Killicks would do the outside work. For this reason, and a rise in Killicks' abuse, she decides to leave him for her second husband Jody Starks.
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As a reader, it's easier to root for and like Tea Cake because of how sweet he seems. He fits the mold of the romantic, loving boyfriend/husband the best out of Janie's three partners. However, I saw some red flags with how shady Tea Cake is sometimes. When he left with her $200 and didn't come back all day, it left Janie completely distraught. When he returned, she forgave him almost instantly, and all was good. Stuff like this slides during the honeymoon phase, but doesn't work long term.
ReplyDeleteI think Hurston made Janie never satisfied to show us that Janie won't be happy following the will of a man. In one case, Janie is unhappy from all the work Logan wants her to do. But on the flip side, Janie also is unhappy when Joe blocks her from doing anything. From these two marriages, I think it gives us the insight that what Janie really wants is to be independent and to make her own choices.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Katie, and she brought up the interesting point that she wouldn't be happy following the will of a man. We can tell by how she fends off all the suitors that this is true.
DeleteWhile Tea Cake is a pretty shady guy, the fact that he keeps coming back makes it at least seem like he won't impose anything on Janie, and that he'll let her make her own choices.
I think Hurston depicts each of these situations as a way to protest certain cultural practices surrounding marriage at the time. For example, with Logan she highlights the problems with arranged marriages, showing how being forced to pretend to love someone can be extremely damaging and generally what a terrible situation it is. I think part of what she is trying to say is “is it unreasonable to expect to be treated as an equal in marriage”, and generally just combat societal norms at the time. It’ll be interesting to see how the relationship with tea cake turns out. Whether he ends up being “the perfect man” or is just another way for Hurston to highlight another problem in our society.
ReplyDeleteI personally feel that Tea Cake is a radically different character in terms of the values which he represents. In a way, he is opposite Killicks because if Killicks represented security, than Tea Cake represents risk. I mean, we (and she) don't know a lot about him at this point and what we do know is that he is spontaneous and poor, and I wouldn't call spontaneous a reliable security option. Jody was kind of a risk, but not nearly as much as Tea Cake because Jody had the drive to make his money.
ReplyDeleteAs mentioned in class, Tea Cake doesn't treat Jamie as an object. He actually treats her as a human being. I think that Jody treats Jamie as a prize he had collected and just wants to store her away. Jody just never seemed like a good husband, even from the beginning. While Logan on the hand, was a good husband to her. Despite not having true love, he never mistreated Jamie and he treated her well. It'll be interesting to see how the dynamic between Jamie and Tea Cake will work out especially with Jamie being older and wiser than before.
ReplyDeleteWell I mean according to the rule of three, this should be the relationship that she can settle into. As far as I can tell the difference between the other relationship's is seen even in the foundation. Like you mentioned, Tea Cakes is the only one that treats Janie like a person. From there Tea Cakes even takes the relationship in Janie's time. I can't wait to see what else Tea Cake has in store.
ReplyDeleteBoth of janie's husbands actually share the feeling of wanting her to love them. Logan ached when Janie threatened to leave him and Jody felt so ashamed when he couldn't be the man she had once "loved." Both of their actions drive her away--but they couldn't help who they are, right? Tea cake seems different so far. We'll see how he holds up to the test of time.
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