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Their Eyes Were Watching God
Introduction
‘Their Eyes Were Watching God’ was written by an African American writer, Zora Neale Hurston in 1937. The author describes the story of a girl who transforms into a woman by beating all the odds and stereotypical roles in society. This novel depicts the story of a non-white woman who tries to search for her voice and destiny in the cruel world. The character of Janie plays a major role in the transformation of the story to find self-actualization. It is notable to mention that the story of Janie is not a mere love story, but it illustrates the struggles of a woman to overcome stereotypical society to prevail in society. The story of Janie constructed by the author helps to identify different aspects, specifically relevant to the struggles and aspirations of women. This form of consideration can be better examined by exploring various themes of this short story. Sexual awakening is one major aspect that can be witnessed in the case of the character of Janie. Naturalist approach of sexuality was adopted by the author to address the phenomenon of sexual attraction for Janie that ultimately appeared in the case of one particular individual. The content of this theory also successfully discusses the idea of the difference that exists in the case of gender and racial discrimination. Mainly, the issue of black power is discussed by the writer through the main character of Janie. It is observed that different characters in the story adopted diverse ways to obtain some form of power in the white-dominated society. The idea of power gaining according to Janie’s nanny was for Janie to marry a financially strong individual. On the other hand, the main idea of power gaining was different for Janie who believed that correct identification of personal strengths is the key to achieve the desired level of authority. She believed that recognizing one’s self is necessary to practically deal with different problems of life. Janie believed in the idea that personal experiences ultimately can be assistive for someone to obtain a successful form of ultimate power. The broad domain of gender is also critically discussed in this literary work. The author tried to explain gender discrimination with the help of various examples in the novel. It is observed that mainly, the society in which Janie lived, was not willing to empower women in any form. Tea Cake often encouraged Janie about her strengths so she may fulfil her dreams. One must struggle to free himself from the various stereotypical roles to fulfill his dreams, like Janie.
Discussion
The author demonstrates the struggles of a woman who tried her best to find her identity. It is essential to mention that the character of Janie Crawford is the major focus of the novel to determine the pathway through which a normal girl defeated all odds. Janie is an African American woman with a black complexion who lived in the American South. It is noteworthy to mention that Janie left Eatonville, Florida to live with her grandmother Nanny. The author illustrated that her Nanny worked for a white, friendly couple after getting freedom from slavery. Janie spent her entire childhood with her Nanny, who brought her up in the backyard of the house of a white family. The author demonstrated that Nanny lived a major portion of her life as a slave, so she wanted Janie to find financial stability in her life (Newman 819). At that period, African Americans were mostly discriminated against and oppressed by Whites on the basis of their color and race. White men always considered themselves superior to other nations and races in the world, based on their color and race. They considered themselves more civilized as compared to African Americans, therefore, they usually discriminated against and oppressed them. Due to these particular reasons, Janie’s Nanny wanted to provide her with financial stability in her life along with significant social standing. The author demonstrated that Nanny had a controlling nature over Janie as she didn't want her to make bad decisions in her life (Alva, Rodrigo, and Maria 7). For that particular reason, her Nanny arranged Janie's marriage with Logan Killicks. Logan Killicks was a wealthy farmer in that area who married Janie. The author explicitly explains that Janie's involvement in an intimate relationship with a boy compelled her Nanny to marry her to Logan Killicks.
‘Their Eyes Were Watching God’ have many themes, but the author specifically emphasizes on judgment. Every person criticized her on the basis of her dressing and her personality. Upon Janie’s arrival at Eatonville, everyone began discussing her past and how she ran from this area before with a boy. It is important to consider the fact that the people of Eatonville treated her harshly and judged her. The author describes that it is the nature of people to discuss the past of different individuals. Unnecessary criticism and judgment are major factors that are effectively described by the author in this novel. Criticizing her past actions and present appearance can thoroughly be seen in the entire novel (Newman 822). The author further emphasized the theme of judgment in the entire novel where Janie was judged by society and her husbands. A thorough analysis of the entire novel explains that Janie always tried to tolerate harsh behavior and unnecessary judgment by her husband and community. Even though she was strong and sensible, she often felt extremely depressed by the judgment of others. In the novel, the author presented porch sitters of Eatonville as cruel, mean, and superficial, while Janie was presented as a kind, free-spirited and independent woman. With the use of impressive language and figurative speech, the author effectively explained the story of Janie who strives to define her existence without even caring about other’s criticism. Her determination to define herself motivated her in every aspect of life. Despite having multiple encounters with others, who judged her on the basis of her beauty and her relationship with others, she stayed motivated to make a change in society. The entire phenomenon of judgment started from her childhood when she got admission in her school. All other girls always judged her on the basis of her complexion and hair color (Newman 825). Janie encountered comments that tried to define her based on her complexion. Regardless of the majority of people of Eatonville, her friend Pheoby Watson was a kind and delightful woman who always encouraged and supported her to follow her dreams. Although the character of Pheoby was not mentioned enough, she was the only person who never judged Janie on the basis of her color or appearance.
The author used various literary elements in the story to present the struggles of African Americans in the early 20th century. The use of language helped the author to effectively present her rural Southern Black dialect in order to demonstrate the story of a struggling woman. One must need to understand that silence can be used as a source of empowerment. The author demonstrated that control over language represents a source of empowerment and identity. It is notable to mention that the author uses idioms and narration discourses in her novel to describe the tale of a woman who tried to discover self-actualization (Roberts 123). The author illustrated that fair-black complexion along with long braids of long dark hair presented a significant personality of Janie. Growing up with the white grandchildren of Mr. and Mrs. Washburn, Janie realized that she is different compared to these children. As compared to her counterparts, Janie had a coffee and cream complexion. Furthermore, the author uses long passages in the novel to uniquely describe the entire story of Janie in the American South. Using high literary narration, the author demonstrated that Janie was taunted at school on the basis of her odd color complexion as compared to other children. However, Janie remaining silent is noticeable in major parts of the story as a source of empowerment.
The treatment of silence is presented at various stages of Janie’s life in the novel. The novel demonstrated that Janie is not happy with her marriage with Logan Killicks due to his bad behavior. However, Janie often wished to fall in love with Logan Killicks after marriage. The author effectively used literary elements to illustrate the negative attitude and behavior of Logan towards Janie. It is essential to determine that regardless of the adequate efforts of Janie to love her husband, she often experienced abuse by Logan (Wolter 237). Logan always demotivated her to pursue her career and he treated her even worse than animals. Such negative attitude and behavior of Logan encouraged Janie to run away from him. The author illustrates that an African woman was treated as a slave in the American community. Black women are vulnerable in the society as they don’t have any social or financial support. Janie found a way to run away from Logan after meeting Joe Starks, who made her realize that she is worth more than that.
The author provides valuable information about Janie’s background in the novel that serves as the exposition of the entire novel. The character of Nanny is valuable in the life of Janie as she modified significant aspects of Janie’s life. While providing background information regarding Janie and her Nanny, the author explicitly defined the major reason behind the absedn of Janie’s mother. Janie’s mother and father left her soon after her birth, so she became the responsibility of her grandmother (Roberts 127). The author demonstrated the life of Nanny by stating that she served a white family as a slave. She used to work as a maid for a white family. Regardless of having minimum resources, Nanny arranged some resources with the help of a white family so Janie could get an education at one of the American schools. In a world full of mean and cruel people, Nanny was highly sincere towards Janie. On many occasions, the author illustrated that Nanny was always there for Janie in every circumstance. She supported her and protected her from all the judgmental people in society. Nanny always wanted to make sure that Janie felt comfortable. She always tried her best to provide Janie with a better and secure life, so she can effectively incorporate herself into society. The author used figurative language in order to explain the life of Janie. According to the author, “Janie saw her life like a great tree in leaf with the things suffered, things enjoyed, things done, and undone” (Hurston). In this statement, the author compared the life of Janie with a tree. In the entire novel, the author uses various examples that showcase some kind of advice for Janie. It is necessarily important to consider these examples in order to determine the extent of the figurative language used by the author. Janie watched a bee that entered the center of bloom in order to collect pollen from the flower (Roberts 133). After watching this scene, Janie realized that the entire world is like a bloom and her dreams are like the pollen that needed extraction. However, it is not easy for a person to get what he wants until he made an effort to get that thing.
The author demonstrates the idea of struggle in this novel to present the entire story of Janie’s struggles throughout her life. Janie made compromises and poor decisions in order to achieve true freedom in her life. Furthermore, the author tried to explain the lifelong dream of Janie in this judgmental world. Janie wanted to acquire feelings of true, unconditional love in her life. For that particular purpose, she married three times, until she found her true love (Bloom 13). As the story proceeds, it becomes clear that she always yearns to have a perfect love story. According to the author, “She had glossy leaves and bursting buds and she wanted to struggle with life but it seemed to elude her” (Hurston). Although she was unable to find true love in her first marriage, she continuously struggled to taste true love in her life. The author illustrated that Janie yearns for the answer in her childhood regarding love and marriage. For that particular purpose, she tried to relate every incident with love in order to find adequate answers for her queries. However, she was depressed and demotivated when she realized that her Nanny chooses Logan Killicks to be her husband. It was made clear by the author that Nanny wanted Janie to have a successful and happy life ahead (Roberts 141). Choosing Logan as her lawfully wedded husband was unsatisfactory for Janie as Logan was much older than her. Her Nanny justified that Logan would be a perfect partner for Janie, as he had his own farms and lands.
On the other hand, Janie was highly depressed upon the decision of her Nanny. Janie protested her Nanny decision as she wanted to experience love in her life, which was impossible with an older person. The author unambiguously described how the image of perfect love marriage disappeared from Janie’s life. Even though she was unhappy about Logan, she had no other way than to marry Logan. As the story continuous, the author illustrated that Janie and Logan were incompatible with each other. Janie was too much younger than Logan and she did not want to get stuck inside a cage. On the other hand, Logan had a conservative mind so he was not likely to accept the freedom of Janie. Opposite views of both partners lead towards a disastrous relationship between Janie and Logan (Bloom 15). By using the character of Logan, the author demonstrated that the stereotypical ideology of people always discouraged women to have a life of their own choice. Men dominated every aspect of a woman’s life due to previous traditions and cultures. However, Janie was not one of those women who got demotivated by other’s stereotypical judgment. Janie’s marriage with Logan did not provide her with real happiness that she always yearns about. The author stated Janie as “a real dark little girl” as she was trapped within a stereotypical society.
Evaluation of Janie’s marriage with Logan indicated that Janie had to suffer from various hardships in order to make Logan happy. With the passage of time, Logan began to reevaluate the role of Janie in his life. Logan spends a major portion of his life in a conservative society, so he began to evaluate her relationship with Janie on this basis. It is important to consider the fact that at that time people usually desired to have a hardworking wife. The author demonstrated that Logan began to treat Janie on that basis, which gave rise to harsh circumstances for Janie. As the story continues, the author revealed the true nature of Logan. Logan initiated to treat Janie as a slave, which illustrated that he had no respect for her. Logan began to confront Janie in front of every person, which was unacceptable for Janie. Janie did not want to chop wood for him, as Logan’s first wife used to do. Janie stood in front of her husband after hearing “if you can stand not to chop wood and tote wood Ah reckon you can stand not to git no dinner” (Hurston). It was hurtful for Janie who imagined a well-groomed life with Logan. After all these circumstances, Janie had made up her mind that she would leave Logan for her dreams.
Various frameworks are presented by the author in this novel that depicts the entire story of Janie. Among these frameworks, Janie’s involvement with Starks presented with early happiness in Janie’s life. Being with Starks personally satisfied Janie with a sense of self-satisfaction and determination. Starks was an ambitious person, who began to improve his status in Eatonville, Florida after returning with Janie (Bloom 13). His motivational and ambitious nature helped him to become the Mayor of that region. The author effectively used closer to a Southern dialect to represent the initial feelings of Janie for Starks. However, with the passage of time, Starks's attitude toward Janie began to change. In response to that, Janie began to feel stifled. The author demonstrated that Janie began to speak up for herself in order to avoid stereotypical roles in Starks's life, which eventually led her to get a beat-up in front of customers in the store.
The author effectively described the encouragement of Janie to speak up for herself in front of Starks, when he was on his bed rest. At that moment, Janie decided to cease to be silent and told him everything that she hated from his side. The author expressed the feeling that Janie was excited at the death of Starks as it provided her with a sense of actual freedom. Here, the author used literary elements to demonstrate the concept of actual freedom (Hurston). Instead of getting freedom from slavery, American society had not actually accepted these African Americans as equal. There always discriminated and oppressed African American in every aspect of life. The author illustrated what actual freedom is the one that allows a person to make his/her life choices as per his/her desire. Although Janie was free, in sense of society, she did not feel actual self-realization until the death of Starks. The author effectively used figurative language in her novel to represent various incidents and ideas (McKnight 83). The author expressed that Starks did not allow Janie to wear her hair down. This explicitly indicates that Starks considered Janie as per own property and did not want her to make her own life choices. With Starks gone, Janie began to dress as per her own desire. It is essential to consider that the author uses figurative speech in the novel in terms of Starks’ death. Here, the author resembles Starks as a stereotypical ideology to demonstrate the existence of crucial circumstances for African American women in society. According to the author, Janie was trapped with a person who was implementing stereotypical ideology on a woman. It was difficult for Janie to make her own choices due to the presence of his husband. Janie was not allowed to change her appearance even if she wanted to, which illustrates the conservative mindset of society. Death of Starks proved to be a turning point in the life of Janie as she can now make her own life choices without any interference from others (Hurston). Unfortunately, the internal liberty of Janie did not last for long as she suddenly falls in love with another person soon after the death of his husband.
Janie was fighting a psychological war regarding her relationship with Logan, which ended soon after the arrival of Joe Starks. Joe Starks had a completely different personality in comparison to Logan. While Logan was trying to treat Janie like slaves, Starks made her realize that she should be relaxing and enjoying her life. The author illustrated that every person is a slave of his/her own desires. The same was the case with Janie, as she wanted to have true and unconditional love in her life. Furthermore, it is important to consider that Starks always talked about ‘change and chance’ which encouraged Janie. In a world full of conservative and stereotype people, Starks represented an image of ‘far horizon’ for Janie. Since her childhood, Janie always wanted to achieve a ‘far horizon’ where she can spend her life in full solitude and freedom (McKnight 84). Sayings and actions of Joe Starks compelled Janie to run away with Joe Starks. Janie always wanted to explore different perspectives of the world, so she ran with Starks to explore what the world has to offer. The author utilized an interesting narrative structure throughout the novel to describe various events. The character of Joe Starks in this novel represented as an escape hatch for Janie. At first, Janie was encouraged and inspired by Joe’s speech and sympathetic nature. However, with the passage of time, Starks began to reveal his true nature when he beat Janie in front of the entire store (McKnight 86). Instead of falling in love with Starks, his actions strongly compelled Janie to establish feelings of hate for him. The spiritual journey of Janie to find self-awareness and love vanished with the passage of time.
The author gradually explained alteration in the character of Starks. The powerful presence of Starks in Eatonville revealed his ambition in front of Janie (McKnight 85). The author illustrated that Starks wanted to dominate every aspect of his life and society. For that particular purpose, Starks wanted to dominate Janie’s life as well. Regardless of the fact that Starks brought positive changes in the entire town, he was both feared and respected by the entire town. The author tried to explain that Starks commands the townspeople and Janie as well. Such behavior of Starks was shocking for Janie, as she considered him a true companion (Büşra 38). Attitude and behavior of Starks became even colder after his appointment as Mayor of the city. Janie began to feel isolated and lonely due to the new position of Starks. Here, the author tried to explain how power works. According to the author, a major change can be observed in the character and attitude of a person who acquires some sort of power (Büşra 38). Starks also exhibited the same level of power when he was appointed as mayor of the town. Furthermore, Starks was feared that another man will snatch her wife from him, so he wanted to keep herself bounded and restricted (Bloom 16). It is important to consider the fact that Janie had to abide by all instructions of Starks as she did no authority or saying in anything. Regardless of having a motivated soul, she had no power to challenge her husband. The possessive and cruel nature of Starks proved to be harsh for Janie as she was completely isolated from the townspeople and her husband.
In the novel, the author demonstrated that a person cannot resist the gift of love and passion from someone else. The same happened with Janie when she met with Tea Cake. Tea Cake met her in the former store of Starks and eventually fall in love with her. A critical analysis of the novel indicates that the entire society was not happy with the relationship between Janie and Tea Cake. The author illustrated that certain objections were raised by society in terms of Tea Cake's age and social status. At that period, society was very concerned about the age and social status of an individual. In order to save their reputation, society discouraged Janie to have a relationship with Tea Cake due to his younger age and lower social status. The stereotypical thoughts and beliefs of the society stood in the way of Janie and Tea Cake. However, Janie was unwilling to sacrifice her love and feelings for her society (Büşra 39). Therefore, she planned to continue her relationship with Tea Cake by leaving Eatonville, Florida. In the initial stage of their marriage, she found that Tea Cake was stealing from her purse. The author illustrated that Janie used silence in this matter, which eventually encouraged Tea Cake to assert power over her (Büşra 39). Mrs. Turner was the neighbor of Janie and Tea Cake, who often persuaded Janie to leave Tea Cake as he is a white person. Instead of being a black woman herself, Mrs. Turner persuaded Janie to marry his little brother. The author depicts the inexplicable and paradoxical nature of racism by illustrating the racial attitude of Mrs. Turner against her own people.
Janie began to realize that Tea Cake often considered her as a possession, rather than a partner. His attitude towards Janie was changed as he wanted to reassure that Janie belonged to him. When he realized that Janie was on the verge of leaving her, he began to beat her in order to control him. These kinds of control ultimately allowed Janie to isolate herself from her husband. Janie got freedom from Starks as he was dominating her in every matter. The same was the case with Tea Cake, which encouraged Janie to separate her from her husband. However, Janie decided to give a chance to Tea Cake, which eventually proved effective as he began to treat her nicely and equally (Büşra 39). One day, a massive hurricane hit their region and their happy life comes to an end. The author explicitly explained about the destruction that was caused by the hurricane. Destruction and terror were associated with the hurricane, which became the fate of Janie, Tea Cake, and other members of the society who risked their lives to remain in the muck. The unstable financial condition of Janie and her husband compelled them to stay in the muck. The majority of people left that area as they were aware of what a hurricane can do to them. During that massive hurricane, that particular region had to suffer from the various losses. Property and farms of people were badly destroyed by the hurricane. Tea Cake got bit by a dog and gone mad. With the passage of time, his attitude towards Janie became worse due to the infection. In order to save her life, Janie was compelled to kill Tea Cake.
Characters Analysis
A comprehensive analysis of different characters of the story is important to understand the main theme of this story. This form of consideration is also crucial to determine the significant role of various characters in different situations appears in the story. Janie Crawford Killicks Starks Woods is identified as the main character of this short story. It is noteworthy to mention that Janie Crawford grew up in a specific little community that strongly applied some unwritten laws and traditions. The detailed analysis of the story revealed that there were some particular rules applied to the girls of the community. Janie also had these restrictions that can be explicitly observed in the case of her childhood (Haddox 12). The difficult circumstances ultimately made it difficult for Janie to define herself by own self. Her personality is always defined by other people and she spent her childhood on the base of the judgmental opinion of others. She spent the early days of her childhood in Nanny’s household, playing with the white children of Mrs. Washburn. At the age of 6, Janie starts feeling that she is different from other children due to the different color of her skin. She is not liked other children because they are white and she was a brown-skinned little girl. Due to this difference, she experienced different forms of discrimination by others. It is observed that she was characterized as an outsider at school and immensely mocked by the other girls due to differences in her appearance. Other girls were biased towards her due to complexion. Later in life, she experienced different forms of relationships that eventually helped her to understand different prospects of life (Haddox 12). It is established that not the single relationship in her life considered her opinion or proprieties in life. Her personality and course of action are always interpreted by others that eventually defined directions of life for her.
In her first marriage to the farmer Logan Killicks, she tried to develop some rules by herself self but she ultimately failed to determine her strong position as the wife. She symbolized by her husband as the exploit kid who is not ready to perform her duty as the responsible wife of a farmer. This specific situation was immensely detrimental for her as she felt helpless to attain her authority in any form. Joe as the third person in Janie’s life also never provides grounds of equality to her. Joe’s role in the relationship was also authoritative as he never consulted Janie about any crucial perspective of life. Furthermore, it is important to indicate that in her late 30s, Janie attained some form of economic stability that eventually helped her to consider some life choices according to her own choices. Her love relationship with Tea Cake was one turning point in Janie’s life. It is critical to mention that although Tea Cake also defined the position for Janie it can never be characterized as any form of restriction for her. Her marriage with Tea Cake eventually helped her to find true love for which she strived for the rest of her life. Tea Cake considered her as an individual who is intelligent and has a strong personality (Büşra 38). This was the point when she ultimately rightly accepted by the migrant workers and ultimately, she never faced any form of judgment by others. The calamity of defining by others was strong handled by Janie to discover the true perspective of love and life for her.
The character of Nanny also played a critical role in the overall development of the story of Janie’s life. The author of this story never mentioned the name of Janie’s grandmother in the story, so she recognized as Nanny. Janie’s nanny born into slavery and faced different problems of being different from others. Nanny tells her life story to Janie when she was sixteen years old girl. The illustration of her experiences eventually opened new spectrums of life in front of Janie. She explained that what sad aspects can happen to an attractive woman. She explained that her daughter, Leafy, was the illegitimate outcome of the courtesies of the white master. The plot of this story also clearly indicates that Nanny fled the plantation to get escaped from beating promised by her mistress (Büşra 41). The exciting phenomenon of liberation was also observed by Nanny that was one unforgettable event of her life. Due to the facet of liberation, she successfully found a place in Florida where she worked and successfully raised her daughter. The character of Nanny was hopeful to make her life better as compare to the past but things did not happen as she planned. She felt a great form of disappointment when her daughter was raped that eventually increased life’s problem for a nanny and her daughter. Janie and her employer, Mrs. Washburn was two primary characters in Nanny’s life. It is observed that nanny immensely loved Janie but this affection is closely related to the facets of loyalty and responsibility. She always encouraged her granddaughter to achieve those dreams and ambitions that were not achieved by herself in life. In other words, the character of the nanny wanted to transfer her dreams to Janie and pushed her to adopt lifestyle according to her instructions. Both the characters of Nanny and Janie were closely linked with each other because they never had any other close relationship with them. It is important to indicate that the opinions of Nanny and Janie greatly conflicted with conflict with each other which can be established as the immense issue of the generation gap (Haddox 16). The ultimate objective of Nanny is to help Janie to grow up as a decent girl who has a clear understanding of her responsibilities in life.
The character of Logan Killicks in the story established as the old, unattractive man. This specific reality of Killicks was greatly ignored by Nanny as she perceived him as the crucial protection for Janie. She believed that he was a hardworking farmer who can create the necessary easy in Janie’s life. Logan married a young Janie and soon adopted his farm routines. He also performed certain household chores by considering as the responsibility. Logan believed these actions as his acts of love for his family but the definition of love was entirely different for Janie. She expected more help from his husband that ultimately become the reason for conflict between partners. The age difference between Logan and Janie made it difficult for both of them to successfully sustain their relationship.
Joe Stark is another crucial character that played a critical role in the life story of Janie. The most significant characteristic of the character of Joe defined as his confidence. He always showed an immense form of confidence in the case of his every action. It is observed that he had a clear understanding of his goals and aspirations in life and he never doubt his ability to meet his objectives. The physical appearance of Joe Starks never characterized as the overpowering domain. He was one average male with a dark complexion. In short, the character of Joe recognized as the dreamer who brings money, charisma, and a young bride to a town. Joe boldly adopted the new approach and established a connection with white landowners. His confidence eventually helped him to consider the approach of the self-elected mayor. The achievements of Joe Stark can never be considered complete with considering the prospects of crossroads store and the development of a U.S. government post office (Haddox 17). The power of self-confidence controlled by the role of Janie that ultimately causes clashes between them. Joe Starks had a strong opinion that Janie never had enough competence to administer different domains of life. Close consideration of the entire association between Janie and Joe revealed that he did not marry her for the sake of love. He established a relationship with him only due to aspects of power and control. Position and money were the ultimate goals for Joe Stark in life.
The character of Tea Cake also played a critical role in the story that defined another crucial dimension of the overall idea of life. At Eatonville, Tea Cake found the widow, Janie Starks that dramatically changed his life. He was greatly attracted by Janie and soon both involved in the strong association. The character of Tea Cake was also appeared as independent and confident as Joe Stark but he was different because he was not interested to construct building towns or stores. The proposal of courtship accepted by Janie that eventually involved them into the strong affectionate association. Tea Cake was a different individual from the rest of the male characters in the story because he was inclined to give the necessary important and worth to the Janie as one independent individual. The independent personality of Janie was happily accepted by Tea Cake that eventually helped her to understand the true meaning of love (Newman 821). He made it possible for Janie to explore her strengths and utilized them for her benefits in life. In short, the character of Tea Cake helped the main character of Janie to gain the necessary self-confidence in her life.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, African Americans had to suffer from oppression and discrimination in society. Janie, as a lead character in the novel, had to experience the same oppression to survive in society. The novel depicts that Janie made her life choices to find satisfaction and self-realization in the community. The novel effectively demonstrated that a female had to break stereotypical views of society to reach the skyline and to acquire her dreams. Furthermore, this story also helps to establish that consistent struggle eventually helps people to achieve their ultimate objectives in life. Janie strived to gain her self-identity that ultimately reflect with the immense guidance of Tea Cake. Accessibility of true love in life is one helpful perspective for the people to successfully utilize their inner potential to gain success and satisfaction in life. The main idea is that the right people in life guide people to make the right decisions in life to establish better forms of self-identity.
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