Their Eyes were Watching God: Chapters 19-20

Chapter 19 begins with descriptions of the devastation from the hurricane. Dead bodies are found in the everglades and Hurston provides the reader with another example of racism. As discussed in the novel, white bodies were given coffins and black bodies were buried without one.  Hurston wrote, "They makin' coffins fuh all de white folks" (Hurston 171). This provides another example of prejudice that Tea Cake and Janie had to endure. As the chapter continues, Tea Cake's health dramatically declines. He wasn't able to drink or eat anything. Janie calls Dr. Simmons to check on Tea Cake. He comes to the conclusion that Tea Cake had been bitten by a mad dog when saving Janie during the hurricane and there was close to no chance of survival. He goes on to say that Tea Cake could bite someone else which would put them in a critical condition. Later, when Janie was propping Tea Cake up in bed, she felt a pistol under his pillow. As they were still waiting for medicine to be sent to their home, Janie grew frightened that Tea Cake might try and hurt her. As Tea Cake grew sicker and more paranoid, he drew his pistol on Janie. Thankfully she had taken the first three bullets out so Tea Cake's first attempts would give Janie time to run. When Tea Cake shot the pistol, Janie had prepared herself with a rifle. In order for her to save herself, she shot Tea Cake. This ended up killing him. 

Janie was then put on trial for the murder of Tea Cake. The all-male, all-white jury found her innocent after she and Dr. Simmons provided testimonies. Janie goes down to Palm Beach and buries Tea Cake. Hurston wrote, "No expensive veils and robes for Janie this time. She went on in her overalls. She was too busy feeling grief to dress like grief" (189). This shows how genuine Janie's love for Tea Cake was and contrasts Tea Cake's death and Jodie's death to show how Janie truly felt about the two men.

Lastly in chapter 20, Janie returns home to Eatonville. She wants to plant the seeds Tea Cake gave her in memory of him. We return to present day. Janie has finished telling her story to Pheoby and is glad to be home. She talks about how she expects to receive criticism from people in the town but she can handle it because she feels fulfilled with her life.

Questions:

1. Do you think the choice to keep Tea Cake at home instead of a controlled environment was right? Why or why not?

2. Was there another way for Janie to protect herself other than shooting Tea Cake?

Their Eyes Were Watching God: Chapters 17-18

Chapter 17 begins with Tea Cake beating Janie out of jealousy because Mrs. Turner’s brother is in town. He pampers Janie afterwards and Janie does not seem to harbor any ill feelings about the incident. Then a fight breaks out in Mrs. Turner’s bar. Mrs. Turner is injured, and she yells at her husband for letting the men in to just tear the place apart. The chapter ends with the men who tore up her place coming to her and apologizing profusely, giving her 5 dollars from each of them.

Chapter 18 begins with Janie noticing that the indigenous people of the region are leaving the area. When she asks why, they say it is because a hurricane is coming. When asked if they are going to leave, Tea Cake decides that he and Janie will stay. Soon the hurricane begins to hit the town and Janie and Tea Cake are forced to flee to higher ground, leaving their friend Motor Boat behind. They have to swim in some areas, passing dead bodies and debris as they go. Janie finds a cow with a dog on its back and tries to hold onto the cow’s tail in order to stay afloat. When the dog attacks her, Tea Cake kills it. At the end of the chapter, we are left with Tea Cake and Janie finding a place to rest.

In these chapters, we get to see a darker side of Tea Cake. He is not the sweet man with a few small fatal flaws we thought he was. He is turning out to be just like the rest of the men Janie has been with. He tries to control Janie because of his jealousy, just like Jody Starks. In Chapter 18, on page 159, we get a quote that is the closest thing we have to the title: “Six eyes were questioning God”.

Will they go back to Eatonville?

Will Janie stay with Tea Cake or move on?

Their Eyes Were Watching God: Chapters 6-8

 Chapter 6 starts off with Janie in the store listening to some of the townsmen tease a man named Matt Bonner about an underfed, overworked, mis-tempered mule. Everyone in Eatonville pokes fun at the mule, just like they talk about the women in the town. They are a source of laughter and entertainment for the men, but it comes at the emotional and sometimes physical cost of the women and the mule. As much as Janie enjoys listening to the men, Jody does not let her sit outside which bothers Janie, but not as much as his persistence on her wearing a head rag out in public. The mule ends up running away and some of the townsmen find it outside the store. They mess around with it which upsets Janie and leads to Jody buying the mule so that it can rest until its death. It becomes a symbol of pride in the town. Eventually, the mule dies, and they town holds a mock funeral for it, but again, Jody prohibits Janie from engaging in town activities. As the chapters go on, the men on the porch continue to tell stories that catch Janie’s attention, but Joe consistently reals her back and picks fights with her to prevent her from engaging. Jody has built a “high chair” for her to sit on, and he thinks she should be grateful, but she wants to run free, feel emotions, and be a part of the rich community in Eatonville. He is constantly restricting her feelings to keep up this perfect persona that he imagines for her, and as the years go on, it wears Janie down. The years age Janie, but they age Jody even more. He starts to become insecure in his own skin and takes it out on Janie by ridiculing her appearance, until she finally snaps back which leads to his physical decline. His reputation plummets alongside his self-esteem and power. After a big fight in the store, Janie and Jody live in separate rooms in the house and Jody’s health deteriorates. He consults with alternative doctors which tell him lies, until we finally learn that his kidneys are failing, and he is going to die. Janie decides to talk with him one last time, and she tells him that he does not even really know who she truly is because he was always trying to change her. In the end of Chapter 8, Jody takes his last breath and Janie lets her hair down, frees herself from Joe’s grasp, then puts it back up to put on a mask of grief for the townsfolk.

Chapter 6-8 center around death with both the mule and Jody passing. When the mule died, the vultures stalked the funeral until it was finally their time, and with Jody, the “wingless bird” clouded the town, foreshadowing his death. Both the mule and Jody were a sense of pride for the town at one point, but with their death, Eatonville can move own to new, hopeful, and freeing endeavors.

What is next for Janie?