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?
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