Tea Cake Flaws

What happens when the man of your dreams turns out to be flawed? Vergible “Tea Cake” Woods, from Their Eyes Were Watching God, may seem appealing to Janie Crawford after her previous failed marriages, but he is far from perfect. Janie’s true love possesses quite a few vices, some of which cause her great distress. Despite his failings, Tea Cake represents a model husband in the eyes of Janie. Although Tea Cake gambles, forces his wife to work in the fields, and drags her into risky situations, Janie loves him nonetheless because he treats her as an equal. By “[portraying] a deeply flawed romantic relationship” (Gallon), Zora Neale Hurston expresses that the definition of love depends on one’s values.

To start with, Tea Cake exhibits spending

She refuses to let his gambling habit get in the way of her love of him, deciding “it [is] part of him, so it [is] all right” (Hurston 125). Almost every cent he spends is for Janie, from the new car he buys her before their wedding (Hurston 108) to the reckless wagers he makes to fulfill his promise to her (Hurston 125-128). No doubt Janie would prefer Tea Cake to a spendthrift who thinks only of himself. What matters more to Janie is the fact that her husband has indeed come back to her, and has made sure to tell her where he has been. “ ‘Don’t need tuh ast me where Ah been all dis time,’ ” declares Tea Cake, “ ‘cause it’s mah all day job tuh tell yuh’ ” (Hurston 121). Once he learns how much his caper has upset his wife, Tea Cake tries to change his ways, insisting he will never lay a finger on her money again (Hurston 120- 128). “ ‘From now on,’ ” he says, “‘you goingtuh eat whatever mah money can buy yuh and wear de same’ ” (Hurston 128). Realizing that Janie does not like being left out from whatever her husband is doing, no matter how dangerous, Tea Cake resolves to keep his wife involved (Hurston

Unable to stand being separated from his wife for the entire work day, Tea Cake tells his wife, “ ‘You betta come git uh job uh work out dere lak de rest uh de women’ ” (Hurston 133). “At first this sounds similar to what happened to Janie when she was married to Logan Killicks,” (Thomas), who forced his wife to do unpleasant farm chores so he could avoid having to do them (Hurston 26-32). Jody Starks, too, treated her as inferior, assigning his wife the burden of “ ‘[helping] out in de store and… [looking] after things whilst [Jody drummed] up things otherwise’ ” (Hurston 43). While basking in the adulation of his role as mayor, “Joe would hustle [Janie] off inside the store to sell something” (Hurston 54). Therefore, why is Tea Cake’s treatment of her any