How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #21
And he [Tea Cake] stood in the door and paid all the ugly women two dollars not to come in. One big meriny colored woman was so ugly till it was worth five dollars for her not to come in, so he gave it to her. (13.38)
This shows society’s abhorrence of ugliness. Although this was meant in jest, Tea Cake’s actions show how much he despises ugliness. This is probably sanctioned by his own good looks and his attachment to Janie, who seems to hold similar condescension for ugliness.
Quote #22
Mrs. Turner was a milky sort of a woman that belonged to child-bed. Her shoulders rounded a little, and she must have been conscious of her pelvis because she kept it stuck out in front of her so she could always see it. Tea Cake made a lot of fun about Mrs. Turner’s shape behind her back. He claimed that she had been shaped up by a cow kicking her from behind. She was an ironing board with things throwed at it. Then that same cow took and stepped in her mouth when she was a baby and left it wide and flat with her chin and nose almost meeting. (16.4)
Although Tea Cake has many reasons for despising Mrs. Turner, he starts off by insulting her appearance. This shows some pettiness in Tea Cake’s character—a shallow disdain for ugliness—that readers otherwise would not expect. But the fact of the matter is that Mrs. Turner is ugly. Is Hurston trying to imply that external appearances mirror a personal, internal character?
Quote #23
But Mrs. Turner’s shape and features were entirely approved by Mrs. Turner. Her nose was slightly pointed and she was proud. Her thin lips were an ever delight to her eyes. Even her buttocks in bas-relief were a source of pride. To her way of thinking all these things set her aside from Negroes. That was why she sought out Janie to friend with. Janie’s coffee-and-cream complexion and her luxurious hair made Mrs. Turner forgive her for wearing overalls like the other women who worked in the fields. She didn’t forgive her for marrying a man as dark as Tea Cake, but she felt that she could remedy that…her disfavorite subject was Negroes. (16.5)
What most people find abhorrent about her looks, Mrs. Turner considers a source of pride, simply because they set her apart from typical black attributes. They mark her as part-white which is better in her book than anything black. And she is attracted to Janie for the same reason. Mrs. Turner takes the differences between black and white to an aesthetic level, considering white beautiful while anything related to blackness is ugly.
Quote #24
"Look at me! Ah ain’t got no flat nose and liver lips. Ah’m uh featured woman. Ah got white folks’ features in mah face. Still and all Ah got tuh be lumped in wid all de rest. It ain’t fair. Even if dey don’t take us in wid de whites, dey oughta make us uh class tuh ourselves." (16.20)
To Mrs. Turner, conventional ugliness doesn’t apply. Her previously mentioned pointed nose, thin lips, and flat butt are a source of pride because she considers them to be evidence of her white bloodline. To Mrs. Turner, appearances are important because they denote social class.
Quote #25
[Mrs. Turner]: "You oughta meet mah brother. He’s real smart. Got dead straight hair." (16.22)
Her brother’s "dead straight hair" is a mark of his mixed-blood heritage. To Mrs. Turner, it is a mark of pride simply because it differentiates him from the rest of the common black people. Mrs. Turner also seems to imply that her brother’s intelligence is linked to his whiteness, since she places "he’s real smart" alongside "dead straight hair."
Quote #26
[Tea Cake on Mrs. Turner]: "Ah hates dat woman lak poison. Keep her from round dis house. Her look lak uh white woman! Wid dat meriny skin and hair jus’ as close tuh her head as ninety-nine is tuh uh hundred!" (16.36)
Where Mrs. Turner associates beauty with whiteness, Tea Cake takes the opposite stance. He considers white ugly, especially when it is mixed with black blood. So what are his thoughts on Janie? Mrs. Turner even thinks Janie looks more white than herself.
Quote #27
[Janie]: "…Ah jus’ uh ole woman dat nobody don’t want but you."
"Naw, you ain’t neither. You only sound ole when you tell folks when you wuz born, but wid de eye you’se young enough tuh suit most any man. Dat ain’t no lie. Ah knows plenty mo’ men would take yuh and work hard fuh de privilege. Ah done heard ‘em talk." (19.124-125)
Tea Cake takes Janie’s remark, which did not even explicitly refer to appearance, and turns it into something about her beauty. Tea Cake uses her good looks and youthful appearance to justify his jealousy, which is the last thing that Janie wants. So again, are Janie’s good looks a curse or a blessing?
Quote #28
"Aw you know dem white mens wuzn’t gointuh do nothin’ tuh no woman dat look lak her." (19.178)
The words "lak her" imply something akin to "so beautiful!" The accompanying implication is more serious, suggesting that white men base their judgments partially on the defendant’s looks and allow their libidos to influence their verdicts. The insinuation is that beautiful women are let off more easily in court than other people.