How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #21
Why must Joe be so mad with her for making him look small when he did it to her all the time? (8.1)
Janie recognizes and laments an unfair double standard: men always put down women and expect them to take it while the reverse does not hold true; women cannot possibly insult their men without drastic and often public consequences. There is a sexual double meaning here, with "small" meaning both Joe’s reputation and his actual manhood.
Quote #22
[Janie:] "But Ah ain’t goin’ outa here and Ah ain’t gointuh hush. Naw, you gointuh listen tuh me one time befo’ you die. Have yo’ way all yo’ life, trample and mash down and then die ruther than tuh let yo’self heah ‘bout it. Listen, Jody, you ain’t de Jody ah run off down de road wid. You’se whut’s left after he died. Ah run off tuh keep house wid you in uh wonderful way. But you wasn’t satisfied wid me de way Ah was. Naw! Mah own mind had tuh be squeezed and crowded out tuh make room for yours in me. " (8.39)
Janie makes plain to Joe one way that men try to keep women down—by silencing their voices (often by speaking louder than their women or ignoring their pleas). Because a person’s words are a direct product of their mind, Janie recognizes that Joe’s attempts to silence her are an intrusion on her very thoughts.
Quote #23
Then thought about herself. Years ago, she had told her girl self to wait for her in the looking glass. It had been a long time since she had remembered. Perhaps she’d better look. She went over to the dresser and looked hard at her skin and features. The young girl was gone, but a handsome woman had taken her place. (8.45)
Even after years of repression and insult from Joe, Janie’s womanly beauty and strength remain. This seems to be Hurston’s way of showing how much women can endure and still emerge with their sense of identity unscathed.
Quote #24
Janie found out very soon that her widowhood and property was a great challenge in South Florida. Before Jody had been dead a month, she noticed how often men who had never been intimates of Joe, drove considerable distances to ask after her welfare and offer their services as advisor.
"Uh woman by herself is uh pitiful thing," she was told over and again. "Dey needs aid and assistance. God never meant ‘em tuh try tuh stand by theirselves. You ain’t been used tuh knockin’ round and doin’ fuh yo’self, Mis’ Starks. You been well taken keer of, you needs a man." (9.5-6)
Women are considered incapable of fending for themselves. Janie’s suitors seem to use this argument to feel that they remain in control and obscure the fact Janie is in a position of power because of her physical attractiveness and her wealth.
Quote #25
"Womenfolks is easy taken advantage of. You know what tuh let none uh dese stray n*****s dat’s settin’ round heah git de inside track on yuh. They’s jes lak uh pack uh hawgs, when dey see uh full trough. What yuh needs is uh man dat yuh done lived uhround and know all about tuh sort of manage yo’ things fuh yuh and generally do round." (9.13)
Ike Green tries to feed Janie the idea that women cannot function on their own, without a man. However, readers recognize that Ike is one of the "hawgs" that he is so quick to condemn. Janie isn’t as dumb and easily duped as Ike thinks, either. She recognizes Ike’s tactics and calls him a "pee-de-bed."
Quote #26
He [Tea Cake] set it [the checkers] up and began to show her and she found herself glowing inside. Somebody wanted her to play. Somebody thought it natural for her to play. That was even nice. She looked him over and got little thrills from one of his good points. Those full, lazy eyes with the lashes curling sharply away like drawn scimitars. Then lean, over-padded shoulders and narrow waist. Even nice! (10.25)
Because Tea Cake treats men and women relatively equally—thinking they both have the right and intelligence to play the same games—Janie finds herself attracted to him. His unconventional thinking makes him even more attractive to Janie, who finds herself admiring his physical assets.
Quote #27
"Yuh can’t beat uh woman. Dey jes won’t stand fuh it. But Ah’ll come teach yuh agin. You gointuh be uh good player too, after while."
"You reckon so? Jody useter tell me Ah never would learn. It wuz too heavy fuh mah brains."
"Folks is playin’ it wide sense and folks is playin’ it without. But you got good meat on yo’ head. You’ll learn." (10.34-36)
Tea Cake differentiates himself from Joe by assuring Janie that women are just as smart as men and have just as much potential to better themselves. Tea Cake’s sense of gender equality is unprecedented and Janie basks in his praise.
Quote #28
[Janie to Tea Cake:] "If it wuz me, Ah’d wait on uh train. Seben miles is uh kinda long walk."
"It would be for you, ‘cause you ain’t used to it. But Ah’m seen women walk further’n dat. You could too, if yuh had it tuh do." (10.44-45)
Janie seems to some extent to see herself as Joe intended—weak and incapable as a woman. Tea Cake sets to work undoing some of the damage Joe has done, assuring Janie that she is stronger than she thinks. To reinforce the idea, he tells her of other women he has seen walk seven full miles.
Quote #29
[Tea Cake to Janie:] "Jes lak uh lil girl wid her Easter dress on. Even nice!" He locked the door and shook it to be sure and handed her the key. "Come on now, Ah’ll see yuh inside yo’ door and git on down de Dixie." (10.60)
Even though Tea Cake tries to treat men and women equally, he still unconsciously considers women weaker than men; he assumes they require men to escort them back home safely. He calls Janie a "lil girl wid her Easter dress on," somewhat diminishing her image and seriousness. Though chivalric, Tea Cake’s language and offer to walk Janie home might be read as sexist. Or, we could read it as his way of attempting to get an invitation to come inside her home.
Quote #30
[Pheoby about Janie:] "Still and all, she’s her own woman. She oughta know by now whut she wants tuh do." (12.7)
Pheoby, being a woman, recognizes that women are intelligent and know what they want out of life and out of their men. She sees that independence in Janie and thus awards her friend with the title of being "her own woman." This sense of self-ownership and self-confidence is usually reserved for a man. Thus, this can be seen as one instance of Janie crossing the traditional boundaries between men and women.
Quote #31
[Janie after Tea Cake has stolen her money and disappeared:] Way late in the morning the thought of Annie Tyler and Who Flung came to pay her a visit. Annie Tyler who at fifty-two had been left a widow with a good home and insurance money.
Mrs. Tyler with her dyed hair, newly straightened and her uncomfortable new false teeth, her leathery skin, blotchy with powder and giggle. Her love affairs, affairs with boys in their late teens or early twenties for all of whom she spent her money on suits of clothes, shoes, watches and things like that and how they all left her as soon as their wants were satisfied. Then when her ready cash was gone, had come Who Flung to denounce his predecessor as a scoundrel and took up around the house himself. It was he who persuaded her to sell her house and come to Tampa with him. The town had seen her limp off. The under-sized high-heel slippers were punishing her tired feet that looked like bunions all over. Her body squeezed and crowded into a tight corset that shoved her middle up under her chin. But she had gone off laughing and sure. As sure as Janie had been.
Then two weeks later the porter and conductor of the north bound local had helped her off the train at Maitland. Hair all gray and black and bluish and reddish in streaks. All the capers that cheap dye could cut was showing in her hair. Those slippers bent and griped just like her work-worn feet. The corset gone and the shaking old woman hanging all over herself. Everything that you could see was hanging. Her chin hung from her ears and rippled down her neck like drapes. Her hanging bosom and stomach and buttocks and legs that draped down over her ankles. She groaned but never giggled.
She was broken and her pride was gone, so she told those who asked what had happened. Who Flung had taken her to a shabby room in a shabby house in a shabby street and promised to marry her next day. They stayed in the room two whole days then she woke up to find Who Flung and her money gone. She got up to stir around and see if she could find him, and found herself too worn out to do much. All she found out was that she was too old a vessel for new wine…. (13.10-13)
This passage is particularly illustrative of the popular idea that women are all artifice and no substance. Annie Tyler uses her money to make herself look pretty in her old, decrepit age. But events work to reveal her true state, one in which "everything…was hanging," a state that decidedly lacks any pride or dignity. However, this passage condemns the shameless deception of young men, manipulating older women just to get their money and a night of pleasure. This passage shows the faults of both genders.
Quote #32
[Man at Tea Cake’s party:] "Ah don’t want nobody handin’ me nothin’. Specially don’t issue me out no rations. Ah always chooses mah rations." He kept right on plowing through the pile uh chicken. So Tea Cake got mad.
"You got mo’ nerve than uh brass monkey. Tell me, what post office did you ever pee in? Ah craves tuh know."
"Whut you mean by dat now?" the fellow asked.
"Ah means dis—it takes jus’ as much nerve tuh cut caper lak dat in uh United States Government Post Office as it do tuh comes pullin’ and haulin’ over any chicken Ah pay for. Hit de ground. Damned if Ah ain’t gointuh try you dis night."
So they all went outside to see if Tea Cake could handle the boogerboo. Tea Cake knocked out two of his teeth, so that man went on off from there. (13.40-44)
The novel shows a clear distinction between the ways men and women respond to conflict. The masculine response is demonstrated in this quote—they solve the problem by duking it out physically. They first exchange insults, implying that the other is less than a man. Then, they bring their fists into it, and the man that is defeated leaves quietly, in shame. This contrasts sharply with the method of the women in the book, who tend to gossip and snipe verbally at their enemies—as demonstrated by the gossipy women on the porches in Eatonville.
Quote #33
Then two men tried to pick a fight with one another, so Tea Cake said they had to kiss and make up. They didn’t want to do it. They’d rather go to jail, but everybody else liked the idea, so they made ‘em do it. Afterwards, both of them spit and gagged and wiped their mouths with the back of their hands. One went outside and chewed a little grass like a sick dog, he said to keep it from killing him. (13.44)
Men in this novel put so much worth into their identities as "manly" men, or straight males, that the idea of homosexuality frightens and repulses them deeply. The men’s reactions to the two men kissing are demonstrative of this idea, since one of them would rather chew grass like a mindless animal than affect affection for a person of the same sex.
Quote #34
[Tea Cake:] "Put dat two hundred back wid de rest, Janie. Mah dice. Ah no need no assistance tuh help me feed mah woman. From now on, you gointuh eat whutever mah money can buy uh and wear de same. When Ah ain’t got nothin’ you don’t git nothin’."
"Dat’s all right wid me." (13.76-77)
Tea Cake demonstrates his strong sense of masculinity by making "[his] woman," Janie, financially dependent on him. He takes pride in being able to provide for a woman who has lived such a privileged life. Although Janie never seems conflicted about living a poor life with Tea Cake, she kind of has to agree to live by what he provides or severely damage his pride.
Quote #35
Tea Cake made her [Janie] shoot at little things just to give her good aim. Pistol and shot gun and rifle. It got so the others stood around and watched them. Some of the men would beg for a shot at the target themselves. It was the most exciting thing on the muck. Better than the jook and the pool-room unless some special band was playing for a dance. And the thing that got everybody was the way Janie caught on. She got to the place she could shoot a hawk out of a pine tree and not tear him up. Shoot his head off. She got to be a better shot than Tea Cake. (14.14)
The idea of a woman handling weapons is a scandalous idea in the post-Civil War South. Its shock value draws many bystanders to witness this breach of gender barriers. By wielding a gun, Janie is taking on a definitively masculine role since she can now attack others and defend herself. The fact that Tea Cake teaches her how to shoot shows that he, unlike Joe, is not afraid of Janie becoming more independent than the average woman.
Quote #36
So the very next morning Janie got ready to pick beans along with Tea Cake. There was a suppressed murmur when she picked up a basket and went to work. She was already getting to be a special case on the muck. It was generally assumed that she thought herself too good to work like the rest of the women and that Tea Cake "pomped her up tuh dat." But all day long the romping and playing they carried on behind the boss’s back made her popular right away. It got the whole field to playing off and on. Then Tea Cake would help get supper afterwards. (14.27)
Here, both Janie and Tea Cake break gender boundaries. Janie, by coming out onto the fields to work like the other migrant men and women, shows that she can survive in a tough world, despite her prim and pampered life. By getting her hands dirty, Janie takes on the hard and dirty work often reserved for men. In return, Tea Cake "helps" her "get supper afterwards," meaning that Tea Cake ventures into the feminine realm of cooking and serving. Both sacrifice typical gender roles for the sake of being with each other and expressing their love for one another.
Quote #37
[After Janie finds Tea Cake messing around with Nunkie:] It wasn’t long before Tea Cake found her…and tried to talk. She cut him short with a blow and they fought from one room to the other, Janie trying to beat him, and Tea Cake kept holding her wrists and wherever he could to keep her from going too far. (15.9)
Even though Janie is justifiably angry with Tea Cake for flirting with Nunkie, she transgresses traditional gender boundaries by daring to hit Tea Cake. Because he loves her, Tea Cake does not retaliate, but he still "keeps her from going too far"—in other words, he keeps Janie from engaging in too much of this all-too-masculine violence.
Quote #38
When Mrs. Turner’s brother came and she brought him over to be introduced, Tea Cake had a brainstorm. Before the week was over he had whipped Janie. Not because her behavior justified his jealousy, but it relieved that awful fear inside him. Being able to whip her reassured him in possession. No brutal beating at all. He just slapped her around a bit to show he was boss. (17.1)
In a strange perversion of Joe’s act of beating Janie, Tea Cake strikes her, not to inflict fear, but to reassure himself of his possession over her. Read in one way, this makes Tea Cake just as misogynistic as Joe, but read in another light, probably Janie’s way of thinking, his beating is simply an expression of love for her and thus acceptable. This is kind of a freaky and twisted passage by modern standards. It’s strange that the narration makes it seem okay for him to possess her or be the boss of her. What happened to all of that gender equality we thought he symbolized? Anyway, we don’t recommend imitating Tea Cake as you express your affection for your family, significant other, or pets—they won’t appreciate it.
Quote #39
"Tea Cake, you sho is a lucky man," Sop-de-Bottom told him. "Uh person can see every place you hit her [Janie]. Ah bet she never raised her hand tuh hit yuh back, neither. Take some uh dese ol’ rusty black women and dey would fight yuh all night long and next day nobody couldn’t tell you ever hit ‘em. Dat’s de reason Ah done quit beatin’ mah woman. You can’t make no mark on ‘em at all. Lawd! Wouldn’t Ah love tuh whip uh tender woman lak Janie. Ah bet she don’t even holler. She jus’ cries, eh, Tea Cake?" (17.2)
In this extremely disturbing passage, Sop-de-Bottom verbalizes the desire of seemingly all men in the book to beat a beautiful, soft woman. The men receive pleasure out of seeing their women submit to their beatings and hearing them cry. Conversely, they become annoyed if the women behave out of their place and take on "masculine" roles by fighting back or verbally protesting. Also, seeing the marks of violence on their women’s skins gives the men a sense of possession over women that apparently turns them on. And beating the women doesn’t seem to have any purpose other than marking them as conquered, which is why Sop has stopped beating his wife—the marks don’t show on her. Maybe they should try tattoos or something a bit less abusive?
Quote #40
Pretty soon the girl that was waiting table for Mrs. Turner brought in the order and Sterrett took his fish and coffee in his hands and stood there. Coodemay wouldn’t take his off the tray like he should have.
"Naw, you hold it fuh me, baby, and lemme eat," he told the waitress. He took the fork and started to eat off the tray. (17.25-26)
Coodemay takes advantage of the waitress’ position as a woman and servant to her customers by assuming she will not complain about holding his plate for him while he eats. This thoughtlessness shows how deeply the stereotype of female inferiority was rooted in the society depicted in the novel.