Their Eyes Were Watching God Chapters 11 & 12

1. Their Eyes Were Watching GodChapters 11 & 12 Sofronia Gould & Sean Laube

2. Chapter 11 Summary • Tea Cake doesn’t come back for a week and Janie begins to think he’s not interested. She becomes overcome with doubt and when he does come back, she decides to treat him coldly. However, she can’t keep up her façade for too long and she warms up to him again. • He plays a fake guitar for her, they play checkers, and then they go fishing. • When it gets too late, Janie says it’s time to go to bed but Tea Cake say she’s just trying to get rid of him because she thinks he’s a “rounder and a pimp,” which at some points she does. • After this Janie walks away from him, but Tea Cake gets scared and he basically admits he’s in love with her. • Janie twirls around and her face lights up like never before, but the very next second she thinks he’s just making it up. • Janie plays it safe with Tea Cake because he’s afraid he’s trying to take advantage of her as an “old fool.”

3. Chapter 11 Summary cont. • Tea Cake leaves abruptly afterwards and Janie checks her mouth, eyes, and hair to see how she looked. • The whole day he’s gone Janie resists thinking about Tea Cake ridicules him in her mind to console herself. She tells herself he’s hanging around different woman and calls him trashy. • However, the next morning he comes back and he wants to tell her his “daytime thoughts.” This means he still feels the same way about her in the morning as at night. • Later that night, Tea Cake is on her hammock and they go inside to eat dinner. They laughed so hard it rings throughout the house and the next morning Janie wake sup with Tea Cake kissing her breath away. • He gets dressed hurriedly, goes to work and he wouldn’t let her cook him breakfast. • Once, again Janie’s doubts return and he doesn’t show up again for four days. During this time she plunges into an abyss where “light has never been.” • When he does show up, he is in a battered down car and tells her they’re going to town to buy groceries. He wants to take her to the Sunday School picnic and bring the best basket. • Janie slips out the back with him and Tea Cake says he love her and if he’s lying, may God kill him.

4. Chapter 12 Summary • After the picnic, the whole town gets mad at Janie for being seen with somebody like Tea Cake. • They’re also mad because it’s only been 9 months since Joe Starks died and they think she’s gotten over him too fast. They also think Tea Cake’s possessive and telling her what to wear and do. • Sam Watson convinces Pheoby to talk to Janie so that she doesn’t end up like Ms. Tyler, an old widow who was cheated by a younger man. • Pheoby thinks she’s her own woman and is old enough to know what she wants to do, but Sam thinks her and Tea Cake are “both the devil.” • Pheoby ultimately thinks Janie will marry the man from Stanford, but agrees to talk to her anyway. • The next morning Pheobymakes her way to Janie’s house, making sure to stop and talk to people on the way to look less suspicious. • Pheobytells Janie that Tea Cake is too low for her, but Janie replies that while Jody wanted her to act pretentious and high-class, Tea Cake treats her as she wants to be treated.

5. Chapter 12 Summary cont. • Pheoby warns her that Tea Cake may be using her for her money and tells Janie that she has stopped mourning for Jody too soon. • Pheoby also cautions Janie about seeing a younger man because they’re usually in the relationship for money. • Janie says she intends to marry Tea Cake, sell the store, and start a new life far from Eatonville. She doesn’t want to stick around and have everyone comparing Tea Cake to Joe Starks. • Janie explains that her grandmomwanted her to live the leisurely life of a white woman, which is what she obtained with Joe, but she felt she was being suffocated. • Now that she’s done what her grandma wanted her to, she can go off and live her life the way she chooses. • Janie wants to sell the store and leave town and she asks Pheoby not to tell anyone about her plans. She’s determined to make a new life with Tea Cake. • Janie says that one of these morning she’ll just be gone.

6. Tea Cake & Janie’s Relationship • Tea Cake doesn’t come back for a week and she decides to be rude when he comes back. • She tries to come off more aloof than she really is, but she’s secretly hiding her feelings for him. • She knows there’s the possibility that he could leave her at any moment so she convinces herself every time he leaves that he won’t come back. • But he comes back each time and she begins to warm up to him. • He brings out a side of her that she never showed when she was with Jody. She’s more free spirited and happier than she ever was. • At first she was ashamed of the feelings she had for him because of the scorn she received from the townspeople, but she begins to put her own feelings first and goes after what she really wants.

7. Townspeople’s reaction to their relationship • They have a negative reaction to their relationship. • They fear she’s being taken advantage of and someone of her status can’t be with a man like him. • Some people are angry and think she stopped mourning Jody too soon. • Their relationship is treated as a scandal. They consider Tea Cake to be a gold digger. • Hezekiah compares their relationship to Ms. Taylor; she began a relationship with someone much younger than her and he left her to be broke, old, and widowed. • The men’s contempt for their relationship is ironic because they were trying to woo her as well and they can be seen as envious of Tea Cake.

8. Janie’s Changing Identity • Janie frees herself during this time period. • After almost a decade of being socially captive by Jody, she learns to be independent and make her decisions on her own. • Janie’s old life consisted of her sitting down on the porch and living as a status symbol – the beautiful lady to the wealthy, powerful mayor. Now, she’s finally coming into her own. • Before she would hold her tongue and not give her opinion on matters, but without Jody holding her back she’s free to go after her ambitions.

9. Janie/Pheoby’s Relationship • Janie is able to confide in Pheoby things she can’t tell anybody else; such as she’s not sad that Jody died and her plan to sell the store and leave town with Tea Cake. • Their conversation shows how much Janie has grown in terms of expressing herself. Before, she stated that she hated her grandmom, but now she can expand on the reason why. She doesn’t simply hate her – she just hates the ideals she was raised under and how she valued materialism. • Pheoby shows herself as a dedicated friend. Where the rest of the townspeople criticize Janie aimlessly, Pheoby stands up for her to Hezekiah. • Pheoby genuinely cares for Janie’s happiness while the rest of the townspeople have a certain view they want her to attain.

10. Class Activity #1 • If you were Janie, how would you react to the scorn from the townspeople? Write a paragraph explaining what you would do in her situation and share it with the class.

11. Class Activity #2 • In your groups, find a quote with figurative language and discuss what it means to you. Then, draw a picture showing what it means and present it. The best picture will win an award.

12. Figurative Language • "At the newel post Janie whirled around and for the space of a thought she was lit up like a transfiguration.“: A transfiguration is a change in form or appearance, and it shows that Janie is transforming into someone happier than her old self. In that moment, she was finally free to be herself and was shining like no one could put her light out. (Simile) • "The next thought buried her under tons of cold futility.“: Janie went from having fun to doubting herself. She began to think the situation she was in was useless. She didn’t know if Tea Cake loved her or not, and the possibility that he didn’t was burying her in uncertainty. (Personification) • “In the cool of the afternoon the fiend from hell specially sent to lovers arrived at Janie’s ear.”: The fiend from hell is doubt personified. After Janie spent the night with Tea Cake she has begun to realize that she is in love, and doubt is something that comes with love. (Personification) • “He could be a bee to a blossom - he could be a pear tree blossom in the spring. He seemed to be crushing scent out of the world with his footsteps. Crushing aromatic herbs with every step he took. Spices hung about him. He was a glance from God.”: At this moment, Tea Cake is seen as a perfect match for Janie. He is everything she could ever imagine being in a man and she views him as a blessing from God. Tea Cake could be the partner who finally brings her to the horizon she wishes for. (Metaphor)

13. Analysis Questions • In what ways does Tea Cake help Janie express her inner desires? • How is Janie breaking free from the community and the social standards around her? • How does Janie’s ideals differ from her grandmom’s materialistic ways? • How has Janie matured since her relationship with Jody?