Tea Cake Character Analysis in Their Eyes Were Watching God

Of her three husbands (Logan Killicks and Jody Starks being the first two), Tea Cake is Janie's one and only true love throughout the novel. Twelve years younger than Janie and of much lower social status, Tea Cake appears initially as a risky candidate for marriage. However, he treats Janie with far more respect and affection than either of her other husbands, though all is not perfect in their marriage as Tea Cake at times lies and once beats Janie. Upon their meeting, Tea Cake engages Janie in lively conversation and asks her to play checkers, treating her as an equal player. Tea Cake satisfies Janie's desire for sexual fulfillment and self-expression, allowing her to arrive at the horizon at the novel's end.

Tea Cake Quotes in Their Eyes Were Watching God

The Their Eyes Were Watching God quotes below are all either spoken by Tea Cake or refer to Tea Cake. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

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 every one of his good points.

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Page Number and Citation: 96

Explanation and Analysis:

He looked like the love thoughts of women. He could be a bee to a blossom – 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.

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Page Number and Citation: 106

Explanation and Analysis:

He drifted off into sleep and Janie looked down on him and felt a self-crushing love. So her soul crawled out from its hiding place.

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Page Number and Citation: 128

Explanation and Analysis:

Janie seethed. But Tea Cake never let go. They wrestled on until they were doped with their own fumes and emanations; till their clothes had been torn away; till he hurled her to the floor and held her there melting her resistance with the heat of his body, doing things with their bodies to express the inexpressible.

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Page Number and Citation: 137

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"Janie is wherever Ah wants tuh be. Dat's de kind uh wife she is and Ah love her for it."

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Page Number and Citation: 148

Explanation and Analysis:

Tea Cake was lying with his eyes closed and Janie hoped he was asleep. He wasn't. A great fear had took hold of him. What was this thing that set his brains fire and grabbed at his throat with iron fingers? Where did it come from and why did it hang around him?

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Page Number and Citation: 178

Explanation and Analysis:

"Ah done been tuh de horizon and back and now Ah kin set heah in mah house and live by comparisons. Dis house ain't so absent of things lak it used tuh be befo' Tea Cake come along. It's full uh thoughts, 'specially dat bedroom."

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Page Number and Citation: 191

Explanation and Analysis:

Of course he wasn't dead. He could never be dead until she herself had finished feeling and thinking. The kiss of his memory made pictures of love and light against the wall. Here was peace. She pulled in her horizon like a great fish net…She called in her soul to come and see.

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Page Number and Citation: 193

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Tea Cake Character Timeline in Their Eyes Were Watching God

The timeline below shows where the character Tea Cake appears in Their Eyes Were Watching God. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Desire, Love, and Independence Theme Icon

Power, Judgment, and Jealousy Theme Icon

...is revealed: her named is Janie Starks, and she left town with a man called Tea Cake, who was much younger than Janie. In response, a woman named Pearl Stone expresses resentment... (full context)

...and the reasons for her return, though she then proceeds to ask Janie herself about Tea Cake, and whether or not he stole her money or ran off with another woman. (full context)

Voice, Language and Storytelling Theme Icon

...that she has traveled "tuh de horizon and back." She has returned to Eatonville because Tea Cake is gone and she was no longer happy in the Everglades, where she and Tea... (full context)

...name. The man responds that his name is Vergible Woods, but that everyone calls him Tea Cake for short, which Janie attributes to his "sweetness." They continue flirting as customers arrive back... (full context)

Tea Cake says goodnight to Janie and she finds herself thinking about her safety on her walk... (full context)

Janie is tempted to ask Hezekiah what he knows about Tea Cake, but decides not to in order not to reveal her growing interest in him. Janie... (full context)

Having stayed at the store all day, Tea Cake walks Janie home, where they then eat pound cake and make fresh lemonade. After remarking... (full context)

The next morning, Hezekiah warns Janie about spending time with a man like Tea Cake, who he believes is too "low" for a woman like Janie. Janie listens, but is... (full context)

Janie spends the following day thinking about Tea Cake. Despite her conscious desire to suppress her feelings for him, she refers to him as... (full context)

After Tea Cake and Janie make their first public appearance together at the town picnic, Janie becomes the... (full context)

...her of her status as the object of the town's gossip, paying particular attention to Tea Cake 's low social status and the fact that Janie ought to continue mourning the death... (full context)

Janie tells Pheoby that Tea Cake is not comparable to Jody Starks, and that she wants to escape the potential comparisons... (full context)

Janie leaves Eatonville and meets Tea Cake in Jacksonville, where he's been waiting for her. Free from their past in Eatonville, Janie... (full context)

The next morning, Tea Cake leaves early in the morning, leaving Janie to ponder his whereabouts. Thinking still that Tea... (full context)

After Janie takes a nap, still waiting anxiously, she hears Tea Cake outside playing guitar. He admits to Janie that he found the money in her shirt,... (full context)

Tea Cake listens to Janie and promises to reimburse her for the money he stole. When Tea... (full context)

When Janie and Tea Cake arrive in the Everglades, Janie is overwhelmed by how lush and different the landscape is... (full context)

...traditionally female household roles of food preparation and cleaning, but spends the days working alongside Tea Cake. Even though the labor is demanding, Janie finds it "mo' nicer than settin' round dese... (full context)

Janie and Tea Cake 's home is crowded each night with neighbors, who visit either to listen to Tea... (full context)

Janie experiences romantic jealousy for the first time in her marriage with Tea Cake : she finds "a little seed of fear…growing into a tree" as she witnesses a... (full context)

After screaming, separating Tea Cake and Nunkie, and attempting to harm Nunkie physically, Janie and Tea Cake return home, where... (full context)

Satisfied with their lifestyle at the end of the harvest season, Janie and Tea Cake decide to remain in the muck and wait until next year. At this time, Janie... (full context)

When Janie returns inside to Tea Cake, she realizes that Tea Cake has heard her entire conversation with Mrs. Turner. Tea Cake... (full context)

After telling Janie that talking to Mr. Turner won't change Mrs. Turner's behavior toward her, Tea Cake instructs Janie simply to act coldly toward Mrs. Turner so that she realizes she is... (full context)

...becomes repopulated with both new and old faces, including Mrs. Turner's infamous brother. Instantly jealous, Tea Cake preemptively whips Janie in order to make sure she doesn't cheat on him. Upon observing... (full context)

After cashing in their paychecks on Saturday afternoon, men and women of the muck (including Tea Cake, Dick Sterrett, Coodemay, Stew Beef, Sop-de-Bottom, Bootyny and Motor Boat) gather at Mrs. Turner's restaurant... (full context)

One of the local Bahaman boys invites Tea Cake and Janie a ride to get to higher ground, but Tea Cake refuses the offer... (full context)

...awakening "the monster" in Lake Okechobee. All except one man – Motor Boat – leave Tea Cake and Janie's home to seek shelter in their own homes. The arrival of the hurricane... (full context)

As the wind slaps against them and the waters rise, Tea Cake tells Janie that he assumes she is thinking about her big house back in Eatonville... (full context)

Janie struggles to swim in the "fighting water" as Tea Cake, too, begins to lose his strength. Tea Cake sees a cow swimming with a dog... (full context)

Surrounded by dead bodies and destroyed homes in Palm Beach, Janie and Tea Cake discuss where to go and what to do next. Meanwhile, two white men carrying rifles... (full context)

When Tea Cake and Janie return, they are happily surprised to find out that Motor Boat survived the... (full context)

In the coming days, Janie watches Tea Cake lose his sanity, appearing as though "a great fear had took hold of him." He... (full context)

Before going to talk to the doctor again the following morning, Janie cautiously checks Tea Cake 's pistol while he is outside using the outhouse, and finds that it is loaded... (full context)

Later that same day, Janie is put on trial for Tea Cake 's death. In the courtroom, the black people who've come to watch have obviously turned... (full context)

The black men living around the muck realize after the "royal" burial Janie gives Tea Cake that they were wrong to abuse her as they did. As such, they turn their... (full context)

Before falling asleep that night, Janie returns to the memory of killing Tea Cake. She realizes that Tea Cake is still alive as long as she is still alive,... (full context)

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Tea Cake Character Analysis

Tea Cake Quotes in Their Eyes Were Watching God

Tea Cake Character Timeline in Their Eyes Were Watching God

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