Not really an urgent issue, and perhaps not the right board .. but I wondered what the mumsnetters who’ve read ‘Their Eyes Watching God’, feel about the scene where Tea Cake, who Janie sees as her ideal man, beats her publicly to ‘show he was boss’ to their neighbours and she submits and ‘hangs on him helplessly’.
The other men even comment on how their wives would fight back, and are envious that Janie doesn’t. Janie’s second husband Jody beats her. She then verbally stands up for herself to him on multiple occasions. Janie’s first hubby Logan wants her to be his servant and work for him like a mule, but Janie refuses and then runs away with Jody. So it’s the part with Tea Cake, husband number 3, who up till now has been nice to her, that disturbed me.
One study guide said that it shows that Janie has found her voice but can restrain it, and that she submits to the beating because Tea Cake is jealous and needs to relieve his jealousy. I just found the image of her standing there and taking it really sad. Maybe Janie is single at the end and that means she had to liberate herself from him. Another critic said Tea Cake beating Janie shows he is real, with flaws, but couldn’t he have been a bit careless or lazy or something, because domestic violence isn’t just a character flaw! Another view was that Tea Cake is indoctrinated by patriarchy, and treats Janie as his equal as far as he is able to, and that Hurston is indicting sexism and dv by showing how even essentially good men can be influenced to commit them. But then one view our teacher mentioned was Hurston might have thought dv was ok, as it was seen so at the time. But Hurston portrays dv as wrong in her story ‘Sweat’ and when Jody commits it, so surely she can’t be saying that it’s alright if Tea Cake does it because he’s the hero really and Janie loves him, unlike the others?
It’s Janie silence and submission on the matter, which we never hear her view on, that troubles me. She still loves him at the end, but I can’t really interpret him as a romantic hero.
Full disclosure : I’m only 15, so not really mn’s intended audience, and this is my GCSE book. My friends all found that bit awful. I’m not sure what I think yet. I just was interested in getting other opinions. Anyone want to chip in? Sorry it was so long!