Not a Fan of Mr. Cake
Funeral Procession by Ellis Wilson (c. 1950) While reading Their Eyes Were Watching God , I felt as though the novel went from being a story about Janie to one centered around her relationship with Tea Cake. I find it odd how much focus his character gets, and the positive, loving nature with which Janie speaks and thinks about Tea Cake up to the end of the novel, because I personally thought there were a lot of parallels between Janie’s relationship with Tea Cake and her past soured relationships. There are certainly key differences between Tea Cake and the husbands who came before him. His and Janie’s relationship, which develops from a natural chemistry uninfluenced by finances, seems almost like the young love that Janie wanted but missed out on, and Tea Cake actually seems to care about Janie’s happiness. To Janie, these things clearly make all the difference, which is understandable at first. However, Tea Cake’s red flags and, eventually, abuse leave me wondering