Their Eyes Were Watching God (Ch 11-13): Joe or Tea Cake?

Throughout chapters 11 to 13, Hurston begins to give insight into Tea Cake's character. When Hurston first introduces Tea Cake in chapter 10, Janie remaks that although "she didn't know his name...he looked familiar" (Hurston 94). Throughout chapter 10, one supposes that Janie is so easily attracted and comfortable with Tea Cake because she considers Tea Cake to be "familiar." However, Hurston never communicates why Janie regards Tea Cake to be more of a friend than a stranger. By chapter 13, Hurston reveals a more intimate analyzation of Tea Cake once he must confess how and why he took Janie's two hundred dollars. He remarks that his first desire was to let "folks know who he was," and so he paid for a free supper for all (Hurston 123). Hurston divulges that Tea Cake's aspiration to become well known and respected is a result of the envy of whites that exists subtly throughout the novel but is never directly stated. Interestingly enough, Tea Cake's "generosity" becomes very similar to Joe's actions when he first arrives in Eastonville. Joe had informed Janie that "it had always been his wish and desire to be a big voice" (Hurston 29). In addition to their desire to become more distinguished, Tea Cake also begins to dictate Janie like Joe. When he proclaims that he was going to get Janie to come to the feast he was throwing, he is doubtful that she would have come and that she was too "skeered" (Hurston 124). Although it appears that Tea Cake is making excuses, Hurston begins to reveal that he thinks he can predict Janie's thoughts and desires and thus denies Janie her own voice. Thus, one can't help but question whether Janie feels Tea Cake is so familiar because she unconsciously recognizes similarities between him and Joe.