Building Resilience Janie’s Journey of Building Resilience There have been many discussions on whether or not adversity, tragedy, and trauma can have a significant effect on a person's resilience: either increasing or shattering their perseverance. These experiences can influence and increase one's ability to recover from difficult situations. They may provide valuable lessons, strengthen one’s inner endurance, and help in creating better coping mechanisms. Like a muscle, resilience gets stronger as a person overcomes more and harder obstacles in life. Therefore, despite the fact that going through difficult situations is challenging, it can ultimately strengthen their resilience. Trauma, tragedy, and adversity all have a significant effect …show more content…
She even ridiculed him in her mind and was a little ashamed of the association” (106). Janie’s past traumas affect her decisions in the present with the possibility of something new with a man. However, due to the amount of trials she has gone through, it gives her the hope that things could be better. She decides to run off and marry Tea Cake. Her next adversity would be the thought that Johnny (Tea Cake) stole her money and ran off, leaving her. But hope kept her at their apartment until he came back and explained the situation, promising never to do something like that again. This honest answer from her husband filled Janie with the strength to believe in him once again, and she resiliently stood by his side in his decisions. Even through all of these struggles and oppositions, Janie has learned the importance of being hopeful and staying resilient. The next of Janie’s troubles came from living in the Everglades, and experiencing the trauma of the hurricane that swept through that part of the nation. Afterwards, Tea Cake got very sick from rabies and attempted to kill his wife. Janie protected herself, and shot her …show more content…
Janie, though all of this happened, holds her head up high and perseveres through the court trial that is being held against her. And due to her resilience, all charges against her are dropped, and she can return home a free woman. Through all of these hardships and trials that Janie has had to face, she has gained the ability to recover from such difficulties with relative ease, due to her having experienced such situations before, learned the importance of having hope in dire matters and setting boundaries, as well as learned healthier ways to process trauma and grief. Many studies show how people gain resilience through experiencing hardship and trials, and Janie is a prime example of how people can be perseverant even when it seems like there’s no hope. During the younger stages of her life, Leafy abandons her daughter in search of company with alcohol to heal from her broken past; and Nanny raises Janie in the fear of being abused by other people like she and Leafy
After this incident he continually puts Janie back in her place and allows her no authority, which causes her to relinquish her love for him. After his death, Janie is once again longing for power, which she finds in her love for Tea Cake. Tea Cake is younger than her, which automatically gives her more authority. He also loves her, an older woman, and that also gives her a sense of more power. She follows her power, and consequently her love, to the Everglades.
Janie then leaves Joe and doesn’t speak to him again until he is on his death bed. After Joe’s passing Janie meets a young man called Tea Cake. The town’s people feared that Tea Cake was only with Janie to attempt to steal her money. Janie ignored these warnings and runs away with Tea Cake anyway; Tea Cake soon gambles all of Janie’s money away. Not wanting Janie to provide for the two of them, Tea Cake moves the two of them to the everglades to harvest crops. Tea Cake allows Janie to be his equal and even lets her work in the fields with him. A hurricane rolls into Florida and instead of leaving with everyone else Tea Cake and Janie stay. During the storm while trying to protect Janie, Joe is bitten by a rabid dog and contracts rabies which eventually leads Janie to shoot him in self-defense. After buying an extravagant funeral for Tea Cake Janie returns to Eatonville to tell her story. Throughout Janie’s life her care takers/husbands have played four very different roles in molding Janie into the strong woman she becomes: Nanny wan an overbearing parental figure, Logan was her first husband that treated Janie like his slave, Joe was her second husband who held Janie as a trophy, and Tea Cake her third and final husband was Janie’s
TeaCake makes no promises to Janie and has nothing to offer her except his love, making him different from his previous counterparts who promised to meet her every want and need but fails extremely short of their goal. Janie has low expectations for the relationship, and is proven mistaken when he gives her what she truly desires. TeaCake 's loving fidelity and simple but true love for her is a relief to Janie after her previous marriage confinements. She feels completely free to do as she pleases without losing her feelings of love as she did in her relationships with Joe and Logan. As Janie and Tea Cake bond, Janie sees that TeaCake, a younger man with no richness, knows, accepts, and values her as no one else has ever done. Tea Cake is the only man Janie marries who cannot does not claim or insist to protect or solely provide for her. But Joe still takes a great deal of responsibility in the relationship. Janie also rightfully believes that who a person is, is more important than what he has. Only after Janie starts to trust Tea Cake, does Janie begin to free herself, and in fact feel eager, to tell her friend Pheoby all that has happened since she left Eatonville. Tea Cake 's love, acceptance, and understanding frees Janie to reveal her uniqueness, through non restricted language, and with a mature, confident, real presence. Janie easily leaves her elevated position in the community to start a new life with TeaCake. Hurston hints that the pursuit of individual aspirations can bring mental freedom, much more valuable than wealth. Regardless of obvious differences in age and social status Janie finally seems to have found true love in
He stood out to Janie so much because of his way of making her feel like she was important. When she was with Joe Starks he never really allowed her to speak because she was a woman. For this unfamiliar trait in Tea Cake, Janie leaves Eatonville with him to get married in Jacksonville. The newly married couple eventually moved to the Everglades. Janie loved this place because it was the opposite of Eatonville. “The men held arguments here like they used to do on the store porch.Only, here she could listen and laugh and even talk some herself if she wanted to”(Hurston 134). She felt apart of the conversation and noticed. Even though Tea Cake made Janie happy, she started to grow jealous of a little chunky girl who would always flirt with Tea Cake. This made her realize that true love means feeling jealous. One day the flirting became too much and “She just acted on feelings. She rushed into the cane and about the fifth row down she found Tea Cake and Nunkie struggling. She was on them before either knew”(Hurston 137). Her jealousy made their relationship stronger and made Tea Cake announce his love for her. Over time they grow through many trials and tribulations which causes Janie to find out the true meaning of love. By the end of their relationship, when Tea Cake dies, Janie has grown into a full woman who is satisfied with
Earlier Tea Cake had gotten jealous of Ms. Turner’s son, and has slapped Janie just to relieve his fear inside him that he had. Also to show Janie, Ms. Turner and her son who is boss. Tea Cake begins to the men, “Ah, didn’t wants whup her last night, but ol’ Mis’ Turner done sent for her brother tuh come tuh bait Janie in and take her way from me. Ah didn’t whup Janie ‘cause she done nothin’. Ah beat her tuh how dem Turners who is boss” (TEWWG.17.148). Tea Cake wanted to prove a point to all the men in the town that he can control what 's his.Then suddenly the next day the storm had came over the Everglades and had flooded the whole town. Janie and Tea Cake had to leave their home because they would have drowned if they stayed. On their way to a safe location, Tea Cake had gotten bit by a furious dog which was intended to bit Janie but didn’t because he jumped in front of it. When the storm was over they went back to the Everglades and Tea Cake had rabies. The doctor had ordered that they don’t sleep in the same bed but Tea Cake feels abandoned. Tea says, ““How come you ruther sleep on uh pallet than tuh sleep in de bed wid me?” Janie saw then that he had the gun in his hand that was hanging to his side.” (TEWWG.19.183). The rabies had gotten to him and was making him go crazy. Janie was scared and didn’t know what to do about the sickness of Tea Cake. He got worse and worse that has changed himself of being into someone that’s not him. The gun that Tea Cake had pointed towards Janie,“The pistol snapped once….and shoved in the shell as the second click told her that Tea Cake’s suffering brain was urging him on to kill....The pistol and the rifle rang out almost together” (TEWWG.19.183-184. He tried to kill Janie so she used a rifle to protect herself and shot Tea Cake. Also he shot back but missed. Tea Cake dies and Janie goes back the her old
Janie’s character undergoes a major change after Joe’s death. She has freedom. While the town goes to watch a ball game Janie meets Tea Cake. Tea Cake teaches Janie how to play checkers, hunt, and fish. That made Janie happy. “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” (Hurston 96). Tea Cake gave her the comfort of feeling wanted. Janie realizes Tea Cake’s difference from her prior relationships because he wants her to become happy and cares about what she likes to do. Janie tells Pheoby about moving away with Tea Cake and Pheoby tells her that people disapprove of the way she behaves right after the death of her husband. Janie says she controls her life and it has become time for her to live it her way. “Dis ain’t no business proposition, and no race after property and titles. Dis is uh love game. Ah done lived Grandma’s way, now Ah means tuh live mine” (Hurston 114). Janie becomes stronger as she dates Tea Cake because she no longer does for everyone else. Janie and Tea Cake decided to move to the Everglades, the muck. One afternoon, a hurricane came. The hurricane symbolizes disaster and another change in Janie’s life. “Capricious but impersonal, it is a concrete example of the destructive power found in nature. Janie, Tea Cake, and their friends can only look on in terror as the hurricane destroys the
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston created a heroine in Janie Crawford. Janie overcame many obstacles of her time. Acceptance into the community, self-discovery, and courageousness are some of Janie's obstacles.
Truly life was hard for many people in the early 20th century but the amount of tragedies that happened to Janie and some of her decisions were a bit outlandish. Janie is depicted as an extreme free spirit in a time where women empowerment was not on the rise, Janie made many independent choices without any repercussions like leaving her first husband. Janie left her first husband for Joe Starks abruptly and almost without any warning or punishment, her husband seemed to be okay with her decision and the grandmother that forced Janie into the marriage in the first place is nowhere to be seen. Another aspect of the story that was slightly unbelievable was Tea Cakes death. Tea Cake dies after getting bit by a rabid dog in the middle of a raging hurricane just seconds after the house that he and Janie share is overcome by waves. It seems as if too many things of epic proportions happened at nearly the same time. The question here is how was the dog even able to survive when Tea Cake and Janie were almost drowned by the storm? This question is never answered.
Tea Cake - Janie's third husband. He is understanding and warm. As he accepts her as herself, he also gets worked up and harms her a few times.
For twenty-years this love was the same as the marriage before. Although Janie became familiar with the people in Eatonville and built herself a home, she did not live for wealth or security. She was beaten by her husband and told that she was nothing but a women who was good for nothing but cleaning, cooking and keeping her mouth shut. Their marriage ended when Joe died of old age. She felt no remorse. About a month after Joe's death, along came a spirited, young man named Vergible Woods but known to all as Tea Cake. Tea Cake showed Janie a way of life and love that she had never known before. He had loved her for who she was ...
She was ready to move on and met another man at the store she owned. Tea Cake was his name and he had to work to win her love. Tea Cake was younger than Janie but that didn't stop him.
Janie found what she was looking for. She searched all her life to find what was within herself, and one special person was all that was needed to bring it out in her. Even though her and Tea Cake’s relationship ended in a tragedy, she knew that he really loved her for who she was. She didn’t need to be with him for protection, or she didn’t need to be the leading lady of a town or a mayor’s wife, she just needed the right kind of love and affection to bring out what was best in her.
Having lived under Joe 's thumb for so long, Janie is cautious as Tea Cake pursues her. He is much younger than she is and does not live a reliable life. Janie still looks through the lenses of society pertaining to love although she claims she wants true love. Fortunately, Tea Cake persistently pursues Janie. He respects her and treats her as an equal:
Unlike Janie’s previous two marriages to Logan Killicks and Joe Starks, her marriage to Tea Cakes was finally characterized by love and a balance of power, the two elements she sought for in a relationship. The couple had moved in together on the Everglades and lived a satisfying life. However, when the hurricane struck one day, everything Janie knew was destroyed. As described by Hurston, “[t]hrough the screaming wind they heard things crashing and things hurtling and dashing with unbelievable velocity” (159). Among this uncontrollable chaos, Tea Cakes was bitten by a rabid dog, and, several weeks later, was regrettably shot by Janie because he had gone delirious. The unfairness of the whole situation, to Janie specifically, was epitomized by Motor Boat’s survival through the storm. As expressed by Tea Cakes, “Heah we nelly kill our fool selves runnin’ way from danger and him lay up dere and sleep and float on off!” (173). Motor boat had simply slept through the storm in an old house, but managed to live through the entire ordeal, unlike Tea Cakes, who made great efforts, but ended up dying of disease. Consequently, while the positive and idealistic elements of Janie’s life was embodied by the tree, the harshly realistic elements were demonstrated through the storm and rabid dog. Furthermore, the
She respectfully mourns the death of Jody, but after a period of time she finds herself wearing what she wants, and doing whatever she has ever wanted to do. She burns the hair rags she was forced to wear, and it gives her power to feel as if she can do anything she desires. Jody has left her the house, store, and his money. She starts living like she has always wanted to, and unexpectedly she meets someone who completely changes her mind about being alone. Vergible “Tea Cake” Woods is Janie’s true love. Tea Cake is a man who finds Janie intelligent, and allows her to join in on activities she was prohibited from with Jody.. “He set it (the checkers) up and began to show her and she found herself glowing inside. 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 one of his good points. Those full, lazy eyes with the lashes curling sharply away like drawn scimitars,” (Hurston 95). Janie loves Tea Cake’s easygoing attitude and spontaneous lifestyle, but is still leery about him, and cannot decide if she wants to be with him due to an age gap between the two. Her relationship with Tea Cake was the most beneficial, because he saw her as his equal and never felt as if she was below him. Janie works in the Everglades with Tea Cake in the fields. She enjoys this labor for the fact