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Tea Cake and Janie: A Romance For the Ages

As we progressed throughout TEWWG, the main focus of the novel became the relationship between Janie and Tea Cake. As we explored their connection and interactions deeper I personally felt as though this novel became a tragic love story. Janie and Tea Cake's love is undoubtedly strong and even after his death she feels as though he still lives on within her. So much of this novel is dedicated to their romantic journey that I feel this novel is mainly and most importantly a love story.

The narrative of  her other two marriages were not anywhere near as romantic or strikingly powerful as her time with Tea Cake. Logan is decidedly bland in the romance department, and while Jody initially provides some excitement, he is far from the knight in shining armor that he tries to portray himself as.  Both of these relationships mostly just provide context and background for her final and most important marriage to Teak Cake.

Janie struggles to find a man who she truly loves and wishes to be with. Her first two attempts end badly and it seems as though she may just be unlucky. However, the arrival of Tea Cake marks her awakening into the life she was meant to live, and their incredibly powerful connection guides her towards the incredibly strong figure she is by the end of the book. Their romance is certainly one for the literary ages

Comments

  1. DanbiNovember 10, 2019 at 2:41 AM

    I was actually pretty surprised that TEWWG ended up as kind of a romance novel/love story. One could definitely find other central themes within the book and make it about something else, but for me and probably many others, one of the most striking and long lasting impressions of the book were about the love story of Teacake and Janie. I wouldn't necessarily say that Logan was bland. The reader sees that he used to be relatively romantic (or try?) and would comb through Janie's hair and what not but Janie and Logan obviously did not match well, with a huge part of it being that Janie did not love him and probably would not have ended up with him had it not be for her grandmother. I think what made Janie's relationship with Teacake so different is he let her have the freedom she wanted. Janie is pictured as this super strong, independent woman in the beginning of the novel and we see her slowly being shrunken down throughout her relationships with Logan and Jody so when Teacake comes along, it's so different because he's only opening her horizons by teaching her how to hunt/shoot, fish, play checkers, etc. He is not that controlling which goes perfectly along with Janie's ideals because Janie seems to want that lovely romance but still be able to be free. Lastly, I think a reason why Teacake and Janie's relationship worked so much better was because Janie's other two relationships were forced, with her marriage to Logan Killicks being literally forced upon her by her grandmother and her marriage to Jody seemingly being a way out or escape from her previous marriage. She kind of stumbled upon Teacake and actually got to know him before getting married, unlike her previous marriages.

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