Tea Cake Sucks
Tea Cake’s physical abuse of Janie is simply wrong. It doesn’t matter the context of the time period or the differences in culture across time, there should be no defending or downplaying of domestic abuse. I understand the idea that it was a much different time and this was probably normalized, with the term “domestic abuse” not even existing yet. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be looking at the situation through a modern, better lens. Yes, Zora Neale Hurston may not have been meaning to make a big statement on domestic abuse, but ultimately it doesn’t matter what she intended because we as the readers live in a time with more progressed ethical values and can see more clearly the issues behind their relationship. Tea Cake’s character should be criticized, decisively more so than from him potentially being after Janie’s money.
Jadie is shown to not be upset or hold any hard feelings against Tea Cake after he beats her, but I don’t think this should mean Tea Cake should be completely forgiven for his domestic violence. If anything, it goes to show the unhealthy control he has over her to make her not care about beating her if it means he gets to prove something to their neighbors. The situation is presented as Tea Cake showing the other members of the community that he has power over Jadie, but in doing so he’s also showing Jadie that he has power over her. Perhaps Jadie does nothing about it because she is scared of how Tea Cake might use that power he holds against her. It’s very possible that Jadie is not fully conscious of how the abuse is affecting her and how unhealthy their relationship is, but nobody can go through something that traumatizing and not be deeply affected, even if it's mostly subconscious.
Culture changes over time, but that doesn’t mean we can’t look back and criticize figures of the past for wrongdoings. If someone has tweets brought up from 20 years ago with racist comments, they should still be held accountable. We no longer celebrate Columbus Day because of all the horrible things he did to the Native Americans that he encountered, when people back then were more than happy to overlook those aspects and just focus on his accomplishments of discovery. There’s a reason we teach history in schools and it’s so we can look at mistakes of the past, realize how wrong they were, and learn how to move forward progressively. We have every right to look at Their Eyes Were Watching God from a modern perspective, and we SHOULD do so because I’d like to think we have improved moral values over time.
I definitely agree with the points you make - especially about holding Tea Cake accountable for abuse. Different social norms from other time periods does not ever mean abuse is okay. Janie, tired of her community always having something to say about her, tolerates his abuse, even if it's "just an act". There must be other ways of him showing that the relationship is "normal" that are not domestic abuse. I would've loved to see Tea Cake not assimilate to the community's expectations of him, but it goes to show what he really cares about: putting on an act...
ReplyDeleteI think that you make a lot of really good points here and I also found myself very confused by Tea Cake in this book. Especially when compared to the way that Joe treats Janie, which is very clearly shown to be wrong, it just doesn't make sense to me why what Tea Cake does is treated so lightly. I wonder why there is no real examination of what Tea Cake does and the way it impacts Janie in this book. It seems like it would be hard to miss or overlook.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with you and will join you in your Tea Cake hatred. I think it's really interesting that we don't get an interpretation of the moment from Janie at all, and even the narrator seems fairly silent on the situation. The only real thoughts we get on the beating are from the other community members, where they congratulate Tea Cake. I wonder what Hurston really thought about the situation since it seems she just decided to go full anthropology mode and just analyze what the people in the community would think of them. I think it's quite odd there is no effort to even slightly chastise Tea Cake for his actions.
ReplyDeleteI am positively appalled at your blatant time-ist language. I expected better of you.
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Devil's advocate here. What about cultural relativism? Do we make an exception across time periods? If anything would be the exception, that would. But then, does it always go one way - can we always say that the values and culture of time B are better than time A, provided B was after A? What if important cultural attributes and values were lost to the ages?
Admittedly, it's hard to transpose these ramblings back onto this context. I do not condone domestic abuse in any way. It conflicts with a lot of the basic rules that inform how I and most other people these days make decisions and treat others.
It's really sad to see this scene tarnishing our entire view of Tea Cake and Janie's relationship, in a way that wouldn't have happened for past readers. But if anything I think this change shows how important it is to have firm, comprehensive knowledge of history and the past. Only when we properly perceive the flaws of the past might we reasonably discard cultural relativism across time periods.
I think you make some really important points here, and I especially agree with the last part where you talked about progression through recognition of past mistakes in society. I think it's interesting that in the book, Tea Cake's domestic violence is not disputed at all and even supported by the members of the community. It's almost as if we're supposed to be okay with it as readers because everyone else was okay with it back then. However, domestic violence had the same impact on its victims back then as it does today, so we shouldn't forgive Tea Cake for it.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you in that he should not be forgiven for his actions. I also feel bad for Janie because domestic abuse is basically all she knows. All of her husbands abused her, and both her grandma and mom were raped as young women. It was so normalized that she didn't know anything else. That breaks my heart.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that Teacake's abuse of Janie is wrong and should be more disputed. It was interesting that Hurston even framed the abuse in a positive light, with no depiction of any sort of condemnation from the community. I understand that this behavior was normalized at the time, but as you said, it's important to acknowledge past mistakes in societal behavior, which Hurston failed to do here.
ReplyDeleteI felt like Hurston really glamorized the abuse. The scene where Tea Cake hits Janie and the whole town is sort of jealous was really weird to me. I didn't like how the book just swept past it nor did I like how Hurston acted like it was normal. Thanks for writing about this important topic!
ReplyDeleteI think the reason why 'abuse' comes up so much in 'There Eyes Were Watching God' is because it was a normal when this book was written. The reason why I put 'abuse' in quotations is because I don't think that people from the early twentieth-century would call it abuse or not to the degree we do. I find it interesting how things from the past can be brought to light and criticized.
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