Tea Cake vs. Jody Starks

(Spoiler: I finished the book.) At the end of the novel, Tea Cake’s life comes to a brutal end. His death brought great sorrow to Janie and the audience can tell that she truly loved him by the way she buries him, taking great care to keep him “out of the way of storms” (Hurston 189).  In comparison, her burial of Jody was not sentimental, but filled with “gloat and glamor” (Hurston 88). Also, after Tea Cake’s death Janie decided to return to the place she met him and he was always on her mind. After Jody’s death, Janie found a new freedom and instead of wasting away in mourning she did everything to forget his memory; “she burnt up every one of her head rags” (pg 89).

                The author does a great job creating a comparison of the two men.  Her diction gives the audience a sense of what it is like to live with each man. Janie is a powerful woman and her opinions of both of her late husbands are uncommon during the time period.  Janie fights back against Jody and falls in love with a man of a different class. The author persuades the audience to turn away from Jody’s strict manors and lean towards Tea Cake because of his great charm. The author’s way with words sways the reader’s opinion. His figurative language comparing Tea Cake to “the love thoughts of women” and “a pear tree blossom in the spring” make the audience feel with Janie (Hurston 106). The reader then truly is given a sense of what it must have been like to live with a bitter man like Jody Starks.