Tom Girl

     As children, girls were told through unspoken terms that only boys play in the dirt. Only boys play with monster trucks. And only boys can be police officers, firefighters, etc. Simply put, only boys can get down and dirty. If a girl were to play in the mud, she was seen as unlady-like. When she's older she wants to work? No, that's a man's job. What should women be doing? "..Women folks' [should be] cookin'...: (Hurston 149). "Janie was a good cook" (Hurston 72) but that is not the only thing she's good at. Janie is good at getting down and dirty. Which in those time's would make her a tom boy. (And not just Tom's girl... pun intended.)

In Chapter 14, Tom brings out the inner tom boy in Janie. He first teaches her how to shoot. First a pistol, then a shot gun, and next thing you know Janie is shooting with a rifle (Hurston 131). Sooner than later, "she got to be a better shot than Tea Cake" (Hurston 131). He is even able to extricate her from the kitchen and gets her out onto the field working alongside him. Janie is so in love that she does not blink an eye and follows suit, but the decision could not be better. It taught her the value of hardwork and she is not "too good to work like the rest of the women" (Hurston 133). Tea Cake was able to furbish these ideals into her. Something Killicks and Starks both could not do.