Tea Cake, Janie, and Gambling

September 13, 2009

I wanted to talk about gambling in Their Eyes Were Watching God.  Gambling wasn’t really part of the discussion in class, and it seems key to the relationship Janie cultivates with Tea Cake.  Gambling is an important part of Janie’s relationship decision making. Gambling is also ultimately the reason behind why Janie and Tea Cake are able to build such a strong relationship. Also importantly, gambling is shown as a strong bonding force within the communities that Janie and Tea Cake frequent once they are married.

As Janie grows older, she continually makes bolder and bolder gambles with her relationships. Her first relationship with Logan is a gamble to get away from her Nanny and the constraints that have been placed on her; however, this first relationship is mostly arranged and, therefore, less of a gamble than it is happenstance. Then, before Janie is with Jody, she is faced with the choice to stay with her current husband or to leave and travel with Jody to places and lifestyle unbeknownst to her. This is a gamble because it means she has to leave the only lifestyle she has known prior; however, because Jody comes across as an upstanding gent, it is less of a gamble than her relationship with Tea Cake turns out to be.

Janie’s relationship with Tea Cake is a gamble from the beginning.  She has to defend her decision to be with Tea Cake to the men and women of Eatonville, and even to her best friend, Phoeby (Hurston 112). Zora Neal Hurston capably shows the possible ramifications of this gamble after Janie marries Tea Cake and they head to Jacksonville.  Here, Janie has real doubts about her relationship with Tea Cake when he lifts her savings and leaves her at the hotel for an entire day. Janie is so worried the text even implicitly states, “Her heart all but smothered her” (Hurston, 120).  Later, gambling becomes both the stabilizing force and the impish demon of their relationship.  Gambling is behind Janie and Tea Cake’s ability to build friendships with their fellow workers, causing them to feel at ease in their home, to come over and casually gamble…and thus liquor, and music, and dancing follow.  Janie and Tea Cake are constantly pushing the boundaries of their relationship, taking chances on friendships and money, but the gambling seems to only reinforce the attraction and love that occurred at the start of the relationship—this is shown most capably with the silly affair between Nunkie and Tea Cake and the apologetic love scene that follows the tiff.  

Tea Cake is a gambler. In many ways, Janie is too. Sometimes it seems that playing it safe could be the better call, for instance, when they take a gamble before the hurricane, staunchly refusing to leave. Yet, they need the gambling; they are discontent without it.  Janie could not handle being told how to live or wear her hair; she could not handle the humdrum of the store. She needs stability from Tea Cake, but with an element of chance somewhere on the horizon. 

-J. Grabert