Blog 6

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston was one of my favorite books to read this semester. It was full of love and tragedy of all kinds. The biggest tragedy, I thought, was at the end when Janie shot her love, Tea Cake. While talking in class, there were debates on why she killed him and why she felt like she was at peace when everything was said and done. I think, personally, that she felt like she was at peace because his suffering was over with and he was no longer going to feel pain. Someone thought it was because she “killed” every husband figure in the past, but I feel she was at peace not because she was rid of him, but because she got rid of his suffering. Tea Cake did many things for Janie during his lifetime. One of the biggest sacrifice was saving her from the rabid dog when they were stuck in the middle of the hurricane. The rabid dog bit him on the face and gave him rabies, which is why Tea Cake died. I really feel like their love was real. “He leaped at the bucket at once. But this time, the sight of the water was enough. He was on the kitchen floor in great agony when she returned. She petted him, soothed him, and got him back into bed.” (Hurston 179)

In this passage, I feel that Janie really does care for Tea Cake. No matter how hard he tries to cover up the fact that he is suffering, she can tell and she is there to comfort him and help him. This is not how she acted toward Jody when he fell ill and all she did was make him feel like crap by bringing up how wrongly he had treated her. With Logan, she just up and left him for Jody and had no remorse in doing so. All her actions are different with Tea Cake. I feel Janie’s actions to kill Tea Cake was, yes to save herself, but I feel  like she made the conscious decision to end his life and his suffering before he grabbed the pistol. She loved him enough to put an end to his misery.