Chapters 17 -18
Why does Tea Cake whip Janie? How does he justify it? How does Janie and the other people react to the whipping? What does this reveal about the time period? Support your response with textual evidence.
Tea Cake whips Janie because he felt a need to claim Janie as his own because he felt insecure
This insecurity was initially caused by the new townspeople who made advances on Janie, before knowing that she was married.
However the arrival of Mrs. Turner’s brother is what incited his actions because he felt a need to reassure his dominance.
“[Tea Cake] had whipped Janie [...]because [...] it relieved that awful fear inside him. Being able to whip her reassured him in possession. No brutal beating at all. He just slapped her …show more content…
The way he petted and pampered her as if those two or three face slaps had nearly killed her made the women see visions and the helpless way she hung on him made men dream dreams”(147).
The use of the simile comparing the few slaps to a life-threatening attack shows how Janie’s treatment afterwards was an overcompensation in order to make her dependent on him.
The idea that a woman’s dependence on a man is the ideal explains that the time period required women to be subservient if they were to be valued.
The dialogue between tea Cake and Sop-de-Bottom furthers this point, as he explains that Janie’s lighter skin and obedience make Tea Cake a “lucky man”
‘“Take some uh dese ol’ rusty black women and dey would fight yuh all night long and next day nobody couldn’t tell you ever hit ’em. Dat’s de reason Ah done quit beatin’ mah woman. You can’t make no mark on ’em at all’”(148).
Sop-de-Bottom values Janie’s light skin because it makes the marks of a beating visible and a way to display the control over one’s woman to the town.
This demonstrates that notion because the woman is expected to accept her inferior position in the relationship and the man is to be publically known as more …show more content…
He explains that their behavior is inappropriate and that Mrs. Turner was too nice to deserve that treatment in her restaurant.
“‘Looka heah, y’all, don’t come in heah and raise no disturbance in de place. Mis’ Turner is too nice uh woman fuh dat. In fact, she’s more nicer than anybody else on de muck’”(150-151).
Furthermore, Tea Cake wrestled the men out of the restaurant, and it was traumatizing for Mrs. Turner, as she fell amongst the broken dishes.
Her opinion of dark-skinned blacks will likely be even more prejudiced in the future as she now has an example of their behavior to substantiate her irrational, racist beliefs
“Mrs. Turner got up off the floor hollering for the police. Look at her place! How come nobody didn’t call the police? Then she found out that one of her hands was all stepped on and her fingers were bleeding pretty peart”(152).
She wanted Tea Cake and the others to be in trouble with the law for their actions. Despite Tea Cake having good intentions, the result of his action was the creation of more ruckus and damage than there would have been otherwise.
Mrs. Turner continues to believe that the darker-skinned black people are uncivilized and wants to escape that
Why does Tea Cake whip Janie? How does he justify it? How does Janie and the other people react to the whipping? What does this reveal about the time period? Support your response with textual evidence.
Tea Cake whips Janie because he felt a need to claim Janie as his own because he felt insecure
This insecurity was initially caused by the new townspeople who made advances on Janie, before knowing that she was married.
However the arrival of Mrs. Turner’s brother is what incited his actions because he felt a need to reassure his dominance.
“[Tea Cake] had whipped Janie [...]because [...] it relieved that awful fear inside him. Being able to whip her reassured him in possession. No brutal beating at all. He just slapped her …show more content…
The way he petted and pampered her as if those two or three face slaps had nearly killed her made the women see visions and the helpless way she hung on him made men dream dreams”(147).
The use of the simile comparing the few slaps to a life-threatening attack shows how Janie’s treatment afterwards was an overcompensation in order to make her dependent on him.
The idea that a woman’s dependence on a man is the ideal explains that the time period required women to be subservient if they were to be valued.
The dialogue between tea Cake and Sop-de-Bottom furthers this point, as he explains that Janie’s lighter skin and obedience make Tea Cake a “lucky man”
‘“Take some uh dese ol’ rusty black women and dey would fight yuh all night long and next day nobody couldn’t tell you ever hit ’em. Dat’s de reason Ah done quit beatin’ mah woman. You can’t make no mark on ’em at all’”(148).
Sop-de-Bottom values Janie’s light skin because it makes the marks of a beating visible and a way to display the control over one’s woman to the town.
This demonstrates that notion because the woman is expected to accept her inferior position in the relationship and the man is to be publically known as more …show more content…
He explains that their behavior is inappropriate and that Mrs. Turner was too nice to deserve that treatment in her restaurant.
“‘Looka heah, y’all, don’t come in heah and raise no disturbance in de place. Mis’ Turner is too nice uh woman fuh dat. In fact, she’s more nicer than anybody else on de muck’”(150-151).
Furthermore, Tea Cake wrestled the men out of the restaurant, and it was traumatizing for Mrs. Turner, as she fell amongst the broken dishes.
Her opinion of dark-skinned blacks will likely be even more prejudiced in the future as she now has an example of their behavior to substantiate her irrational, racist beliefs
“Mrs. Turner got up off the floor hollering for the police. Look at her place! How come nobody didn’t call the police? Then she found out that one of her hands was all stepped on and her fingers were bleeding pretty peart”(152).
She wanted Tea Cake and the others to be in trouble with the law for their actions. Despite Tea Cake having good intentions, the result of his action was the creation of more ruckus and damage than there would have been otherwise.
Mrs. Turner continues to believe that the darker-skinned black people are uncivilized and wants to escape that