Romantic

Character Role Analysis

Tea Cake Woods

He’s charming, lovable, and laid-back, and Janie happens to fall madly in love with him.

It’s significant that Tea Cake is the only man Janie ever really loves, despite her three marriages. Because Tea Cake makes Janie feel like a child again and helps her regain her childlike innocence, he is immediately linked to Janie’s experience under the pear tree.

This is the clincher; if he evokes memories of the pear tree, Tea Cake must be Janie’s true love.