Quote 1
[Tea Cake to Janie:] "Jes lak uh lil girl wid her Easter dress on. Even nice!" He locked the door and shook it to be sure and handed her the key. "Come on now, Ah’ll see yuh inside yo’ door and git on down de Dixie." (10.60)
Even though Tea Cake tries to treat men and women equally, he still unconsciously considers women weaker than men; he assumes they require men to escort them back home safely. He calls Janie a "lil girl wid her Easter dress on," somewhat diminishing her image and seriousness. Though chivalric, Tea Cake’s language and offer to walk Janie home might be read as sexist. Or, we could read it as his way of attempting to get an invitation to come inside her home.
Quote 2
[Tea Cake:] "Put dat two hundred back wid de rest, Janie. Mah dice. Ah no need no assistance tuh help me feed mah woman. From now on, you gointuh eat whutever mah money can buy uh and wear de same. When Ah ain’t got nothin’ you don’t git nothin’."
"Dat’s all right wid me." (13.76-77)
Tea Cake demonstrates his strong sense of masculinity by making "[his] woman," Janie, financially dependent on him. He takes pride in being able to provide for a woman who has lived such a privileged life. Although Janie never seems conflicted about living a poor life with Tea Cake, she kind of has to agree to live by what he provides or severely damage his pride.
Quote 3
[Tea Cake:] "You don’t have tuh say, if it wuzn’t fuh me, baby, cause Ah’m heah, and then Ah want yuh tuh know it’s uh man heah." (18.109)
Tea Cake considers himself a man because he is always there for Janie and willing to perform all sorts of gallantries for her.
Quote 4
[Janie:] "Still and all you went off and left me all day and all night."
[Tea Cake:] "Twasn’t ‘cause Ah wanted tuh stay off lak day, and it sho Lawd, wuzn’t no woman. If you didn’t have de power tuh hold me and hold me tight, Ah wouldn’t be callin’ yuh Mis’ Woods. Ah met plenty women before Ah knowed you tuh talk tuh. You’se de onliest woman in de world Ah ever even mentioned gittin married tuh. You bein’ older don’t make no difference. Don’t never consider dat no mo’. If Ah ever gits tuh messin’ round another woman it won’t be on account of her age. It’ll be because she got me in de same way you got me—so Ah can’t help mahself." (13.26-27)
Tea Cake declares his love and faithfulness to Janie. He comes out and states that Janie’s age is of no consequence to him. Tea Cake’s last sentence renders love as some sort of inexplicable force that mortal men cannot resist. Janie should be especially responsive to this because she has been swept away by passion before, first under the pear tree of her youth and now by Tea Cake.
Quote 5
[Tea Cake:] "Things lak dat [age] got uh whole lot tuh do wid convenience, but it ain’t got nothin’ tuh do wid love." (11.62)
Tea Cake does not care about social prescriptions over such trifles as age differences when there is real love involved. And the fact that he has the courage to address such a touchy subject directly to Janie further endears him to her.
Quote 6
[Tea Cake:] "De way you looked at me when Ah said whut Ah did. Yo’ face skeered me so bad till mah whiskers drawed up."
"Ah ain’t got no business bein’ mad at nothin’ you do and say. You got it all wrong. Ah ain’t mad atall."
"Ah know it and dat’s why puts de shamery on me. You’se jus’ disgusted wid me. Yo’ face jus’ left here and went off somewhere else. Naw, you ain’t mad wid me. Ah be glad if was, ‘cause then Ah might do somethin’ tuh please yuh. But lak it is— "(11.50-52)
One of the reasons that Janie loves Tea Cake so much is that he is open with her, admitting his fear when he sees her displeasure and stating his determination to do anything to please her. Unlike Joe, Tea Cake does not silence Janie but actually listens to her and even reads into her expressions—something that Joe completely ignored.
Quote 7
[Tea Cake:] "Thank yuh, ma’am, but don’t say you’se ole. You’se uh lil girl baby all de time. God made it so you spent yo’ ole age first wid somebody else, and saved up yo’ young girl days to spend wid me." (19.127)
In an attempt to compliment Janie, Tea Cake remarks that she is still a young "lil girl baby" to him because she seems to have all her youthful exuberance and instinctive trust about her still. When hearing this, readers immediately recognize the truth of his words; Janie spent her "ole age first," or days of bitterness, with Logan and Joe and saved her "young girl days," or childlike innocence, to lavish on her true love, Tea Cake.
Quote 8
[Tea Cake]: "It’s bad bein’ strange n*****s wid white folks. Everybody is against yuh."
"Dat sho is de truth. De ones de white man know is nice colored folks. De ones he don’t know is bad n*****s."(19.40-41)
In the setting of the novel, the worth of black people is defined by their relationship with white people. Thus, those black people that are well-known and attested for by white people are considered harmless by society, while those unknown to any whites are immediately suspect. This is a guilty-until-proven-innocent kind of situation.
Quote 9
[Lias]: "De Indians gahn east, man. It’s dangerous."
[Tea Cake]: "Dey don’t always know. Indians don’t know much uh nothin’, tuh tell de truth. Else dey’d own dis country still. De white folks ain’t gone
Another blatant example of perceived intelligence being based on a racial hierarchy. Here, Tea Cake thinks that the Native Americans don’t know anything, and the white people are the smartest. It’s strange that he seems to be very matter of fact in the way he essentially implies that white people are smarter than black people; that’s why Tea Cake is waiting to see what the white people do about the hurricane.
Quote 10
In a little wind-lull, Tea Cake touched Janie and said, "Ah reckon you wish now you had of stayed in yo’ big house ‘way from such as dis, don’t yuh?"
"Naw."
"Naw?"
"Yeah, naw. People don’t die till dey time come nohow, don’t keer where you at. Ah’m wid mah husband in uh storm, dat’s all. (18.32-35)
Janie recognizes that she’s had free will in her life, and is happy with the choices she’s made. However, she also recognizes an element of fate when she essentially sys that people die when it’s their time to die, storm or no storm. It’s like she believes in a predetermined time of death. If this is her time to go, then she’ll die in the storm, if not, she’ll be fine.
Quote 11
"Dem wuzn’t no high mucky mucks. Dem wuz railroad hands and dey womenfolks. You ain’t usetuh folks lak dat and Ah wuz skeered you might git all mad and quit me for takin’ you ‘mongst ‘em. But Ah wanted yuh wid me jus’ de same. Befo’ us got married Ah made up mah mind not tuh let you see no commonness in me. When Ah git mad habits on, Ah’d go off and keep it out yo’ sight. ‘Tain’t mah notion tuh drag you down wid me.
"Looka heah, Tea Cake, if you ever go off from me and have a good time lak dat and then come back heah tellin’ me how nice Ah is, Ah specks tuh kill yuh dead. You heah me?"
"So you aims tuh partake wid everything, hunh?"
"Yeah, Tea Cake, don’t keer what it is." (13.54-57)
In Tea Cake’s mind, he was acting in a way that would keep Janie from being uncomfortable and associating with people inferior to her. To Janie, Tea Cake was keeping her from having a good time. From Janie’s perspective, being one of the upper class elite means having no pleasure in life – not going to parties and not spending time with her husband. What Janie wants most is to share her life with her husband, social status just isn’t that important to her.
Quote 12
[Tea Cake]: "Oh down in de Everglades round Clewiston and Belle Glade where dey raise all dat cane and string-beans and tomatuhs. Folks don’t do nothin’ down dere but make money and fun and foolishness. We must go dere." (13.82)
Tea Cake is attracted to the Everglades because it represents work, money, and "fun and foolishness." It is a place for the lowest social classes among the black people but neither Tea Cake nor Janie care, as long as they can make a decent living and enjoy themselves.
Quote 13
[Tea Cake]: "Mah Janie is uh high time woman and useter things. Ah didn’t git her outa de middle uh de road. Ah got her outa uh big fine house. Right now she got money enough in de bank tuh buy up dese ziggaboos and give ‘em away."
"Hush yo’ mouf! And she down heah on de muck lak anybody else!" (17.5-6)
Tea Cake is proud of Janie’s former status as a mayor’s wife and he similarly admires her wealth. It’s almost like he sees his status increasing by pointing out that his wife left her wealth and comfortable life for him and to work in the muck beside him. That’s how awesome he his.
Quote 14
[Tea Cake]: "Ah got money on me, Janie. Dey can’t bother me." (19.14)
Tea Cake makes the false assumption that having money in his pocket will earn other men’s respect and keep them from "bother[in]" him. He’s wrong.
Quote 15
"Evenin’, Mis’ Starks. Could yuh lemme have uh pound uh knuckle puddin’ till Saturday? Ah’m sho uh pay tuh then."
"You needs ten pounds, Mr. Tea Cake. Ah’ll let yuh have all Ah got and you needn’t bother ‘bout payin’ it back." (10.54-55)
Tea Cake and Janie jest in words, playing on the idea of "knuckle puddin’" being both a foodstuff and a beating with the fists. Tea Cake, realizing he is in the doghouse for being a little too flirtatious with Janie, requests that Janie beat him with her fists as punishment. Janie, recognizing the pun, returns it, saying that she’ll give him more than he asked for and that he need to pay it back (beat her in return). Joe would never have engaged in this type of wordplay with Janie, because the verbal sparring implies that the speakers are equal. Joe wouldn’t even play checkers with her, let alone talk to her as an equal.
Quote 16
"Naw, you ain’t sleepy, Mis’ Janie. You jus’ want me tuh go. You figger Ah’m uh rounder and uh pimp and you done wasted too much time talkin’ wid me." (11.48)
Tea Cake does not hedge around the truth when Janie shows reluctance to speak to him; instead, he accurately reads her emotions and puts them into words. His frankness and blunt way of speaking the truth contrasts sharply with the other two men Janie has been with and this makes her more attracted to Tea Cake.
Quote 17
He [Sop-de-Bottom] waved his hand towards the cane field and hurried away. Janie never thought at all. She just acted on feelings. She rushed into the cane and about the fifth row down she found Tea Cake and Nunkie struggling. She was on them before either knew.
"Whut’s de matter heah?" Janie asked in a cold rage. They sprang apart.
"Nothin’," Tea Cake told her, standing shame-faced.
"Well, whut you doin’ in heah? How come you ain’t out dere wid de rest?"
"She grabbed mah workin’ tickets outa mah shirt pocket and Ah run tuh git ‘em back," Tea Cake explained, showing the tickets, considerably mauled about in the struggle. (15.4-8)
When afflicted by jealousy, Janie loses all rational thought. She "just act[s] on feelings" and when she finds the guilty couple, interrogates them coldly, reveling in both party’s guilt. Her jealousy here is at least somewhat justified because Tea Cake is indeed messing around with Nunkie more than is socially acceptable for a married man. It’s interesting that jealousy makes Janie the more animated than she is in any other part of the whole novel.
Quote 18
"Janie, whut is dat Tuner woman’s brother doin’ back on de muck?"
"Ah don’t know, Tea Cake. Didn’t even knowed he wuz back."
"Accordin’ tuh mah notion, you did. Whut you slip off from me just now for?"
"Tea Cake, Ah don’t lak you astin’ me no sich question. Dat shows how sick you is sho nuff. You’se jealous ‘thout me givin’ you cause."
"Well, whut didja slip off from de house ‘thout tellin’ me you wuz goin’. You ain’t never done dat befo’."
"Dat wuz cause Ah wuz tryin’ not tuh let yuh worry ‘bout yo’ condition. De doctah sent after some mo’ medicine and Ah went tuh see if it come." (19.117-122)
Tea Cake’s little store of natural jealousy is amplified and exaggerated by the rabies. No matter what Janie tells him, no matter how reasonable her alibi is, he won’t listen. He fixates obsessively on the idea that Janie is cheating on him. Eventually, his jealousy is so strong and un-tempered by rational and humane thought (because of the disease) that he tries to kill her.
Quote 19
[Tea Cake]: "Ah ain’t been sleepin’ so good for more’n uh week cause Ah been wishin’ so bad tuh git mah hands in yo’ hair. It’s so pretty. It feels jus’ lak underneath uh dove’s wing next to mah face."
"Umph! You’se might easy satisfied. Ah been had dis same hair next tuh mah face ever since Ah cried de fust time, and ‘tain’t never gimme me no thrill."
"Ah tell you lak you told me – you’se mighty hard tuh satisfy. Ah betcha dem lips don’t satisfy yuh neither."
"Dat’s right, Tea Cake. They’s dere and Ah make use of ‘em whenever it’s necessary, but nothin’ special tuh me."
"Umph! umph! umph! Ah betcha you don’t never go tuh de lookin’ glass and enjoy yo’ eyes yo’self. You lets other folks git all de enjoyment out of ‘em ‘thout takin’ in any of it yo’self."
"Naw, Ah never gazes at ‘em in de lookin’ glass. If anybody else gits any pleasure out of ‘em Ah ain’t been told about it." (11.38-43)
Janie’s beautiful physical attributes are vehicles of pleasure for everyone but herself. The idea of beauty is closely linked to pleasure, but while women seem to have the beauty, men are the ones who enjoy it. Janie may be flirting with Tea Cake here, but readers know that she is as humble as she claims here, never really taking her beauty for granted nor actively using it to her advantage.
Quote 20
[Tea Cake on Mrs. Turner]: "Ah hates dat woman lak poison. Keep her from round dis house. Her look lak uh white woman! Wid dat meriny skin and hair jus’ as close tuh her head as ninety-nine is tuh uh hundred!" (16.36)
Where Mrs. Turner associates beauty with whiteness, Tea Cake takes the opposite stance. He considers white ugly, especially when it is mixed with black blood. So what are his thoughts on Janie? Mrs. Turner even thinks Janie looks more white than herself.