Journey to Happiness Happiness cannot be explained in a simple definition; however Janie in Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, explains how to achieve happiness. “Two things everybody’s got tuh do fuh theyselves. They got tuh go tuh God, and they got tuh find out about livin’ fuh theyselves” (192). The only way Janie was going to find happiness was to go out and find it on her own. One would think that finding happiness is a simple thing to do. However, Janie shows us otherwise. After looking in several wrong places for happiness, Janie finally finds it through Tea Cake.

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Tea Cake’s differing views on money and freedom make Janie very happy. His ability to care and love her would make any woman of this time ecstatic, but many would say that Janie was the most deserving. Tea Cake’s genuine, care free, and hopeful attitude made her happiness possible. Janie desired more than security in a marriage, as she explained to Nanny early on in the book, “But, Nanny Ah wants tuh want him sometimes. Ah don’t want him to do all de wantin’”(23). Logan Killicks, Janie’s first husband, had the money, land, and security that many women would have wanted.

Janie wanted more than what Logan Killicks could offer. Janie wanted passion. She wanted what most young girls’ dream of, a loving, carefree relationship. Janie wished for the type of relationships that we can only read about. She desired to have a deeper relationship within her marriage, as she continued to describe, “Ah wants things sweet wid mah marriage lak when you sit under a pear tree and think. Ah…” (24). She did not give up on her search, many years later Janie found this type of relationship with a man named Tea Cake.

After all of the hardships of finding a decent man it was well worth Janie’s not only happiness, but sanity. Tea Cake was a nice breath of fresh air. He was ready to do whatever he could to ensure Janie’s happiness and most certainly her safety. He did not have much when it came to money and possessions, but he did have the outlook on life that Janie wanted. Tea Cake came into town and represented everything Janie wanted. “Ah don’t need no pocket-full uh money to ride de train lak a women. When Ah takes a notion Ah rides anyhow- money or no money” (97).

She wanted someone who was free spirited, who did not care about a public image or money. Tea Cake realized that Janie had a lot of money, but being the unselfish man that he was he did not want to take any of it. As he demonstrated this to Janie he says, “Put dat two hundred back wid de rest, Janie. Mah dice. Ah need no assistance tuh help me feed mah women. From now on, you gointuh eat whatever mah money can buy yuh and wear de same. When Ah ain’t got nothing’ you don’t git nothin’” (128). Tea Cake had wanted nothing to do with Janie’s money.

Tea Cake was genuinely interested in Janie for Janie; not her money. This was very appealing to Janie. A man who actually wanted nothing more in this world, but to make her happy, she couldn’t believe it. Being mayor, Joe Starks needed his wife to represent him accordingly to Joe this meant that he was the man and that a woman’s opinion was useless. Not being able to share her own thoughts drove Janie crazy. Finally, on Jody’s deathbed Janie spoke her mind. “But, you wasn’t satisfied wid me de way Ah was. Naw! Mah own mind had tuh be squeezed and crowded out tuh make room for yours for sin me” (86).

Being able to show her feelings created a huge since of relief. Most wives would be so overcome with grief after the loss of a husband that they would not know what to do with themselves, not Janie, for once Janie finally felt free. “She tore off the kerchief from her head and let down her plentiful hair. The weight, the length, the glory was still there” (87). This represented her independence as a new woman. She no longer had to feel stressed or pressured to be the perfect wife for a ridiculously harsh husband. Finally, Janie was no longer someone’s doormat.

This was her first step to a life of happiness. After the loss of her husband Janie was more determined than ever to seek out true happiness. Happiness to Janie was equality and freedom, little to Janie’s knowledge she would find this soon enough. When Janie met Tea Cake she experienced equality for perhaps the first time in her life. How about playin’ you some checkers? You looks hard tuh beat. Ah is, ‘cause Ah can’t play uh lick. You don’t cherish the game then? Yes, Ah do, and then again Ah don’t know whether Ah do or not, ‘cause nobody ain’t never showed me how.

Dis is de last day for dat excuse. You got a board around here? (95) Janie had never been able to play checkers with men because according to her second husband, it was not her place. Tea Cake gave Janie the equality and freedom she had always desired in a relationship. The freedom that Tea Cake gave her made her content. When Janie was on the muck with Tea Cake she continued to experience this equality. “Only here, she could listen and laugh and even talk some herself if she wanted to” (134). Many women were never given this opportunity during this time frame.

Janie was lucky to have found a man who treated her as an equal. “In spite of Janie’s choices concerning Tea Cake, or perhaps because of them, she experiences more freedom than most women (certainly most poor women) of her time. ” (XV) Tea Cake made it possible for Janie to speak her mind and for once this was a very pleasant change. Janie had responsibilities for as long as she could remember. It was as though Janie never had a fun-filled, meaningful relationship well at least not until she met 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 spent yo’ ole age first wid somebody else, and save up yo’ young girl days to spend wid me” (180-181). When Janie was younger she spent her days with Jody acting like an older women, not having many new and exciting things to do. When she met Tea Cake she had freedom to act as young as she wanted and explore things that she wanted to do. It was as though she was reborn and this new world had so much to offer. In Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie took her own route to find happiness. “People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness.

Just because they’re not on your road doesn’t mean they’ve gotten lost. ” (Brown) Janie had to go out on her own and figure out what happiness meant to her and how she could achieve it. Janie spends her life on an adventure to find happiness. While this her adventure was tough and cruel it was most definitely rewarding. Finding Tea Cake was the best thing to ever happen to Janie. They shared many great memories. Even though Tea Cake is no longer with Janie in this world, he will always be with Janie. “We know that Janie will never forget Tea Cake.

Not only did she love him very deeply, but her life and travels with him have opened up her world and her heart in irreversible ways” (XVII). Tea Cake changed Janie for the better and gave her the freedom she had always desired. Works Cited Brown, H. J. Alinka Malinka – Life through Positive Thinking. Alinka Malinka, 20 Sept. 2011. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. ;lt;http://www. alinkamalinka. com/2011/09/20/from-h-jackson-brown/;gt; . Danticat, Edwidge. “Forward. ” Foreword. Their Eyes Were Watching God. Print. Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God: A Novel. New York: Perennial Library, 1990. Print.

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