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with every step he took. Spices hung about him. He was a glance from God. (Hurston, 106)
Tea Cake is the realization of Janie's dreams. He is the man for whom she was waiting and saving a piece of herself, unblemished. He makes her feel like a pear tree blossom and he is her pollen dusty, kissing bee.

Janie and Tea Cake marry and Janie moves away from Etonville with him. Tea Cake is spontaneous and charismatic. He is a gambler and a schemer. He finds out that there is a lot of money to be made in the Everglades harvesting super cane. They both travel down to the everglades to harvest the cane. Janie has plenty of money due to her inheritance from Joe, but she goes with Tea Cake because she loves him and wants to be with him. They enjoy themselves immensely in the cane fields, and they become part of a community in the wilds of South Florida.

Unfortunately, Janie is not given a long time to enjoy the love of Tea Cake. A disastrous hurricane destroys their tiny community. Tea Cake and Janie run to save themselves from the wind and flooding water. Janie is attacked by a wild dog and Tea Cake saves her from its powerful jaws, incurring a savage bite on his face. Several weeks later, Tea Cake is diagnosed with rabies. Tea Cake's condition worsened to the point that, in his delirium, he tried to shoot Janie. Janie shot back to defend herself and killed Tea Cake. Tea Cake had given his life to save Janie in a selfless act of love. He had been her kissing bee to the very end.

Janie's final stage of awakening occurs when she returns home to Etonville and finishes telling her friend Phoebe the story of her and Tea Cake. She realizes that she had attained her dreams, has lived them, and still keeps them in her heart. She keeps the memory of Tea Cake alive in her heart, and as long as she is living and remembers, Tea Cake will not be truly dead. "He could never be dead until she herself had finished feeling and thinking. The kiss of his memory made pictures of love and light against the wall. Here was peace" (Hurston, 193). Through the realization of her dream of love, Janie discovers herself, and this self-discovery is a joy that she will carry throughout her life. She has peace, because she finally knows who she is, and she is strong enough not to back away from that person.

Reference:

Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God, First Perennial Classics, 1998.

Learn more about this author, Erin K. Wiedemer.
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