Question

Consider Janie’s description of Tea Cake as being a ""bee to a blossom – a pear tree blossom in spring."" How does this idea fit with Janie’s realization at the beginning of the novel?

Answer 1

Answer and explanation:

Janie and Tea Cake are characters in Zora Neale Hurston's novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God". The main character is an African-American woman named Janie, whose life has been defined by her race and gender.

When she was young (at the beginning of the novel), Janie once sat under a pear tree and watched as bees pollinated the tree's flowers. That was Janie's first idea of what love, especially carnal love, was. She married twice in search for that love, only to be humiliated and abused by her husbands. Tea Cake eventually becomes her third husband. The fact that she compares him to a bee to a blossom - Janie herself being the blossom - means he represents her notion of love. Janie sees Tea Cake as the love she had been looking for, the one that would truly satisfy her and allow her to be the woman she really is. Even though their marriage ends in tragedy, Janie still regards Tea Cake as the accomplishment of true love.