Tea Cake’s original name, “Vegible Woods". The “woods”, in Tea Cake’s previous name symbolizes the nature and proves that Tea Cake once was a man that was satisfied with his current life style. Later on, Tea Cake renames himself as “Tea Cake”, which is ironic because back in that time period, a tea, which was consumed by the whites, was mostly produced by African Americans. Thus, the name “Tea Cake”, shows how people at that time period were absorbed into white men’s culture and how Tea Cake, as an example, failed to stand against the social hierarchy and even craved to be part of their society at the end of the novel.
