Their Eyes are Watching God DJs 21-35

21.) "Dat's cause you need tellin'.. It would be pitiful if Ah didn't. Somebody got to think for women, and chillun and chicken and cows. I god, They sho don't think none thierselves."

Most men, like Joe, throughout the book compare women to farm animals. They don't believe that women are capable of having opinions, or being smart. They are simply there to make a man look good. But the truth is, a donkey, or a chicken, is what gives the men jobs. A women is what gives the men life. Janie just wants Joe to know that she does not want to be controlled. She knows that she is just as capable as any man, and she is finally able to stand up for herself, and really any woman. Joe had gone on a total power trip, being the man with all the answer (which in truth just means the man with all the money) makes him feel like he is in control of everything and everyone. 

22.) She had no more blossomy openings dusting pollen over her man, neither any glistening young fruit where the petals used to be." 

When Janie first met Joe, their was hope for some love. Her first marriage had been so lonely, and unhappy that running away with this wealthy man seemed to be the right choice to her. She soon realized that this marriage also contained no love. She no longer felt like a blossoming pear tree, falling on love with everything she saw. Instead she was thinking practical. But practicality equals loneliness. She was now one of many married woman, who married for security rather than love. 

23.) "She was a rut in the road. Plenty of life beneath the surface but it was kept beaten down by the wheels." 

Janie was stuck with Joe, she knew that there wasn't much she could say or do to get him to listen to her so she just allowed him to control her, and constantly bring her down. But in reality the "blooming plum tree" still was inside her. She just needed to be free from loveless relationships. Janie was not usually the type to cower away from something, but Joe was very powerful, and he knew it. Once under his control, it was hard to break free. 

24.) "For what can excuse a man in the eyes of other men for lack of strength?"

The control Joe held over his town and his wife, is what gave him so much pride. So long as his trophy wife did exactly what he said, he still held all the power. But when Janie finally fought back, in front of all the men at the store. Joe began to lose his power and his strength. A man is nothing if not feared by other men. Having other men laugh at you for being brought down by your wife, is the lowest of lows for a man. They want to appear strong and controlled, they do not want women telling them what is wrong with them. 

27.) "She hated her grandmother and had hidden it from herself all these years under a cloak of pity." 

Janie's grandmother did not want Janie to make the wrong decisions. In a way she was just as controlling as Joe. She man Janie marry a man she didn't love because she wanted Janie to have a stable life with money, and security. Janie doesn't seem like one to care at all about money, all this girl had ever wanted is love. She does not want to feel lonely while she is with a man she wants to feel in love. Although Nanny was looking out for her best interests she never aloud Janie to make her own decisions, and now Janie resents her for it. 

28.) "When God had made The Man, he made him out of stuff that sung all the time and glittered all over. Then after that some angels got jealous and chopped him into millions of pieces, but he still glittered and hummed. So they beat him down to nothing but sparks but each little spark had a shine and a song. So they covered each one over with mud." 

This very similar to Janie's marriages. The jealous angles continued to tear the man down because they did not want the man to love, and be happy. The practical lifestyle that most women of this time were taking, was tearing them down. Janie had these two terrible marriages, that take up a good portion of her life, and each of them pushed a loving relationship farther and farther down on the list of possibilities. But this is a foreshadow that there is still hope for Janie, that their maybe a small spark left that will rise up and Janie will finally be the "blossoming pear-tree" that she has always wanted to be. 

29.) "she liked being lonesome for a change. This freedom feeling was fine. These men didn't represent a thing she wanted to know about." 

Janie was tired of men, she was tired of them controlling her. And now that Joe was dead she was finally able to be in charge of her own choices. This wasn't the same lonely that she had felt while she was with Joe. She no longer felt lonely within her own mind, she could do whatever she wanted, and say whatever she wanted without someone telling her not to. She wasn't look for another man like that either. After to unhappy marriages Janie was ready to be on her own. Something that she had always wanted to do. 

30.) "Then he looked back at her with an irresistible grin on his face. Janie burst out laughing in spite of herself." 

Janie is having trouble controlling herself around this man, her emotions are taking over her self control. She can't help but laugh every time he talks. This is a sign that she is in love, and this time it is not forced love. When he is around she can't think about anything besides the love that she feels. When she was with Joe she always had to hold back, because every time she tried to speak her mind, Joe would yell at her and tell her she was wrong. Now with this new younger man, she is having troubles holding back her emotions because they are so much stronger. 

31.) "Things lak dat got uh whole lot tuh do wid convenience, but it ain't got nothin' tuh do wid love."

Tea Cake believes in true love, probably because he is so young. Before Tea Cake arrives in the book Janie begins to give up on the concept of true love because she has two failed experiences. Tea Cake may not be the best decision of Janie were choosing the practical route like she usually did, but as stated in this line. Those things have absolutely nothing to do with love, just because your married does not mean you love each other. Although they seem very happy and not at all problematic in the beginning, there is a foreshadow that something bad is going to happen in this book. Although love makes a person more happy, if you don't make the practical decision your bound to end up in a bad situation. 

32.) "He could be a bee to a blossom - a pear tree blossom in the spring. He seemed to be crushing scent out of the world with his footsteps.... He was a glance from god." 

Tea-Cake represents nature which represents lover and the blossoming of new things. Something new is finally happening for Janie, and for once she actually was sure that she loved this man. And rather than, her Nanny or Joe Starks, convincing her with the practicalities, she was able to find this love on her own. He is every woman's dream, the exception in the world of practical men. Tea Cakes connection to nature shows how genuine he is. Even though he doesn't have a lot of money, he will make a woman happier because of how young and passionate he is. 

33.) "In the cool of the afternoon the fiend from hell specially sent to lovers arrived at Janie's ear. Doubt." 

The way that she was raised, Janie always had to think about making the right decision rather than going with her gut feeling. And doubt is a unavoidable feeling. The fact that Tea Cake isn't there at that moment is making Janie rethink everything that happened the night before. A person sometimes can get lost in their own thoughts when all they have time to do is think. Once Janie sees Tea Cake again the doubt will become less of an issue. This also shows how much Janie likes Tea Cake, because she is constantly thinking about what could go wrong, and second guessing her decisions. Just like any fool in love. 

34.) "Poor Joe Starks. Bet he turns over in his grave every day." 

No one seems to care that Janie is finally happy. All they care about is Joe Starks, and how he would feel about the situation. Janie seems to be the only one who recognizes a change within herself. The judgments from other people were not going to stop her from living her life. She was forced into marriage at a young age, and she was never able to experience anything besides being a wife. Janie was finally living, and even though she like to listen to the stories told on the porch, she didn't care what people were saying about her and Tea-Cake. Most of the men who were talking bad about it were just jealous that she had not chosen them, they had been trying to convince her that they were the right choice, by persuading her with stability and money just as Joe did, but Janie turned them down. Which would make any man bitter, and cause them to pass judgment. 

35.) "Cause Tea Cake ain't no Jody Starks, and if he tried tuh be, it would be uh complete flommuck." 

The fact that Tea Cake is nothing like Jody is what attracts him to Janie. She is able to be herself, and not have to worry about constantly being told what to do all the time. How Janie feels about it doesn't matter though. Most of the community still thinks about how great Jody was, and how she is disrespecting him, but they have no idea how terrible he was. He was a good business man, but he was a terrible husband