The story begins on the porch of Phoebe Watson, the local women are chatting about the latest gossip and news. When along comes their favorite subject of chatter, a mysterious woman who doesn’t even stop by to chat. Janie Starks is her name and according to the rumors she ran off with a younger man named Tea Cake, who ended up taking all her money. The porch-sitters send Phoebe to get the truth out of her, to find out if Tea Cake made off with all her money. Phoebe catches up with Janie and they sit down inside Janie’s house and begin talking, it isn’t long before Janie begins to tell her life story.
Janie tells of her childhood. Being raised in the backyard of a White family she never knew her mother or father. She was raised by her grandmother, Nanny. Nanny hopes to be more successful with her upbringing of Janie then her own daughter, Janie’s mother, Leafy. Nanny presses her beliefs into Janie and tries to format a worldview that will bring her to money and security. On a spring day, Janie is caught up in the fertilization of a pear tree and notices that though the tree represents the female, it is of equal importance in the process; thus establishing in her a desire of equal importance, to be loved and cherished on an equal level. This theme of equality in love and life runs throughout the novel. In her immaturity her feelings lead her to kiss a boy, Nanny sees and demands that Janie marries Logan Killicks; a local middle aged farmer who is established and represents the security that Nanny desires for her. Janie is reluctant but hopes that after they are married she will fall in love.
After being married for a time Janie still doesn’t love Logan and he treats her poorly; she is still young and longs for excitement and true love. Janie is resentful of Nanny for making her marry Logan and dreams of running off. One day Janie meets a traveler named Joe Starks who flirts with Janie and dazzles her with big dreams. After several weeks Joe insists that Janie leave Logan and marry him; hoping for true love she leaves and they head toward Joe’s fabled city of Eatonville.
Upon arrival they are married but Eatonville is nothing of what Joe spoke of, a mere group of shacks. Joe monopolizes the area and very quickly turns the village to a thriving city. Unfortunately his determination for success leaves Janie feeling abandoned and mistreated. Her childhood experience with the pear tree frequents her mind, feeling less important slowly tears her apart. Overtime Joe’s success overcomes him and leaves Janie completely unloved. She realizes that her love is dead and after years of holding her tongue she lashes out at him and disrespects him in public; his pride is destroyed and they separate. The loss of their love is too much for Joe and it begins affecting his health.
On his death bed they talk for the first time in months and express bottled frustrated feelings; Joe dies in a state of conflict with Janie.
Though Janie is mourning on the outside she feels liberated, she feels alive again. When the mourning process is over she is completely content in being alone and thwarts every advancing suitor. One day a young man comes into her store and they begin chatting; he intrigues her because of his humor and fun. The young man is Tea Cake; she resists him, but his respect and love for her pushes those equality buttons established in her as a child, under the pear tree. It isn’t long before Janie gives in and they fall in love.
The rumors and gossip gets overwhelming and with Tea Cake’s prompting they move to Jacksonville. Janie’s friends warn her of being taken advantage of because of her status and though she fears it, she leaves with Tea Cake. It isn’t long before Janie learns of Tea Cake’s real life; he gambles and spends time with lower class people. Slightly ashamed of this Tea Cake tries to hide it, Janie tells him she doesn’t care about status and she only cares about their love. Tea Cake decides that they should move to the muck, The Everglades, where he can find work.
The muck is an eye opening experience for Janie who had lived the life of a mayor’s wife. Yet the simple folk’s joy and fun amazes her and it isn’t long before she laughs at the thought of the status-obsessed people of Eatonville. Tea Cake continues to love her with the respectful, equality filled love she desired so much and for the most part their life is good.
They encounter sever racism with Mrs. Turner, an owner of the local restaurant, who expresses to Janie her hatred for darker black people like Tea Cake and insists that Janie marry her lighter brother. This appalls Janie and she tries to distance herself from Mrs. Turner. Hurston uses Janie’s interaction with Mrs. Turner to convey her ideas of racism being a mindset that both black and white people are susceptible to falling prey to rather then one race actually being better then the other. Such anthropology was on the cutting edge at the time of her writing.
During their second year on the muck Janie notices a group of Native Americans leaving, they tell her a hurricane is coming. Word spreads and most people leave; Janie, Tea Cake and few others decide to wait it out. When flooding begins they move to houses on higher ground and when Lake Okeechobee’s dike breaks they run for the hills, this is the climax of the book and the chapter in which the title is taken from. In the process Janie tries to cling to swimming cow for safety, the cow is also the life raft of a rabid dog that attacks her. Tea Cake dives to the rescue and kills the dog but gets bit on the cheek. They make it to Palm Beach safely and wait out the storm. When the clean up process begins Tea Cake experiences more racism and they decide to head back to the muck.
Tea Cake’s bite gets worse and he develops a severe head ache and stops eating and drinking; Janie gets a doctor who confirms that Tea Cake has Rabies. Tea Cake becomes delirious and paranoid about Janie visiting the doctor. Janie finds he is hiding a gun with three bullets in it, she aligns the chambers so that he will have to pull the trigger three times before it fires. Sure enough a few days later in a delirious fit Tea Cake pulls the gun on Janie, she tries to talk him out of it but he pulls the trigger. She grabbed a rifle in hopes of convincing him to stop, he pulls the trigger two more times and she shoots him before he can shoot her. Janie is put on trial for his murder, and against the wishes of the other muck workers she is found not-guilty. She returns to the muck and provides Tea Cake a royal burial. Her friends feel bad for their attitudes at the court house and have sympathy on her. She decides to move back to Eatonville now that her husband and only reason to stay on the muck was dead.
At the end of the novel Janie fishes the story telling Phoebe she has pulled the horizon in. Though the death of Tea Cake haunts her, his love overcomes her fears because she feels the feelings she felt as a child under the pear tree. Her enlightenment motivates Phoebe to be discontent with life and the novel ends with a Janie in a state of utmost content, something she has never had.
-Richard Teska
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