A Turn for the Unexpected

Up to this point in Their Eyes Were Watching God, Tea Cake seems like an unusually progressive man. Where Logan's main concern was his farm rather than Janie, and Jody's main concern was status, Tea Cake has always seemed to be very focused on Janie. As a result of these, Logan and Jody were both seen by Janie as restricting her, albeit in different ways, while Tea Cake has allowed her to do much as she pleases. But, for all his progressive stance before, when it comes down to Mrs. Turner's brother, Tea Cake makes a very unusual move. In order to prevent Mrs. Turner and her brother from getting it into their heads that Janie was theirs for the taking, he beats Janie. He doesn't yell at Mr. Turner, or even Mrs. Turner, he just hits his own wife. Where did that come from?

This isn't to say he did it with no reason. It's explained that Mr. Turner is useless, and Tea Cake probably doesn't wield enough influence over Mrs. Turner for that route. In fact, Janie can't even dissuade her, despite the oodles of power she gives Janie. But, at least in the present, beating one's wife over such a matter seems like such an overreaction, or if nothing else a misplacement of anger. Surely this could've been handled differently; at last resort, couldn't Janie and Tea Cake just go around saying he beat her? But, instead, the book is very clear about the realness of the act, saying, "Before the week was over he had whipped Janie. Not because her behavior justified his jealousy, but it relieved that awful fear inside him. Being able to whip her reassured him in possession" (147). For a man with reasonably progressive ideas at the time (letting Janie play checkers and engage in the porch-talk, for example), the fact that he refers to his marriage to Janie as a "possession" severely relegates her role in the relationship. It seems to almost take the wind out of the sails of feminism that Janie had been riding before. Sure, she made the decision for this man who started off very kind to her, but he still ended up similar to Jody in different ways. She's still something that he has control over in his mind, and the fact that Janie doesn't seem to react to this sets off alarm bells in my head. But, perhaps, I am misreading this passage...