Quote 10
In a little wind-lull, Tea Cake touched Janie and said, "Ah reckon you wish now you had of stayed in yo’ big house ‘way from such as dis, don’t yuh?"
"Naw."
"Naw?"
"Yeah, naw. People don’t die till dey time come nohow, don’t keer where you at. Ah’m wid mah husband in uh storm, dat’s all. (18.32-35)
Janie recognizes that she’s had free will in her life, and is happy with the choices she’s made. However, she also recognizes an element of fate when she essentially sys that people die when it’s their time to die, storm or no storm. It’s like she believes in a predetermined time of death. If this is her time to go, then she’ll die in the storm, if not, she’ll be fine.
Quote 11
"Dem wuzn’t no high mucky mucks. Dem wuz railroad hands and dey womenfolks. You ain’t usetuh folks lak dat and Ah wuz skeered you might git all mad and quit me for takin’ you ‘mongst ‘em. But Ah wanted yuh wid me jus’ de same. Befo’ us got married Ah made up mah mind not tuh let you see no commonness in me. When Ah git mad habits on, Ah’d go off and keep it out yo’ sight. ‘Tain’t mah notion tuh drag you down wid me.
"Looka heah, Tea Cake, if you ever go off from me and have a good time lak dat and then come back heah tellin’ me how nice Ah is, Ah specks tuh kill yuh dead. You heah me?"
"So you aims tuh partake wid everything, hunh?"
"Yeah, Tea Cake, don’t keer what it is." (13.54-57)
In Tea Cake’s mind, he was acting in a way that would keep Janie from being uncomfortable and associating with people inferior to her. To Janie, Tea Cake was keeping her from having a good time. From Janie’s perspective, being one of the upper class elite means having no pleasure in life – not going to parties and not spending time with her husband. What Janie wants most is to share her life with her husband, social status just isn’t that important to her.
Quote 12
[Tea Cake]: "Oh down in de Everglades round Clewiston and Belle Glade where dey raise all dat cane and string-beans and tomatuhs. Folks don’t do nothin’ down dere but make money and fun and foolishness. We must go dere." (13.82)
Tea Cake is attracted to the Everglades because it represents work, money, and "fun and foolishness." It is a place for the lowest social classes among the black people but neither Tea Cake nor Janie care, as long as they can make a decent living and enjoy themselves.