but bitterly sulks at it now

The baby rabbit appears to act as a symbol of Janie. Not only does it show her fear in regards to the storm, but it shows how she felt hidden and unloved/unwanted in the past. This is especially interesting as (despite his many issues) Tea Cake does not make Janie feel unloved or unwanted during the storm, while her other husbands most likely would have.

That may just be the headline for this novel because wow. I think Hurston was tired of men at this point and was basically like ‘do I have to spell it out for you?’ Janie does all of these things for Tea Cake and now SHE, not Tea Cake, is the one being penalized by the plot gods.

I think it’s super interesting Janie’s attitude toward Nature’s role because as you mention nature is unavoidable but Janie has spent this whole book talking about Nature in a way that suggests she has influence over it, not the other way around. It’s one of the Hurston full circle gotcha moments that is insanely prevalent throughout this book.

As I read it, I was thinking: are these two words even that different? Watching is to be wary or at least taking note of and I think that is the heart of questioning. Especially in this intense moment, the fear they have is so close to expectation that they’re almost inextricably connected. I also found a couple of definitions that were nearly identical for the two words.

I love the ancestral religious idea presented here. These people are presented as different but their skin color, their heritage is a commonality for them.

It’s WILD to me, reading this from the comforts of being in the 2000s (and as a man), that the treatment of these women – plural because we can see the other husbands’ reactions – is so normal. It’s like Tea Cake and Janie are becoming ‘othered’ not like how Jody and Janie were with the spit cups and house but by how Tea Cake hits her. And now she doesn’t even “holler” for the rest of the chapter by not speaking…at all. JANIE IS SILENCED I GREATLY ABHOR YOUR WORK HURSTON

The inclusion of “this time” is so telling. Throughout Tea Cake’s time as a love interest, he was constantly compared and contrasted with Joe. Following her second husband’s death, Janie was constantly dressed up to be the pinnacle of feminine grief: a poor, lamenting mayor’s wife. However, with Tea Cake, she is simply Janie: a wife who lost the only man whom she ever felt she received love from.

I think the emphasis on nature’s unavoidable victory over humanity is so interesting. Before, it was the animals that managed to sense the change in the weather and fled before the carnage ensured; now, it is the animals that gain life because of a man’s death.

This specifically is very reminiscent of the title. When thinking biblically, by watching the natural world, those still in the ‘Muck’ are watching God himself.

The utilization of buzzards, an animal known as being a scavenger of dead carcasses, is very telling. Also, the birds quite literally flying over their heads is likely foreshadowing the death that will eventually ravage the community, mortality always just hanging over their heads.

Mrs. Turner’s involvement with the skirmish while Mr. Turner just looks on is very ironic; the chapter begins with multiple men justifying Tea Cake’s violence with the notion that it would keep Janie ‘in line’ and subservient to him, emphasizing the role of the husband as the enforcer and administrator of marital justice. However, Mrs. Turner is the one attempting to quell the violent revolt in her home, while her male counterpart stays on the sidelines and out of it.

I KNEW IT I KNEW IT I KNEW IT. TEA CAKE HATE IS JUSTIFIED.