ntal abuse. Janie's resilience is rewarded when she finally meets and marries Tea Cake, who represents the closest semblance to her youthful idealism regarding love and marriage. Another male figure playing prominently in Janie's life is the white man who raped her grandmother; her lineage determines, therefore, that Janie will look whiter than other black women. This fair complexion eventually attracts the ambitious Joe Starks, yet also contributes to Joe's objectification of Janie. Yet, outward appearances aside, Janie's identity takes shape in response to the white male tyranny that made her own birth possible. For example, Janie's husband Jody paints his house "a gloaty, sparkly white," (44) humiliates the citizens of Eatonville in similar ways as the white man would, and forces Janie into the slavish servitude reflected by the identity-confining head rag he makes her wear (51). Yet, Janie fights Joe's tyranny by telling him off just before he dies in Chapter Eight, then reclaims her own identity by burning up "every one of her head rags" (85). Similarly, Janie encounters Mrs. Turner, Hurston's symbol of internalized racism, who doesn't "blame de white folks from hating [African-Americans] 'cause Ah can't stand 'em mahself" (135). Again, however, Janie remains true to herself as she continues to form her own identity by refusing to leave Tea Cake and class off as Mrs. ...
