ates. Janie can accept Tea Cake as an equal, without illusion, discovering love because she has finally accepted herself (Hemenway 75). “He could be a bee to a blossom-a pear tree blossom in the spring. He seemed to be a crushing scent out of the world with his footsteps” (Hurston 109). Tea Cake is not an ideal husband, but he does grant Janie the dignity of self. Tea Cake seems to be the bee for Janie’s blossom, but he is the ultimate betrayal of Janie (Davies 153). Tea Cake makes Janie his “whipping mule” to reassure himself of possession as it also justifies his jealousy. He has a certain power over Janie that was left unnoticed throughout their marriage. Hurston’s indirect punishment for Tea Cake is the mad dog. He tried to save Janie from the vicious animal and instead got bitten. Davies suggests that his rabies developed, and he transformed into a “mad dog,” a condition that reflects the anger that precipitated his betrayal of her (155). Janie put an end to the mad dog, and shot him dead because her love for him was stronger than death. Hemenway asserts, Janie has become a complete woman, no longer divided between an inner and outer self, a woman at home with the natural cycles of birth and death, love and loss, knowledge and self-hood. (77).For Janie learning about living means going to the horizon of her consciousness and establishing joyful relationships with others. Her eyes have been watching God-the God that expresses himself in nature, in other human beings and, especially, in our deepest selves (Bush 1038). During certain phases of her journey her dreams were crushed and her horizons were clouded by disappointments and empty marriages, (Jones 371) but Janie emerges as a woman that has been to the horizon in reality, instead of her dreams. Callahan concedes Janie has seen it all and is glad her journey has finally come to a rest. Alone at forty she dreams of i...
