ectly leads to her undoing. Unrealistically, the sensitive but conventional Robert Leburn becomes for Edna the embodiment of ideal and romantic love, her beloved one (74). He is a vision that evokes in her the belief that she is living for something.Like Edna, Janie envisions Tea Cake as an ideal man. In her opinion, she couldnt make him look just like any other man to her. He looked like the love thoughts of women. He could be a bee to a blossoma pear tree blossom in the spring. He seemed to be crushing scent out of the world with his footsteps. [. . .] He was a glance from God (Hurston 101). In her eyes, he represents everything she wishes to become. He is self-determined and free. Tea Cake is the purposeful, self-reliant, industrious, and courageous wanderer as an ideal man type. Theoretically he was complemented by the ideal woman, his strong supportive spouse who could assume an independent and self-reliant role herself if the situation required it (Kilson 21). Janie and Tea Cake mirror one another in their actions, devotion, and courage. By learning and working with Tea Cake, Janie has explored the soul of her culture and learned how to value herself (Wall 388-89). It is this self-value that allows Janie to free herself from the yolk of male domination. These final relationships that Edna and Janie have entered into expose them to emotions and awakenings that they were denied in their previous experiences. Their quests for self-determination have ended.The bird now soars in the air with its wings entirely stretched and the pear tree is in full bloom. Edna escapes from societys views and mans control and lives for a moment above the rest. She relishes in ecstasy with the feeling of love. Janie has been watered with love and is experiencing daylight for the first time. As she soaks in life, she has finally been awakened and is free. But a bird must always alight and a tree is subject to the changing of seasons. ...
