Quote 19
[Tea Cake]: "Ah ain’t been sleepin’ so good for more’n uh week cause Ah been wishin’ so bad tuh git mah hands in yo’ hair. It’s so pretty. It feels jus’ lak underneath uh dove’s wing next to mah face."
"Umph! You’se might easy satisfied. Ah been had dis same hair next tuh mah face ever since Ah cried de fust time, and ‘tain’t never gimme me no thrill."
"Ah tell you lak you told me – you’se mighty hard tuh satisfy. Ah betcha dem lips don’t satisfy yuh neither."
"Dat’s right, Tea Cake. They’s dere and Ah make use of ‘em whenever it’s necessary, but nothin’ special tuh me."
"Umph! umph! umph! Ah betcha you don’t never go tuh de lookin’ glass and enjoy yo’ eyes yo’self. You lets other folks git all de enjoyment out of ‘em ‘thout takin’ in any of it yo’self."
"Naw, Ah never gazes at ‘em in de lookin’ glass. If anybody else gits any pleasure out of ‘em Ah ain’t been told about it." (11.38-43)
Janie’s beautiful physical attributes are vehicles of pleasure for everyone but herself. The idea of beauty is closely linked to pleasure, but while women seem to have the beauty, men are the ones who enjoy it. Janie may be flirting with Tea Cake here, but readers know that she is as humble as she claims here, never really taking her beauty for granted nor actively using it to her advantage.
Quote 20
[Tea Cake on Mrs. Turner]: "Ah hates dat woman lak poison. Keep her from round dis house. Her look lak uh white woman! Wid dat meriny skin and hair jus’ as close tuh her head as ninety-nine is tuh uh hundred!" (16.36)
Where Mrs. Turner associates beauty with whiteness, Tea Cake takes the opposite stance. He considers white ugly, especially when it is mixed with black blood. So what are his thoughts on Janie? Mrs. Turner even thinks Janie looks more white than herself.
Quote 21
[Tea Cake]: "But ‘sposing you wuz tuh die now. You wouldn’t git mad at me for draggin’ yuh heah?"
"Naw, We been tuhgether round two years. If you kin see de light at daybreak, you don’t keer if you die at dusk. It’s so many people never seen de light at all. Ah wuz fumblin’ round and God opened de door." (18.36-37)
In her reassuring response to Tea Cake, Janie likens life to a day—referring to traditional light imagery of dawn representing hope, while dusk and the coming of darkness symbolize despair. She calls Tea Cake her "light at daybreak" and considers her life full enough so that she can "die at dusk" peacefully.