Are humans naturally good, or naturally evil?
Put another way, are we defined as who we are at our best, or as who we are at our worst? An average? Both?
Relate this back to Tea Cake. Is it hard to redefine him after such a great first impression? How do you see him now?
I honestly have no idea. I think naturally we look for the evil in people. We look for something wrong with them. That's just how society is now. We can be defined as who we are at our best but as soon as you do something bad that's who you become. All the good things a person can do can be destroyed if you do something bad. Tea Cake really isn't that hard to redefine. He's a charmer and he's always been a charmer. He loves Janie and would risk his life to save her. Even when he does something wrong, in Janie's eyes he is still the same, perfect Tea Cake. It's like the good in him will always outweigh the bad for her.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion humans are naturally good and for this reason we are defined by who we are at our worst. Sadly, all of our news headlines are filled with "dirty laundry," or the bad choices different people make which shines a negative light on themselves. This being said, I believe that one's image can be restored but is not always. Depending on the severity of the choice or circumstance. This is where I see Tea Cake, he did do something very bad, but he has been so good to Janie and helped her find herself that this blip on the radar does not phase me too much about his character. I think he was a victim of a bad situation and took the wrong action. I see him as the same Tea Cake that showed Janie checkers and treated her as an equal. I think people are too quick to jump on him for this bad choice and I urge them to remember none of us are perfect and it is hypocritical to jump on him after one bad choice even though it was extremely disappointing as readers to see it.
ReplyDeleteI believe that humans are naturally good, but I agree with Annie; we always look for the worst in people. I think it’s because seeing the worst in others makes us feel better about ourselves. Also, it is normal to be a good person, which is why the when we make mistakes or do bad things, there is a stronger reaction, causing people to define people as who they are at their worst.
ReplyDeleteIt’s hard to see Tea Cake as any different than how he was when we first met him. My first impression was that he was charming and good for Janie. He treated her as an equal, and this made everyone like him more than Jody and Logan. On the other hand, I feel that he has changed since then. I doubt the Tea Cake we met in the shop would beat Janie the way he did now. In Janie’s opinion, she still loves Tea Cake even after the beatings and knows that there are ups and downs in every relationship. I was unhappy that he chose to beat her, but then again, Logan and Jody did much worse. We see how good Janie and Tea Cake are for each other, so in this case, I think that all the good things he has done can replace his bad decision.
I think humans are not naturally good or bad. I think it depends on how you are raised/your surroundings. However, if I had to choose, I would say humans are naturally good. Most humans know when they are doing something wrong, they just do not care. Even if no one had taught them what is right and what is wrong, I'm sure everyone knows that stealing (for example) is wrong. However, if you grow up in surroundings that accepts stealing, that makes you more inclined to steal when you are older. When I think of Tea Cake, I still think of the man that Janie loves and has been the best fit for her out of all her other husbands. This question is interesting because now that I think about it if Jody had done what Tea Cake did and stole Janie's money to steal, I would have been quick to judge and say how badly he treats Janie. However, since before Tea Cake stole the money I already considered him Janie's "perfect match" I guess I was better able to forgive him and not really take the situation into account when thinking about Tea Cake's true character.
ReplyDeleteI don't think humans are necessarily defined as either good or bad, but are defined as how we deal with good and bad situations. If, we are put in a particularly bad situation and we carry ourselves in a upholding manner, then thats what characterizes us as good. If, we act in a negative way towards those situations then thats what makes people see us at our worst and perceive us as bad. Its a complicated question because I believe that there is good and evil in everyone and you show your character by choosing how often your bad side comes out. I think Tea Cake is a good person who made a mistake when put in a bad situation. In general, he is not a bad guy and I don't think he would intentionally mean to harm Janie for no reason. He was just put in a bad place and didn't make the right decision when choosing how to solve his problem.
ReplyDeleteI feel like your restatement of the question is another question in itself that is equally important to life. I believe that humans are neither naturally good nor evil. People are not born good or evil, they are born neutral and their environment shapes them to be both partly good and partly evil. I believe we are defined by how we act in the worst circumstances. For example, everyone can be nice when people are nice to them, but what if all of a sudden everyone turned on you. Being nice would not be as easy then, which is why if you can be nice while everyone is mean to you, then it speaks volumes more about your character than being nice under favorable circumstances. I left my interpretation of Tea Cake open to time, so I never really had to redefine him, my perception was simply altered. I don't think it is hard to change how I see him becuase he had never been tested in less-than-favorable circumstance, and when he was met with poor circumstances, he miserably failed under them. However, this does still not mean he is a bad person, just when put under trials he failed at mainting his usual composure. One bad thing can't wipe out the good and vise versa.
ReplyDeleteI believe that people are all born naturally good and that people who end up turning bad transform because of the influence of the world around them. I believe that we become who we are largely due to the environment in which we are raised. However, while I believe in the goodness of human nature, I also believe that evilness is part of what makes us human. Without any evil, I feel that we'd no longer be human but godly- which we aren't. Therefore, I think that peoples character is not determined by the number of mistakes that we make necessarily, but rather by the way we respond to our mistakes and truly change. Therefore, my view of Tea Cake didn't really change much because I saw this as Hurston's way of making Tea Cake a believable character instead of a flawless man. As previously stated, mistakes are part of what makes us human, and in order to be a truly believable character, flaws are definitely necessary. I feel that in real life these kind of mistakes can be hard to forgive, and from Janie's perspective, I would have understood if she hadn't been able to forgive him; however, I think that Tea Cake remained a good man, and Janie saw that he's behavior acted as only a mistake and not something that defines Tea Cake's personality.
ReplyDeleteI think humans are naturally born good without the knowledge of bad things. That is because we are innocent when we are born, we are born. I think we are defined by our actions at the worst of circumstances. I think Tea Cake's little actions have not changed the way I see him. It is only when he is bitten, he begins to truly change. That doesn't mean his personality change was intentional. It is something uncontrolable.
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ReplyDeleteI feel that we are judged by our most shown characteristic, but even this may just serve as a way to fit in. I have seen that when mistakes or bad choices are made, the people around us remember them every time they look at or think of that person. But only through consistency can we expect them to forgive or forget. We are characterized by what are friends make us out to be. After we saw Tea Cake for the first time I thought that he was going to be a great person. When he took Janie's money, it felt like he was a thief, until he came back with even more money the next week. After Tea Cake beats Janie, he seems more insecure, that he needs to have more control over his woman. Also, after Tea Cake organized the ruckus at Mrs. Turner's restaurant, I don't feel any different about him, he was only protecting his interests by influencing the Turners to leave town. Mrs. Turner was a horribly racist person, ranting on and on about how Negros are worse than everyone else and that she and Janie should “lighten up the race”, and she was trying to get Janie to date her brother, even though Janie is already married. Tea Cake is a great person, but he changes in unexpected ways that can ruin his reputation.
ReplyDeleteI think people are naturally good, but we give in to bad vices. I think our judgement is often clouded by the opinions and stereotypes we face and these cause us to feel we must do bad things. I think people should be judged on how they act majority of the time rather than their worst or their best. Peoples worst or best actions are influenced by the situation they are in. I think it best to judge people on their average actions. I think after Tea Cake hit Janie we realized that he is not as perfect as his first impression proved. However, I think we still think of him as a good person over all because of our first impression. I think if the first time we were introduced to him, he had been hitting Janie, we would be convinced he was a bad person and have a hard time changing that.
ReplyDeleteI don't think people are naturally good or naturally evil. I think all people fall somewhere on the spectrum of good and evil, but at neither absolute because everyone, no matter how predisposed to either extreme they might be, is capable and commits both good and evil actions.
ReplyDeleteI think people are defined mostly by how they act at their worst, because there is only one "perfect" way to be, but many imperfect ways to be. Therefore, imperfection, or failure to be good, provides the variety in humanity and defines people. Each person has their own unique shortcomings and weaknesses, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, it just makes us human.
As for Tea Cake, he is presented at first as having a morally flawless personality. Because he is so open-minded and respectful in contrast to the rest of the town, we initially view him as being perfect (which is fallacious because nobody can be entirely good or entirely evil.) Even when he takes Janie's money, we as readers are willing to accept this because he explains himself and it seemed relatively harmless contrasted with the issues of racism, sexism, and equality permeating Janie's relationship with Jody. However, once he hits Janie, he shatters his illusion of perfection by stooping just as low as Jody for a minute. Even though he somewhat redeems himself by outweighing this bad action with many good ones, we still view him as being a good but flawed person.