Grommersoft

Chapter 10 Summary

One day, Janie is left alone in the store while most of the town goes to a ball game in Winter Park. A strange, imaginative young man wanders in, and they strike up a conversation. He tells her he got the place of the ball game mixed up and will have to wait for another ride to take him home. In the meantime, he offers to teach Janie how to play checkers, and then he laughs and protests when she cheats. Janie thinks here is someone who actually wants her to play—Jody had told her she did not have the brains for checkers and would not let her. After a while, the young man introduces himself as Vergible Woods, Tea Cake for short. Janie likes his sly grin, his lazy eyes and narrow waist. He sticks around while she closes up the store and walks her home on his arm, promising to come back for another game. For Janie, it feels like she has known him all her life.

Chapter 10 Analysis

Imaginative and fun-loving Tea Cake is an obvious contrast to the previous men in Janie's life. Contradicting the traditional expectations that have been imposed on her, Tea Cake not only teaches Janie to play checkers but also refuses to let her win. Thus, this initial scene establishes the relationship they will develop as one based on mutual respect and equality.