Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston details the life and struggles of a woman named Janie Crawford. In the novel, Janie has three significant relationships with men. Each one helps her to grow in some way, and become more complete and comfortable with herself. Her final relationship, with a man named Tea Cake, serves as the most important of the three, as it comes the closest to being a mutually respectful, loving relationship. However, it ends tragically.
In Chapter 18, the Florida Everglades where Janie and Tea Cake have made their home gets hit with a terrible hurricane. The two have the opportunity to leave the area, also known as "the muck," but they opt to stay and try to wait out the storm. Lake Okechobee overruns the seawalls, and the entire area is destroyed by a deadly flood. Janie and Tea Cake attempt to get to safety, but along the way Janie is caught in the floodwaters, and saves herself only by grabbing onto the tail of a cow swimming by. Unfortunately, on the back of the cow is a ferocious dog. She can't let go or she will drown, but if she holds on, the dog will attack her. Tea Cake sees Janie's plight, and dives into the water to save her. He gets to her just before the dog can reach her, but as he struggles to kill the animal he is bitten on the cheek. However, he manages to kill it, and the two survive and continue on together.
About a month later, Tea Cake begins to feel ill. In Chapter 19, Hurston writes,
About the middle of the fourth week, Tea Cake came home early one afternoon complaining of his head. Sick headache that made him lie down for a while. He woke up hungry. Janie had his supper ready but by the time he walked from the bedroom to the table, he said he didn't b'lieve he wanted a thing.
The days progress, and Tea Cake's condition grows worse and worse. Soon he can't tolerate the taste of water. Janie goes to get Doctor Simmons, a "white doctor who had been around so long he was part of the muck," who quickly makes a house call to diagnose Tea Cake. While he is there, Janie recalls the events since the hurricane; she tells the doctor how taxed Tea Cake had been with swimming, walking, and "fightin' wid dat big old dawg and de dawg bitin' 'im in de face and everything." The doctor questions Tea Cake about the dog bite, and Tea Cake downplays the severity of the event. Shortly thereafter, the doctor tells Tea Cake that he has some pills in the car, and asks Janie to come out with him to get them.
At the car, Doctor Simmons reveals the truth of the situation to Janie,
"I'm pretty sure that was a mad dawg bit yo' husband. It's too late to get hold of de dawg's head. But de symptoms is all there. It's mighty bad dat it's gone on so long. Some shots right after it happened would have fixed him right up."
Janie is horrified to find out that Tea Cake has rabies and the disease has been left untreated for weeks. When she asks if Tea Cake will die, the doctor says that he is likely to. A bad situation is made worse when the doctor tells Janie "de worst thing is he's liable tuh suffer something' awful befo' he goes" and "'Bout the only thing you can do, Janie, is to put him in the County Hospital where they can tie him down and look after him." To make matters worse, he also tells Janie that Tea Cake "is liable to bite somebody else, specially you, and then you'll be in the same fix he's in." Concerned for the life of the only man she has ever truly loved, Janie protests. She says that she has a lot of money in the bank, pleading with the doctor to find a way to save Tea Cake. Doctor Simmons says that he'll phone into Palm Beach for the serum but it looks like it is too late.
Shortly thereafter, Tea Cake is driven mad by the rabies and attempts to kill Janie. Janie manages to save herself, but only by killing Tea Cake. After a short trial in which Janie is found innocent, she leaves the muck to return to Eatonville, where she first met Tea Cake, and where her story begins and ends.
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