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Janie was excited by the thought of marriage at first when she was a young girl. Marriage is sacred and consists of oaths. Ralph Waldo Emerson said in Self-Reliance, ''Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood?'' Janie showed that it wasn't bad to be misunderstood because she was willing to marry Logan Killicks and she took the chance of trying to love him, but she knew she didn't want to be married to him anymore after she talked to Phoebe, her best friend, and cried about her feelings. Janie was held back in some ways by her next husband, Joe Starks. Later on, Janie met the true love of her life, Tea Cake. Janie wanted to protect Tea Cake and grow old with him. She was scared for Tea Cake since doesn't want to lose him.

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''Janie fooled around outside a while to try and it wasn't so...Well, she thought, that big old dawg with the hatred in his eyes had killed her after all. She wished she had slipped off that cow-tail and drowned then and there and been done. But to kill her Tea Cake was too much to bear...She looked hard at the sky for a long time. Somewhere up there beyond blue ether's bosom sat He. Was He noticing what was going on around here? He must be because He knew everything. Did He mean to do this to Tea Cake and her? It wasn't anything she could fight...Maybe it was some big tease and when He saw it had gone on far enough He'd give her a sign. She looked hard for something up there to move for a sign...Her arms went up in a desperate supplication for a minute...God would do less than He had in His heart'' (178).

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''All next day in the house and store she thought resisting thoughts about Tea Cake. She even ridiculed him in her mind and was a little ashamed of the association. But every hour or two the battle had to be fought all over again...He seemed to be crushing scent out of the world with his footsteps...Spices hung about him. He was a glance from God'' (106).

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''Janie made her face laugh after a short pause, but it wasn't too easy. She had never thought of making a speech, and didn't know if she cared to make one at all. It must have been the way Joe spoke out without giving her a chance to say anything one way or another that took the bloom off of things. But anyway, she went down the road behind him that night feeling cold. He strode along invested with his new dignity, thought and planned out loud, unconscious of her thoughts'' (43).

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''There are years that ask questions and years that answer. Janie had no chance to know things, so she had to ask. Did marriage end the cosmic loneliness of the unmated? Did marriage compel love like the sun the day?...The familiar people and things had failed her so she hung over the gate and looked up the road towards way off. She knew now that marriage did not make love. Janie's first dream was dead, so she became a woman'' (21 and 25).

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Beneath the pear tree, ''she saw a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom...So this was a marriage! Then Janie felt a pain remorseless sweet that left her limp and languid...She was seeking confirmation of the voice and vision, and everywhere she found and acknowledged answers. A personal answer for all other creations except herself '' (11).