This book tells a story of Janie Crawford's evolving selfhood through three marriages. Light skinned, long-haired, dreamy as a child, Janie grows up expecting better treatment than she gets until she meets Tea cake, a younger man who engages her heart and spirit in equal measure and gives her the chance to enjoy life without being a man's mule  or adornment. Though Janie's story does not end happily, it does draw to a satisfying conclusion. Janie is one black woman who doesn't have to live lost in sorrow, bitterness, fear, or foolish romantic dreams, instead Janie proclaims that she has done " two things everybody's got tuh do fuh theyselves". They  got tuh go tuh God, and they got tuh find out about livin' fuh theyselves"....