She is pretending to mourn over her now dead husband to show the townsfolk that she “really cares” about him and in the end she is actually enjoying her freedom and independence.

When he is coming to his end Janie tries to tell him what she was going through in this relationship and he dies in the end when they were arguing at the end she takes her rag out of her hair showing independence growing within herself.

Janie starts to give up and not wanna engage in any form on communication with her husband anymore and she was done and knows that her husband is getting ill and can’t really argue like how he used too. She is slowly gaining her independence as she grows and learns and how much she wants freedom.

Janie has been realizing that Joe is not letting her talk when she tries to stand up for herself when the men were saying awful things about and the women. Janie is standing up for herself no matter what she keeps moving forward.