was very controlling of her life, never even wanting to hear what she had to say. When being inducted into office as the town mayor, the townspeople wanted to hear some words from Janie, but Joe would not allow this, saying, "Thank yuh fuh yo compliments, but mah wife dont know nothin bout no speech-makn. Ah never married her for nothin lak dat. Shes uh woman and her place is in de home." The fact that Janie never talked back and always kept out of Joes way (instead of confronting him or running away from him) shows that Joes abuse was making Janie emotionally weak. Janies emotional weakness at this time becomes obvious when Joe forces her to work in his store all day without any grievance or objection from her. Despite her increasing emotional weakness, Janies voice throughout this time was still evident. Though she was often too intimidated and weak to speak back to Joe, when she felt that she needed to speak her mind and there was no risk involved, she did. A good example of this took place when some of the locals were teasing a mule. She felt very close to the lonely and mistreated mule and could relate to many of its problems. When she could take their ridicule of the mule no more, she spoke, saying "They oughta be ashamed uh theyselves! Teasindat poor brute beast lak they is! Done been worked tuh death. Done had his disposition ruint wid mistreatement and now they got tuh finish devilin im tuh death. Wisht Ah had mah way wid em all." Though she did not have the courage to say this publicly, these strong words were overheard by Joe, and convinced him to set the mule free. Another incident that shows Janies voice took place near Joes death. Janie knew that she could not keep the emotions that she had felt for over 20 years locked up inside of her and she decided to have a talk with Joe before he passed. Despite his weak condition, when Joe didnt want to listen to what Janie had to say, she persisted, yelling "Ah knowed you wasnt go...
