ore at this point is because she had someone to use it on. Though she always had her strong voice, Tea Cake gave her a reason to use it. Janies silence at the trial for Tea Cakes death was not a result of her lack of a voice, but instead her choice, ending in the idea that love can not be expressed through words. In an effort to escape a deadly hurricane, Janie got trapped in a river, hanging on to a cow for her life. In trying to help Janie out of the situation Tea Cake got bit by a rabid dog. The wound healed in only a few days and the incident was forgotten about until about a month later when Tea Cake got sick. His sickness took him over and he became delirious. At one point he picked up a gun and was ready to shoot it at Janie. Despite their still strong love, to save her own life, Janie shot and killed him. She obviously blamed nothing on Tea Cake, but instead the rabid dog who bit him in the first place. That same day Janie was forced to go on trial. Considering that there were no witnesses and no real proof of what happened, much of Janies defense was based on the fact that she loved Tea Cake. But when she got up and was expected to speak, there were few words that came out. This is because Janie knew that love can not be expressed through words, and like she said to Pheoby later in the story, "talkin dont amount tuh uh hill uh beans when yuh cant do nothin else. And listenin tuh dat kind uh talk is jus lak openin yo mouth and lettin de moon shine down yo throat. Its uh known fact, Pheoby, you got tuh go there tuh know there" Janie is saying that you have to experience love to understand it, and that it would have done her no good to try to express verbally what she felt for Tea Cake. At the end of the novel, Janie walked away from the trial with both her voice that had been with her throughout her whole life, the emotional strength that she had gained through her love with Tea Cake (and which had continued even after his death)...
