What did Mrs. Turner propose to Janie, and why?

Mrs. Turner does not understand why Janie associates with black people or why she married a man as dark as Tea Cake. Mrs. Turner feels that women like herself and Janie that are partly white should try to "lighten the race" by only associating and marrying people that have a light skin color.

Mrs. Turner continually shows her disdain for black people; she does not understand why blacks laugh so much and so loudly. She tells Janie that she thinks that the black race is dragging down people like herself. If the blacks were not there, white people would embrace mixed race people and include them in their culture. She tells Janie that she never shops at black shops; she thinks that blacks have no business sense. Then, Mrs. Turner tells Janie that she would be better off married to another, lighter man, particularly Turner's brother.