What lessons can be learned from Janie's life?

1) live your dreams

2) don't have kids before you're ready

3) never get married based on your desire for financial security

4) never let anyone abuse you- emotionally or physically

5) never be abusive

6) marry for love- work it out- and live each day of a HAPPY marriage like it just might not be there tomorrow

Janie goes through a lot. Janie’s sacred notions of love are desecrated when she is forced into one loveless marriage, and falls into a second in order to escape husband #1. I think the ending gives us something if we are fishing for a moral or lesson. At home, Janie tells Pheoby the whole story. She has learned two life lessons – that people must go out and live their lives (not simply stay home and gossip) and that they must find God for themselves. The novel ends with Janie coming to terms with Tea Cake’s death. She thinks of Tea Cake, grateful that he gave her the chance to love and live fully.