To address this question regarding Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, analyze the nature of the relationship between Janie and Joe. This will help you understand what Janie feels, or does not feel, after Joe's death.

First, note that Janie and Joe's relationship was not one filled with love and longing. Prior to marrying Joe, Janie revealed her thirst for romantic love to Nanny. Janie is sentimental and craves intimacy and passion. She is the opposite of Joe in this respect. Joe is much less concerned with matters of the heart than he is with power, position, and status. He married Janie because she, in his eyes, fits the mold of what a powerful man's wife should be. Joe treats Janie poorly during the course of their marriage and places her in a subordinate position so that she is rendered voiceless. Whenever Janie attempts to defy Joe, he retaliates in a brutal, domineering, and, at times, humiliating fashion.

Second, use the dynamics within Joe and Janie's marriage to understand why Janie acted the way she did upon Joe's death. Did Janie exhibit tremendous amounts of sorrow? How did Joe's death prompt her to find and use her voice?