Chapter 20 Summary

Janie stays in the Everglades for a little while to make the others feel better, but the muck all around reminds her of Tea Cake, and after a few weeks, she leaves. All she takes with her are the seeds Tea Cake had meant to plant, and which she decides to plant at home for remembrance.

As she finishes her story, Phoeby declares that she has grown ten feet taller just listening and is no longer satisfied with her own life. She tells Janie that she means to make Sam take her fishing, and that nobody had better criticize Janie in her hearing. However, Janie tells her not to feel too mean with the others, because they just do not know anything: "Dem meatskins is got tuh rattle tuh make out they's alive. Let 'em consulate theyselves wid talk. 'Course, talkin' don't amount...