 The novel does not end with her finding her great love of tea cake. It's framed from beginning to end by a conversation between two women and two women only. So Janie is telling her entire story to her best friend Phoebe Watson, and they're on the back porch. They've turned their backs on the rest of the world. They've turned their backs on the porch. They've turned their backs on Eatonville. They've turned their backs on Harlem. And they only talk to one another.