That's a Burden

I wanted to name this post "You Can Tell a Lot about a Woman by the Contents of Her Purse (and Who Carries It), but Sometimes It's More than It Appears to Be," but that's just obnoxiously long. So I went with the current over-used phrase. Because when most people see a man carrying his wife's purse, they make assumptions - she's spoiled and doesn't want to carry it, it's too heavy for her, he secretly enjoys carrying purses... - and they may be right.  Or they could be missing some blatant symbolism (not to mention manners).  You see, when a husband carries his wife's purse, he's helping carry some of her burden.  And what "In the End, We Are All Light" is saying is that carrying someone's burden is a sign of your love; you carry theirs and they forgive you for giving them yours.  And when this happens, the burdens don't seem so bad anymore.
This all ties in well with Their Eyes Were Watching God.  In her first two marriages, Janie's been burdened with the so-called womanly role.  She's been made to run the store and make dinner (without burning it!).  Just don't ask her to carry wood, or she might just leave you.  Even when Joe dies, she still has to run the store (while pretending to mourn).  But then the young, dashing Tea Cake comes along and makes her life so much happier.  He helps her decide to sell the store and move away, taking that burden off her.  And of course, he doesn't make her keep up the required role of a woman - he even lets her take her hair down.  Tea Cake frees Janie from having to live as a dependent woman, when she truly is very independent.  And this all is easy for him: freeing her doesn't put a huge weight on his shoulders.
Of course, their marriage isn't without Janie carrying some of Tea Cake's burdens.  Tea Cake is poor and Janie is rich; thus, Janie supports both of them.  Even when Tea Cake spends all of Janie's money without asking her, she forgives him.  When Tea Cake gets rabies, Janie takes on the burden of killing him to save both him and herself.  And here's the true sign of her love: she still loves Tea Cake and cherishes his memory, but is able to move on with her life, until that last burden is "light as a feather blown."