he slapped Janie until she had a ringing sound in her ears and told her about her brains before he stalked on back to the store.
Joe is very physically abusive to Janie. For some reason, his pent up frustrations with jealousy towards other men, he lets it out on Janie. Or it might be already in his nature to be so abusive. No wonder Janie had 3 husbands.