Zora Hurston

Having moved into the writings of twentieth century, I expected to detect a change in the content and manner in which the selections were written. I have not read any of Zora Hurston and found her to be a very interesting person. It was surprising that not only a woman, but a black woman, would have achieved such literary notoriety during this time period. I was impressed with her perseverance and determination in the paths her life took her.

I found the character’s thoughts in How It Feels to be Colored Me to be very down to earth, a viewpoint many of us could use to adopt today. I could not help but feel empowered by this young persons’ point of view. She feels no resentment over her differences or even the way she is treated because of it. She accepts situations as they are. I find it interesting she didn’t even think of herself as colored until society began treating her as such. Even then, she didn’t feel anyone owed her anything. She showed responsibility for her own destination. I admired her zeal to treat everyone as equal and welcomed the tourists into her town in a way others would not.

The Guilded Six –Bits was an interesting piece. I can understand why this would have begun the demise of Hurston’s career. Even though I don’t believe she was writing the character to be a black stereotype, I would imagine the black community would have been offended at the black women being depicted in such a way. However, I would imagine there was as much infidelity and deceit taking place among the whites as any this story would have suggested.

I was taken aback by the turn of events in the story. It began as a beautiful love story which showed promise for the human race. It depicted a couple who seemed to live in the simplest of means but shared much joy and contentment. Each partner accomplished their component of the relationship and seemed to portray an all-American young married couple making a living during the times. The story shows how easily greed and the love of money can sneak in among the best of us; no one is protected against it regardless of it. However, it was encouraging the positive turn in the relationship when Joe was able to overcome his hurt and shame.
Both of these stories illustrate great lessons in life for young people.

I did find it interesting that it was his mother's comments concerning not being able to deny the baby that seemed to make a difference in his view of his relationship with Missie May. The story had led us to believe that Missie May's infidelity would have been a pleasing realization for his mother, something that she would have expected of her. Sometimes it is the least likely factors which can bring us back to reality and help us to accept situations as they are and seek out the possibilities of how to contend with the realities of life.

Perseverance, humility, forgiveness, and acceptance were several qualities of these characters we as a human race could stand to learn.