How It Feels To Be Colored Me

I choose to analysis the ethical approach of “Zora Neal Hurston’s “How it Feels to be Colored Me.” I think the author used a very unique to say how she feel about herself. I can relate to the author, when she speaks of her town, and how she didn’t realize her skin until she left her. Growing up I really didn’t know how different my skin was, until I found myself in predominate white church. For a while, people treated me differently, until they realized I was human with a great heart and attitude.

After Hurston heard the court ruling that schools will be desegregated , Hurston wrote that she has “no sympathy nor respect for the “tragedy of color” school of thought among us”. She felt there was no need for schools to desegregate. By saying this, it shows us Hurston was against desegregation. Therefore her goal was never for total equality for blacks and whites. She let’s this belief of hers show through in Their Eyes Were Watching God by illustrating abuse among the black community to each other. For instance Mrs. Turner’s racism towards black men and women that were “too dark.”When somebody talked mah husband intuh comin’ down heah tuh open up uh eatin’ place Ah never dreamt so many different kins uh black folks could colleck in one

Hurston's essay is effective because (1) she succeeds in organizing her experiences with a common phrase starting the beginning of her paragraphs and (2) Hurston effectively narrates each experience with imagery and literary devices. Hurston's methods of

African Americans thrived in American culture during the 1920’s, as the Harlem Renaissance invigorated and empowered people of color to create artistic and literary works. The expressive movement allowed Africans to gain a new identify in America and prove their worth in a predominantly white society. The African American literary prolificacy soon ended as the Great Depression caused colored people to return back to their pre-established assumptions of artistic inadequacy and incompetence. The decline in the American economy increased political and social tensions, resulting in the return of African American discrimination. Zora Neale Hurston addresses the recurrent African oppression in the 1930’s with her publication, Their Eyes Were Watching

The Negro writer who seeks to function within his race as a purposeful aren has a serious

Hurston finds herself mystified by the beauty of the area and admires the people of the town that do not relish on its fame and only desire the simplistic way of life they lead. Through the uses of devices such as numeration, regional dialect, imagery, climax, and sentence structuring, Hurston effectively conveys her feelings regarding the town and the townspeople. Ultimately, Hurston purpose is to praise the town and its people for remaining culturally unchanged and simplistic in the way they

Fitting in is what society is all about, it seems that following what others tell you is more valuable than being your true self. In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel “ Their Eyes Were Watching God” shows that living as who you are brings more joy to yourself. With the main character Janie, we know how living in a society of judgement affected her. From living in Eatonville and being married three times, Janie goes from living in unhappiness to fulfilling herself with what brings joy into her life. In this book, Hurston uses symbolism to illustrate that contentment is more meaningful than fitting into society.

Her initial metaphor concerning a procedure done on a patient symbolizes slavery as a disease towards African Americans and its cure was its eventual abolishment. The blunt “the patient is doing well, thank you” is aimed towards whites who continue to view colored people as inferior beings that require special attention when, in fact, they don’t. Hurston further portrays the abolishment of slavery as a metaphorical race for freedom and civilization. With each major time period and reform movement, the race draws closer to starting. With the final “Go!” from the previous generation, Hurston is hurled towards a new era where she may succeed. The race, however, still continues and she “must not halt in the stretch to look behind and weep” for those who laid the path before her. These simple but purposeful metaphors allow the audience to sympathize with the plight of African Americans as they struggle to create themselves in a world that perceives them as lesser

Both Joe and Tea Cake’s funerals are representative of how they lived as people. Joe constantly exuded an aura of power and dominance and made people respect him. As a result, he was seen as a god-like figure by many and in a sense was impossible to relate to. The imagery of “[p]eople on farm horses and mules; babies riding astride of brothers ' and sisters ' backs” (88) makes it seem as though they are going on a religious pilgrimage rather than grieving over a loved one. By mentioning how the “expensive black folds” of the coffin “were resurrection and life” Joe may be likened to Jesus in how he was resurrected after three days of being killed (88). However, although many idolized him, Janie did not feel remorse during the funeral. Rather,

During the movement, Hurston was able to impact countless amount of people with her writings. In the Harlem Renaissance, she was acknowledged for her amazing intelligence, wittiness, and her magnificent writing style and how this unique author desired to fight for the rights of African Americans. During her lifetime she experienced grand success and was very well known, but, however, she also experienced disgrace and was slowly forgotten by the public. She was not well credited for all of her accomplishments, but now she is recognized as one of the best African American writers during the Harlem Renaissance. During her final decade, Hurston had difficulties getting work published. She experiences strong and adverse reactions for her criticism

“Their Eyes Were Watching God” is a novel written by Zora Neale Hurston. The novel portrays Janie, a middle aged black woman who tells her friend Pheoby Watson what has happened to her husband Tea Cake and her adventure. The resulting telling of her story portrays most of the novel. Throughout the novel, Zora Neale Hurston presents the theme of love, or being in a relationship versus freedom and independence, that being in a relationship may hinder one’s freedom and independence. Janie loves to be outgoing and to be able to do what she wants, but throughout the book the relationships that she is in with Logan,Jody and Tea Cake, does not allow her to do that. Neale Hurston further supports this theme with symbolism, like Janie's hair rag that held up her

Zora Hurston uses vivid imagery, natural diction, and several literary tools in her essay “How It Feels to Be Colored Me”. Hurston’s use of imagery, diction, and literary tools in “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” contributes to, and also compliments, the essay’s theme which is her view on life as a “colored” person. Throughout “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” Hurston carefully incorporates aspects of her African American culture in an effort to recapture her ancestral past. Hurston’s use of imagery, diction, and use of literary tools shape her essay into a piece of Harlem Renaissance work.

If Between the World and Me was viewed as a book saturated with hopelessness, Coates’s most famous essay regarding reparation “The Case against Reparations”, regarding incarceration “The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration”, and regarding the president “Barack Obama, Ferguson, and the Evidence of Things Unsaid” would most likely deem him a cynic. Coates begins The Case for Reparations by stating, “Two hundred fifty years of slavery. Ninety years of Jim Crow. Sixty years of separate but equal. Thirty-five years of racist housing policy. Until we reckon with our compounding moral debts, America will never be whole”. This essay, stirred so much attention because for a while, no one has spoken in such a hopeless, despairing and bleak

As Maria Tai Wolff says “for telling to be successful, it must become a presentation of sights with words. The best talkers are “big picture talkers”. For Hurston, the construction of African American identity requires a voice that can make you see, a voice that celebrates the visible presence of black bodies.

Langston Hughes and Maya Angelou were African Americans alive during the period in American history when minority groups were fighting hard for their rights and respect among the country. These two authors used their writing skill to shed light on how African Americans felt throughout this period of time, opening many people’s eyes to how the oppressed truly felt. The civil rights movement could have had an entirely different outcome if it weren’t outspoken individuals such as these two.