Skin Color Isn't A Tragedy In "How It Feels to Be Colored Me," from The Norton Reader, Zora Neale Hurston states her experiences with racism as she grew up from the stages of childhood to adulthood. Throughout the essay, Hurston explains how she sees the suffering of black people and how she has accepted her skin color. The author's key point is, although she had accepted her skin color, she still experienced racism around her. In this expressive essay that's developed by narration, Zora Neale Hurston demonstrates different experiences with a common meaning and effectively using imagery and literary devices to vividly narrate the essay. "How It Feels to Be Colored Me" is an expressive essay that is developed by narration. The essay is expressive because it is …show more content…
The rhetorical aim of expression is understood in the first paragraph because Hurston begins in first person: "I am colored but I offer nothing in the way of extenuating circumstances except the fact that I am the only Negro in the United States whose grandfather on the mother's side was not an Indian chief" (12). Hurston does not stray from first person as she continues to express from personal experiences throughout her life. She concludes the essay by questioning "who knows" about the "Great Stuffer of Bags" (15). In Hurston's conclusion, she compares colored people with paper bags. 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