Two similar, yet different, essays are “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” by Zora Neale Hurston, and “No Name Woman” by Maxine Hong Kingston. Both of these essays take place in different areas with different events, but have similar meanings and lessons to be learned. The piece, “How It Feels to Be Colored Me,” was about Hurston and her experiences moving from one town to another. The town she was first in was Eatonville, which was a town full of black people. Hurston enjoyed being the only colored person to stick out from the rest by greeting tourists who passed by the town, while other colored people hid within their homes. One day, her family moved to Jacksonville, which was a town full of white people. Hurston felt that she did not belong with anyone at all, not even people who were of similar skin color. Throughout the essay, Hurston repeats that she does not feel colored or does not have a race. …show more content…
Although, half of the essay was split into two different points of view of what happened before her aunt’s suicide. The first point of view was by Kingston’s mother, who gave a short perspective as to what happened to her sister-in-law. The second point of view was by Kingston herself, who gave her own version as to what she believed had occurred during those tragic moments, even though she wasn’t there during those events. Kingston believed that there were good reasons why her aunt did what she did, and that she was completely innocent as to what happened with her. However, Kingston’s mother believed that her sister-in-law was completely at fault and disgraced the family. Her mother intimidates Kingston by telling her the story and says she must not tell anyone, yet the author reveals her mother’s thoughts in her
However, there is something to say about promoting pride within one’s community. There has been a trend in education to promote celebration and awareness instead of tolerance to combat racism. This aligns with what Hurston tries to argue. The traditional “color-blindness” model has proven not to work. At the same time, it can be argued that this is a redundant “fight fire with fire” tactic. Hurston conveniently ignores the many ways that blacks are treated less than whites within the united states at the time. Would blacks be better off if they were left to themselves in a constant situation of minority? This might have been a situation where pride was successfully sacrificed to promote give equal opportunity to all
In “Ain’t I a Woman”, Sojourner uses repetition, pathos and addressing opposing viewpoint to make her argument more persuasive, while in “ How it Feels to Be Colored Me”, Hurston changes her tones of writing and use metaphor to convince her audience.
Ethnic group is a settled mannerism for many people during their lives. Both Zora Neale Hurston, author of “How It Feels to Be Colored Me; and Brent Staples, author of “Just Walk On By: A Black Man Ponders His Power to Alter Public Space,” realize that their life will be influenced when they are black; however, they take it in pace and don’t reside on it. They grew up in different places which make their form differently; however, in the end, It does not matter to them as they both find ways to match the different sexes and still have productivity in their lives.. Hurston was raised in Eatonville, Florida, a quiet black town with only white passer-by from time-to-time, while Staples grew up in Chester, Pennsylvania, surrounded by gang activity from the beginning. Both Hurston and Staples share similar and contrasting views about the effect of the color of their
Narrator, this was a third person account, thus leaving much to the imagination. The conversation’s language was left as if truly taken from an African American speaker in the south in such a time. The way Hurston made the scenery appear before me was like a white sheet gets stained with red wine, unable to wash out of my mind. The narration was very brut in a grammatical manner, giving a wash bucket effect of never being settled.
In ‘How it feels to be colored me’ Neale Hurston opens up to her pride and identity as an African-American. Hurston uses a wide variety of imagery, diction using figurative language freely with metaphors. Her tone is bordering controversial using local lingo.
Janie is first isolated from her peers as a child. She lives behind the Washburn's, a white family and this causes her to not, “know Ah wuzn't white till Ah was round six years old” (Hurston 8). This isolation made it hard to incorporate into a segregated school. She thought she was just another white child but she was deadly mistaken, “de chillun at school got to teasin' me 'bout livin' in de white folks' back-yard” (Hurston 9). Janie's location of living “classed off” how th...
Hurston, Zora Neale. “How It Feels to Be Colored Me.” Writer’s Presence: A Pool of Readings. 5th ed. Ed. Robert Atawan and Donald McQuade. Boston:Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2006. 166-170. Print
I used “How it Feels to be Colored Me” by Zora Neale Hurston as my mentor text for this essay.
Hurston does not concern herself with the actions of whites. Instead, she concerns herself with the self-perceptions and actions of blacks. Whites become almost irrelevant, certainly negative, but in no way absolute influences on her
From slavery to the Harlem Renaissance, a revolutionary change in the African American community, lead by poets, musicians and artists of all style. People where expressing their feeling by writing the poem, playing on instruments and many more. According to the poem “ I, Too” by Langston Hughes and article “How it feels to be Colored Me” by Zora Neale Hurtson, the poem and article connects to each other. The poem is about how a African Man, who sits in the dinning café and says that, one day nobody would be able to ask him to move anywhere, and the in the article written by Zora Neale Hurtson, she describes how her life was different from others, she was not afraid of going anywhere. They both have very similar thoughts,
The racism and discrimination against blacks in both Black Like Me and Black Boy show the hardships and racial injustice that blacks faced in the south with their share of differences and similarities. After reading Black Like Me and Black Boy, I have gained a better perspective, about how in Black Like Me when John Howard Griffin was a “black” man he was treated unequally as all blacks are and once he went back to being a white man those people who had treated him bad were now treating him with respect. However, in the end no matter the skin color some things are the same for both colors. In Black Boy, I have learned that the life of a young child, a black boy, is hard during the segregated south and can harshly affect the child while growing up. As I read, I came across some similarities between both works as well as some differences. Even though both works had their moments in which the characters faced struggles, I was still able to see optimism as well as hope for a better life and future.
In “How it feels to be Colored Me”, Zora Hurston is trying to explore her own identity and find who she is in a world full of discrimination. She is a young black girl who is living during a time when it is tough to be black because of the way they are treated and used. In “Theme for English B”, Hughes writes about a young black man about the age of 22 who is given an assignment by his teacher to write a one page report from the self. The young man questions whether or not his paper will have the same truth behind it as a young white man’s paper. I am comparing these two works because the setting is similar. They are both in school during a time that blacks and whites were still trying to get used to being around each other in a learning atmosphere.
Although literature set in the early 1900s in the United States focuses on the inequality that existed between white and colored people, much fails to mention the inequality that existed within the African American community. This inequality is especially seen in the actions of Joe Starks, Janie’s controlling second husband, in that everything he does as the mayor is excessive. After receiving the town streetlight, he ceremoniously “wiped it off carefully and put it up on a showcase for a week for everybody to see” and then he organizes a lavish lamplighting ceremony (140). Also, to ensure that the whole town knows how prosperous he is, Joe builds an elaborate two story house “with porches, with banisters, and such things” and he paints it “a gloaty, sparkly white” which is impossible to ignore(146). Furthermore, through the characterization of Mrs. Turner, Hurston also demonstrates the discrimination that African Americans faced within their own community. Mrs. Turner is disgusted by color people, even though she herself is one and she lives in an colored community in the Everglades. Mrs. Turner desires to have white skin and scorns all those who embraced their African American genetics and heritage (325). I believe that inequality within the colored community that Hurston expresses in her work is
Discrimination is described as the unjust treatment of others, especially due to race, sex, or age. In the narratives “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” by Zora Neale Hurston and “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” by Gloria Anzaldua, both writers use their works to shine a light on discrimination in the United States, though in different ways. Anzaldua’s focus relies mostly on the pride of her fellow Chicanos, whereas, Hurston has more of an individualistic, soulful message. Anzaldua grew up along the Mexican-American border where she struggled with her identity as she was torn between the standards of both Mexican and American societies. Hurston did not face significant racial differences until “the very day she become colored” (Hurston 1). Hurston’s
Zora Neale Hurston’s writing embodies the modernism themes of alienation and the reaffirmation of racial and social identity. She has a subjective style of writing in which comes from the inside of the character’s mind and heart, rather than from an external point of view. Hurston addresses the themes of race relations, discrimination, and racial and social identity. At a time when it is not considered beneficial to be “colored,” Hurston steps out of the norm and embraces her racial identity.