Analysis Of How It Feels To Be Colored Me By Zora Hurston

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An Analysis of Zora Hurston “How It Feels to Be Colored Me,” explores the life of Zora Neal Hurston from her autobiographical point of view. The essay explores Zora’s unique outlook on the social and cultural nuances that affect the relationship between blacks and whites in the time period of the 1920s and 1930s. Zora Neale Hurston’s personality drives her to be an entertainer and an experienced conversationalist, and she is very well aware that she is charismatic. Zora’s vanity beautifully transcends her race. She relishes in both the positive as well as the negative aspects of being a black woman in this time period. Rather than internalizing the grotesque history that her people have been through, like other black Americans that she has observed, Zora takes the history in stride and tries to use her situation as an opportunity to make the most out of the life she has now. When Zora does encounter racism; however, she deals with it similarly. True to her character, Zora sees people who would avoid her for her skin color as at a loss because, in her words, “How can anyone deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It’s beyond me.” Zora’s credibility comes from being an active member of both “white” and “black” society during the period in which she lived. She was in a unique position to express her view points in the way that she has because if her argument had been made by a white person, it would be obviously …show more content…

The dialog that she starts about a number of issues pertaining to race and self-view are products of her existence that could not be recreated by anyone else. Her essay was provocative and she had merit and real world experience to back her words up. Agree or disagree with Hurston’s views, she most defiantly was an important voice that surpassed what anyone thought a “colored girl” was capable

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