The Gilded Six-Bits By Zora Neale Hurston

Love is something not easily or even completely understood, it is an always too hard to but its only to look but not touch. But how far can temptation go before it turns into desire? In Zora Neale Hurston’s short story “The Gilded Six-Bits”, marriage and betrayal are something that is wired in the heart of many people. Marriage creates a bond within the institution of any relationship that can make it more emotionally connected to the spouse. Betrayal can tear the most delicate flower into dust; it violates any type of trust in the relationship. Hurston gives an example of three stages in a relationship which consist of Love, Admiration, Betrayal and Forgiveness in this story. The character Joe Banks loves his wife Missie May, but her infidelity

puts their marriage’s strength on the front line. What ironically leads Missie May’s desire to believe in something she didn’t believe in herself. Missie May thought she could make a husband a physically rich man, but failed to realized that the love her husband had for her was much richer than the finest gold. The story reflects on the appearance of the theme which the author uses to portray that objects aren’t always realistically what they aren’t told to be.
In the beginning, Hurston describes the environment which gives a type of imagery for the surrounding of the story; “It was a Negro yard around a Negro house in a Negro settlement that looked to the payroll of the G.

and G. Fertilizer works for its support” (Hurston pg.1). The young couple Missie May and husband Joe Banks seem to have everything love could offer them; a home, paying job, good food, and an interaction that seems to keep their marriage very much joyful. Joe comes home from work from the G. and G. Fertilizer Factory, and once he arrives home, he would always hurl nine silver dollars on the porch which alerts his wife of his arrival home and continuously Missie May would always “promptly appeared at the door in mock alarm. "Who dat chunkin' money in mah do'way?” (Hurston pg.1). Then the two would pretend to fight and play around until it’s time for dinner, their love already seemed to be portrayed as something more warming and more likely they have an emotional attachment to one another rather than a physical attachment; making their love far more valuable than a gold piece. Joe has a job at the factory which brings the income, and Missie May stays home being the and do many of the household chores until her husband comes home from work. But everything is normal for this young couple as the couple has no children yet so they are just loving each other with the

passion.
The theme of “The Gilded Six-Bits” seemed to be Appearance vs.

Reality. Zora Neale Hurston dramatizes the idea of things aren’t always what they seem to be and a marriage can be easily destroyed from the smallest misconception of wanting wealth. Although, Hurston questions the tradition of a relationship as a self-fulfillment and criticized as antithetical to personal freedom (Siegel), she still details the basic things that can change greatly in any relationship. A marriage during this time was something more surreal, it was the idea of domestic happiness and maintaining the appearance of happiness to keep an illusion of a happy marriage. Throughout, the 1930’s women were suppressed by their husbands without their husbands these women had no identity, so they cleaned, and raised children to achieve their personal freedom (German). Missie May didn’t have no identity other than her husbands’, Joe would wake up every morning and Missie May would have already completed breakfast ask "Missie May, ain't you gonna fix me no breakfus'?" (Hurston) and have his work clothes cleaned and ready for his day out. As the layers begin to unfold, Missie May begins to show how much of a value herself as a wife and showing how unaltered her love is to her husband “Ah'm a real wife, not no dress and breath. Ah might not look lak one, but if you burn me, you won't git a thing but wife ashes” (Hurston pg.1). Missie May claims to be the most trustworthy and faithful wife of all of the town, she

didn’t claim to be original housewife that didn’t need the fancy things to be labeled as one. However, Hurston explains in the story that though Missie may value herself, she still would have a way to out dress everyone in town “church on Sunday nights when Missie out dressed any woman in town--all, everything, was right” (Hurston pg.1). Missie May and Joe’s marriage was viewed to be that couple that would possess such a powerful love that can’t be valued against no currency “. Ah ain't never been nowhere and Ah ain't got nothin' but you" (Hurston pg.2). In speaking in the sense of value comes into play is a system that a is a fair winner and loser in this situation. Insight of Joe’s mimicry of Otis D. Slemmons; the towns newcomer whose rich and owns the town ice cream parlor. The author Langston Hughes once said “it’s a bore being always poor”; using this quote it brings the author twist into creating not only an idea of the idea of being poor isn’t fun, but which characters ideals change throughout the story. The young wife would rather act fancier than what she already is and a fraudster that is always been in the spotlight.