A Book ' Bum Rush The Page ' By Teri Ellen Cross

If a black woman had dark skin she would resemble a man, therefore making her ugly in society’s standards. This pressures black women to constantly be "compatible with the white female standard of beauty" (Ashe 580) in order to be socially accepted in society. Intuitively black women understood that in order to be considered desirable, the less black they had to look. This unfortunate perception of beauty stems from a long pattern of "sociohistorical racial injustices" (Bealer 312) towards darker skinned African Americans. Maria Racine states in her review that since slavery black people who approximated closer to whites were sexually sought after by black slave men and white plantation owners and were considered to live a somewhat "easy coexistence" because of their appearance (Racine 283). Since it’s start, colorism laid the pathway of racial prejudice towards dark skinned individuals. The result of treating dark African Americans as subhuman beings led to the altering of the black psyche by creating a "pervasive hierarchy" of beauty that black woman constantly combated or were forced to accept. (Bealer 312).

Zora Neale Hurston is unequivocally open about her race and identity in “How It Feels to Be Colored Me.” As Hurston shares her life story, the reader is exposed to Hurston’s self-realization journey about how she “became colored.” Hurston utilizes her autobiographical short story as a vehicle to describe the “very day she became colored.” Race is particularly vital in Zora Neale Hurston’s essay, “How it Feels to Be Colored Me” as she deals with the social construct of race, racism, and sustaining one’s cultural identity.

The memoir “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” by Zora Neale Hurston, was first published in 1928, and recounts the situation of racial discrimination and prejudice at the time in the United States. The author was born into an all-black community, but was later sent to a boarding school in Jacksonville, where she experienced “race” for the first time. Hurston not only informs the reader how she managed to stay true to herself and her race, but also inspires the reader to abandon any form of racism in their life. Especially by including Humor, Imagery, and Metaphors, the author makes her message very clear: Everyone is equal.

In the poem “White Lies” by Natasha Tretheway, the author uses imagery to describe the feelings of a mixed girl regarding color. In the past and somewhat still present, African Americans struggle with being accepted because of the color of their skin color. Black girls are taught to and told to embrace their color and that all shades of black are beautiful, but told by others in society that being too dark is not beautiful enough. In lines three and four, the author describes the colors of a light skinned person in very vivid colors such as “light-bright, near-white/high-yellow, red-boned” (3&4).

In Zora Hurston’s “How it feels to be colored me”, she teaches her readers what it means to be a person of color who loves yourself. While reading “How it feels to be colored me”, the readers are shown that Zora Hurston has great pride and love for who she is as a person and she shows this with the many rhetorical strategies present in her story. In Hurston’s story she establishes her love of self by using connotations about her skin color, metaphors about how she should not be treated differently based on the color of her skin, and imagery to vividly describe the way she is treated by the people of the world.

Back in the early 1800’s, the color of one’s skin mattered amongst African Americans and Caucasian people. There was infidelity between the Caucasian slave owners and the African American slaves. Of course, the outcome of that produced a fairer toned child. In most cases the child could pass as white. The mixed toned kids got to be inside doing housework, while the dark Negroes worked in the fields, under extraneous work conditions,”their dark-toned peers toiled in the fields”(Maxwell). From the early 1800’s to modern day, there is controversy that light or bi-racial African Americans are better than dark colored African Americans. African Americans had to go through tests to see if they were able to receive priviledges

In the essay “How It Feels to Be Colored Me,” the author, Zora Neale Hurston, emphasizes points in her life, those being times where she has felt her color and others where her color seemed almost nonexistent. Hurston’s motive for composing this writing piece is to show the readers that race does not solely determine one’s identity. The author skillfully utilizes writing strategies to assert this, which embellishes and strengthens the impact of her words. Some examples of these approaches include Hurston’s use of imagery, metaphors, and symbolism throughout the entirety of her work. Namely, the imagery presented in the essay allows for the reader to perceive Hurston’s surroundings in her time.

Many are unaware of the effects that race has played in their lives over the years. Some may not understand its implications, but are very oblivious to it. Race can influence such things like attitude and behavior. Nowadays being white or black means something more than just a Crayola color. No longer are they just colors, they are races with their own rules and regulations. People of color have been inferior to the white race for centuries. In their own way Zora Neale Hurston shows this concept in her story “How it feels to be Colored Me” as does Richard Wright in his autobiographical sketch “The Ethics of Living Jim Crow”.

treats her like a child and just like a child she is kept in this

From the very beginning, the nature of love in She Walks in Beauty is alluded to be captivating. That is that the woman he sees is very attractive or interesting and that she is taking up all of this thoughts and attention. Typically in this time period, the beautiful women were blonde and pale, opposite to this is the woman portrayed in this poem. The comparison to night and day or light and dark, two completely opposite things, shows one really beautiful thing. In the first line the simile “like the night” (Ln 1) established the initial beauty he saw. In addition, the use of the personification in “tender light” (Ln 5) shows that through the woman’s beauty his

with a rest cure. The doctor in the story is much like the doctor that

The perception of the Other in literature can take on several forms and on one line of thought it is considered to be “an individual who is perceived by the group as not belonging; as being different in some fundamental way” (The City University of New York). The group sees itself as the standard and judges those who do not meet that standard. The Other is almost always seen as a lesser or inferior being and is treated accordingly. They are perceived as lacking essential characteristics possessed by the group. For an example, Charlotte Gilman’s short story “The Yellow Wall-Paper” portrays a woman narrator as being the Other. The gender division, an important component of the late nineteenth-century society, is exemplified in “The Yellow Wall-Paper” much more significantly than in the typical “American” literary work. It attempts to shed light on the fierce alter egos and divided selves of the dominant tradition. However, the narrator seems to contradict the traditional feminine roles and becomes hysterical as her way of revolting. Gilman effectively uses the narrator’s intuition, obedience, and secret rebellion to challenge the authority John embodies as a husband and physician. This also engages the basic issue of late nineteenth-century assumptions about men and women. In this aspect, this essay aims to explore in detail the gender otherness present within the story and how this contrasts the central idea of what it is to essentially be “American”.

“Black Is Beautiful” is a cultural movement that was created by African American communities in the United States. The fight for equal rights and more positive views on African Americans started in the 1960s when society would make negative judgments on them since the media believed that African Americans were only good for being slaves. The novel The Bluest Eye (1970) by Toni Morrison and the album To Pimp A Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar both show oppression through institutionalized racism. The idea of “Black Is Beautiful” is influenced through Morrison’s novel and Lamar’s album by using the themes of low self esteem / self hate and judgment beyond skin color.

The tone in this poem is completely different from “She Walks in Beauty”. The tone that the poet uses is very sarcastic and he seems like he is disrespecting women. The poet in this poem acts as if the lady he is describing is not beautiful like she is just a regular average woman. Upon reading the title it seems as though he is disagreeing with someone who says her eyes are like the sun. Once you read the poem and come back to the title he tells how she may not be as beautiful as the other women or as graceful he still loves her all the same. Unlike the previous poet he says nature’s beauty is better than the lady’s beauty. He continues to put her down throughout the poem finding more of her disadvantages in superficial beauty.