Close Reading Anylsis

Her descriptions of people’s content being the same through images of junk in old bags allows her to drive home the point that people aren’t all the different, no matter the appearance. The small detail of Hurston claiming she has no race allows her to plunge into the powerful bag metaphor, effectively portraying her conception of race. Hurston’s simple details followed by powerful yet perceptible images powerfully portray her thoughts and points on racial conflict.

Missie May is a young black woman that will do anything for her husband. She often makes him food and gives him compliments such as, “Youse a pretty man” (211). When Otis Slemmons comes into town her first thought of him is that he is “puzzle gutted” (211). The situation is ironic because she ends up having an affair with Otis Slemmons, putting Joe in a bad predicament. Another reason why it is ironic because it would be unlikely that Missie would ever cheat on Joe, but the whole reason why she did it was to help her husband.

The Harlem Renaissance marked the coming out of many brilliant black authors and thinkers. Names like Jessie Redmon Fauset, Alain Locke, Ralph Waldo Ellison, Langston Hughes, and Zora Neale Hurston marked the scene. Hurton portrays many messages in her stories without having to explicitly spell it out. This among other reasons make Hurston's writing so rich. Two of her almost fable-like stories, "Sweat" and "The Gilded Six-Bits", each portray powerful messages individually. In "Sweat," you get a message of "whatever goes over the Devil's back, is got to come under his belly." You will reap what you sow among other messages. In "The Gilded Six-Bits," you learn that time will heal, money is the root of all evil, and other morals. These

The love of money is the root of all evil, a statement that has proved itself true through the centuries. Loving money traps us, as human beings. It is not a bad thing to enjoy what money can do; however, the love of money is a wasted effort that can put all in grave peril. It is at our advantage that we have the ability to choose whether we ‘want’ to fall into that trap. Unfortunately, that choice is difficult since society associates one’s character with wealth and financial management. The mishaps, deaths, and hardships that occur from the beginning of the tale are the result of deliberate deception for personal gain. In Treasure Island, greed sends the characters on a voyage. Robert Louis Stevenson makes a social commentary on

She uses idealistic examples and real world situations to get the best realistic interpretation on the matter of the harlem renaissance. This novel also is a great way to learn and understand the importance of women's roles and rights during the harlem renaissance era for the black/african american women. All in all, Hurston’s depiction of the harlem renaissance reflects and departs the major topics and does so

Joe and Missie are not wealthy people by any means. Their house “looked to the payroll of the G and G Fertilizer works for its support” (943). Slemmons is an ice-cream entrepreneur. The characters in this story do not just want money for the sake of being rich; they need money to establish status and dominance. Joe realizes that he can never measure up to Slemmons. Joe does not have the money or the abdomen to compete with the town’s new rich man (945). Missie is saddened that her husband feels inferior, and she wants to help the situation. She turns to Slemmons; he promises her money, but that oath turns out to be a lie. After Missie’s indiscretion, she wails, “he said he wuz gointer give me dat gold money and he jes’ kept on after me—” (948). Even though Joe and Missie get the gold money, the coin is only a gilded six-bit. “Fifty cents for her love” (949). This revelation reveal that money may not be as glorified as the characters had once thought. Even if the charm had been pure gold, Joe would still be angry because he was enraged even before he saw the charm in Missie’s hands. Slemmons offered Joe sixty-two dollars to spare his life (948). Joe did not kill Slemmons, but his anger towards Missie and the situation did not wane even with the money

In the all black community of Eatonville, Zora felt like members of her town saw her for who she was. There were no racial barriers in the community because of everyone’s shared culture, and history. Growing up in her small community, she came to love it and she felt a strong tie to her hometown. She illustrates this by saying, “But I was their Zora nevertheless. I belonged to them, to the nearby hotels, to the county—everybody’s Zora” (Hurston 42). Zora argues that because everyone was of the same color, the community could see past racial labels. A “black Zora” could not exist in Eatonville, and it was not an indicator of who she was because describing Zora as “black” in Eatonville does not do her identity justice. Zora could be Zora, because she felt no race, because she was so comfortable in her skin she could be a part of a community of people. In Eatonville, she did not see people because of racial labels, she had no knowledge of the stereotypes associated with black people. Because of her ignorance, Zora looked deep into people’s character as a young girl.

He comes to realize that Slemmons is having fake identity when on Saturday; he does the shopping at a business sector in Orlando, then goes to a candy store and purchases a few kisses. He pays for them with the coin from a man who was going through Eatonville a man who pretended it was real gold. He says the man flirted with the wives of men folk. This was the moment when he comes to think about this reality.

One of Hurston’s stories, How it Feels to Be Colored Me, reflects the author’s perspective of the colored race (specifically herself). According to the story, when Hurston reached the age of thirteen, she truly “became colored” (1040). The protagonist was raised in Eatonville, Florida, which was mainly inhabited by the colored race. She noted no difference between herself and the white community except that they never lived in her hometown. Nevertheless, upon leaving Eatonville, the protagonist began losing her identity as “Zora,” instead, she was recognized as only being “a little colored girl” (1041). Hurston’s nickname “Zora” represents her individuality and significance; whereas, the name “a little colored girl” was created by a white society to belittle her race and gender (1041).

The significance of the silver dollars at the beginning of the story show a way that the two love birds Missie May and Joe play together. Joe’s meaning when he leaves Missie May the gilded coin on the table is to show her what Otis gave to her was not real at all it was a fraud just like him, unlike the real sliver dollars he tossed at her every Saturday evening. However in the end of the story the significance of the silver dollars changed to show the couple’s love which was much more valuable than gold.

Appearance versus Reality in Alice Walker's and Zora Neale Hurston's Everyday Use and The Gilded Six-Bits

Missie May is attempting to make Joe feel better about himself and she believes he is the only man she needs in her life. Missie May even mentions that the gold jewelry would look better on Joe, but he explains that all the women adore Slemmons and go after his gold. Missie May is still not agreeing with Joe and she states, “Ah don’t see whut de womens see on ‘im. Ah wouldn’t give ‘im a wink if de sheriff wuz after ‘im” (2130). Missie May is loyal to Joe in this conversation, by making it seem like she is not like the other women. Also, she is trying to convince herself that she is not attracted to Slemmons.

In “The Six Gilded Bits” we meet Joe and Misse Mae, newlyweds. They are young, in love and exceptionally happy with their life. They have lived a modest life in a small house “but there was something happy about it”. (Hurston 1) We meet Misse Mae first as she is

The novels Tom Jones and Moll Flanders share a commonality, and showcase it in very similar ways. That commonality is the pursuit of wealth, but at the same time it is also a discrepancy, which is shown through how the story’s title characters set out to obtain it, and their views regarding it. Before we can divulge what our characters’ view “wealth” as, we must grasp an understanding of the term itself. Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines wealth as “the value of all the property, possessions, and money that someone or something has.” (Merriam-Webster) Wealth can also be perceived in a spiritual sense, were one is content with their life and often has a strong relationship with God. For our purposes here, I think it is safe to assume that our authors mean to use wealth in its physical sense of possessions and dollar signs rather than enlightenment in their novels. Through this work we will examine with evidence why love and money is equitable in these two novels. We will also show why our protagonists are complete opposites of one another when talking about their wealth.

Charles Brockden Brown’s novel, Arthur Mervyn, allows readers to join Arthur Mervyn’s journey in letting go of his past to create a better present state for himself. Not only does Arthur gain wisdom in his journey, but he also serves as a heroic character by improving the lives of others, whether it be by finding a family’s lost money or finding someone a better home. His heroic acts show positivity in a time of despair during the deathly yellow fever epidemic in  Philadelphia 1793. Along with the epidemic, the novel elaborates on the importance of social class in each of the characters. It then becomes clear that one’s social class and reputation are dependent on virtue in this time period. With this focus on social hierarchy, the female prostitutes present in Arthur Mervyn are stigmatized as low class citizens because they lack virtue, regardless of their financial standing.