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How It Feels To Be Colored Me Essay

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Romeo O. Chukwuonye Professor Prity Bhalla English 1313 2 April 2024 “How it feels to be colored me” by Zora Neale Hurston: Reflection on Identity Racism has been a big problem in society for a long time, particularly during the time of Zora Neale Hurston's writing. Women had even more difficulties and were often treated as less important. In her essay, "How It Feels to Be Colored," Hurston focuses on three main ideas. First, she talks about her upbringing in a black community. Secondly, she discusses how she is not like people who see race as an issue. Finally, she shows how she embraces her race. Hurston shows the dynamics of her childhood. She writes, "They liked to hear me'speak pieces' and sing and wanted to see me dance the parse-me-la, …show more content…

She writes, “I do not belong to the sobbing school of Negrohood who hold that nature somehow has given them a lowdown dirty deal.” Hurston does not agree with people who think that race is a problem or believe that nature has treated people of color unfairly. She thinks that if we keep focusing on how we have been “oppressed” because of our race, we will always feel like victims. She writes, "Slavery is the price I paid for civilization, and the choice was not with me. It is a bully adventure and worth all that I have paid through my ancestors for it." She asserts that slavery happened in the past, not as something that affects her directly, but as a challenging journey that her ancestors experienced, and she looks up to their courage. She writes, “I have seen that the world is to the strong regardless of a little pigmentation more or less. " Hurston makes it clear that strength and success are more important than the color of someone's skin. She believes that anyone, regardless of their race, can achieve success if they are determined, without race being an issue. Hurston states that she is proud of her racial identity. She writes, "But I am not tragically colored." She explains that she refuses to see her racial identity as something sad or difficult. She does not believe that being "colored" should be considered a problem or a burden, but she shows that she is proud of who she is and will not

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