The Beauty of Color Essay

I am writing my critical reaction journal based on my readings in regards to a two writings titled, “Seeing More Than Black and White” by Elizabeth Martinez (1998) in “Race, Class, and Gender: An Anthology,” [edited by] Margaret L Andersen; Patricia Hill Collins, 2013, (8th Edition ed., pp. 85-90) and “Color-Blind Privilege” by Charles A. Gallagher (2003) in “Race, Class, and Gender: An Anthology,” [edited by] Margaret L Andersen; Patricia Hill Collins, 2013, (8th Edition ed., pp. 91-95).

His mothers friends would also often talk about what a burden or curse it was, to have dark skin, “…it was a woman’s spoken concern: the fear of having a dark-skinned son or daughter.” (Rodriguez 449). This displays that in his culture, people preferred light skin children over dark skin, knowing that a light skinned child would not face as much prejudice a dark skinned child would growing up. The use of symbolism

In the essay “How It Feels to Be Colored Me”, author Zora Neale Hurston writes to an American audience about having maturity and self-conscious identity while being an African American during the early 1900’s through the 1920’s Harlem Renaissance. Hurston expresses and informs her audience about how she does not see herself as a color, and instead sees herself as all she is made up of on the inside. Her primary claim is that she is not “tragically colored” and she should not have a single care about how the world reminds her of how she should act about her race. Her essay chronicles her personal experiences in being an unapologetically colored woman and creates the argument that she should not ever feel self-pity for being black. She utilizes her personal anecdotes and weaves them with metaphors, analogies, and rhetorical questions in order to create an immersive experience for the reader. Furthermore, Hurston engages the reader with her slightly sarcastic, strong, and blissfully positive tone effectively creates a way with words that communicate her claims in an entertaining way.

While skin color has be a subject of discriminations against people, How It Feels to be colored presents how Zora Hurston embrace the true meaning of the human being despite, race, color, religion or social status.

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.

Before laws were passed for equality, African-Americans had a difficult time coping with being undermined by whites. This led them to build their own communities and remain among their own. The story “How it Feels to be Colored Me” by Zora Neale Hurston was written in 1928, about her moving from a community of her own kind to neighbors who discriminated against her and her family. Though a person’s environment can affect how they see himself/herself or how others might perceive him/her, difficult times does not exactly mean that a person will become bitter or vengeful about it.

Realizing the quality of an individual varies depending on the environment they are in. This relates to Zora Neale Hurston in her article, “How It Feels To Be Colored Me.” She states, “I feel most colored when I am thrown against a sharp white background.” Hurston does this to convey her ideal message in her article, which is being proud of her race and deterring the racial remarks forced on her even after being put in an environment making her further aware of her color. This statement fuels and is central to her argument by turning her living situation into a sarcastic analogy, as well as using the tool of imagery to help her argument. In turn this simplifies her emotional feelings and transition between locations to allow the audience to

I remember the very day that I became colored. Up to my thirteenth year I lived in the little Negro town of Eatonville, Florida. It is exclusively a colored town. The only white people I knew passed through the town going to or coming from Orlando. The native whites rode dusty horses, the Northern tourists chugged down the sandy village road in automobiles. The town knew the Southerners and never stopped cane chewing when they passed. But the Northerners were something else again. They were peered at cautiously from behind curtains by the timid. The more venturesome would come out on the porch to watch them go past and got just as much pleasure out of the tourists as the tourists got out of the village.

1. According to Bryson, what are the three different processes that resulted in your existence? Where in the essay does Bryson discuss each?

In the essay, “How it Feels to be Colored Me” written by Zora Hurston, there are many struggles she went through because of being single storied and discriminated against for her race. Throughout her essay, Hurston’s view is from how others look at her on the outside and not what they see on the inside. Though she is different from the status quo of beautiful, Hurston argues that despite the single story by which others define people, they can choose to express their individual by focusing on moments that empower them.

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”.

“You would look so much prettier with your hair straight!” is a comment my sister of mixed descent has been receiving from her classmates since childhood. Straight hair is a Eurocentric beauty standard that has been pushed onto my lighter skinned sister for most of her life. I am of a darker complexion however and therefore am complimented often on my naturally curly hair. This leads to the question; do black beauty standards differ from white ones? The answer to this query is explored in Maxine Craig’s work Ain’t I a Beauty Queen? She claims that in many regards, though not all, the answer is yes. While Craig does a good job of defining the historical moments that lead to black beauty standards today, she lacks an explanation as to why darker skin tones are stigmatized the way they are and neither does she factor in how many people consider personality when determining beauty.

In the winter there isn’t much color. The trees are bare, the sky is gray and everything is covered in white snow. Personally, I feel that winter is gloomier than summertime. I feel this way because of the colors surrounding us. The dullness of colors during the winter time seem to make things more bland and less cheerful. The bright colors from spring and summer seem to make most people happier and cheerful. Although, each color could have both a positive and a negative feel to it, it just ranges by the person who views it. People associate different emotions with different colors. Three categories I will be explaining are cool, warm and neutral colors.

Based on the findings that one has discovered in life itself, in essence, color helps with the flows of life in a way that it can determines your thoughts, emotions, and decisions. In my research I gained a vast amount knowledge and from what I’ve learned; now I can explain colors in depth, with a great amount of detail. If colors were non-existent, then, there would be a very grey look upon life. Colors brings forth light, and the light brings forth living. The world displays colors for a reason and it’s very important to life.