Themes In The Gilded Six Bits

The Authors, Richard Wright and Zora Neale Hurston write two great stories, “The Man Who Was Almost a Man” and “The Gilded Six-Bits”. The main characters of the two stories Dave, Missie May, and Joe bring the stories to life. In the story, “The Gilded Six-Bits” Missie May and Joe have a conflict with a stranger, Otis Slemmons who promises them riche, but only causes chaos in their marriage. Dave in the story, “The Man Who Was Almost a Man” thinks having a makes him a man. The main purpose of the story being a man and becoming a man in two different perspectives.

The condition of Miss Lottie’s house represents how the Great Depression affects the nation because of the major downfalls of the economy. The Great Depression makes Miss Lottie’s house look like it is about to crumble, but even so Miss Lottie still at least has something to keep her and her house together--her marigolds. Moreover, though the Great Depression brings in negativity, the marigolds Miss Lottie plants are described as ”...strangest part of the picture... Beyond the dusty brown yard, in front of the sorry gray house, rose suddenly and shockingly a dazzling strip of bright blossoms, clumped together in enormous mounds, warm and passionate and sun-golden.” (258-259). Miss Lottie and the town lives in a world where hope is limited, but the marigolds are the things that are beautiful in the town and in Miss Lottie’s eyes because they were hope. The marigolds certainly don’t fit in with the ugliness of the town because they shine brightly and bring hope to the town. The marigolds brings hope to the people in town and to Miss Lottie because the marigolds were the only things in the town which were warm, beautiful, and bright, unlike their gloomy town’s

Society is considerably the unbeatable illusionist as what we want to see is not consistent to what is truly their. Sometimes when you think you are looking at the affluent with their lavish gold life,underneath that it is a counterfeit as there is a rusty iron soul which is confined by the fraudulent gold .The Gilded Age was a seamless time in history as everyone was living in new luxuries and life just seemed magnificent and majestic for what has been seen in the past decade. All of this was just a whitewash on what true society actually was which was a crumbling economy and a hidden poverty rate. What hid the genuine but poverty-stricken society was that mainstream society itself was becoming more risque and unlawful.the new culture found drinking illicit boozes and carousing with false loves more pleasurable. Due to this new culture many things were lost in this simulation of lust and a bootlegged society such as intimacy and loyalty . In the story “ The Great Gatsby” written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald wrote the truth of the gilded age into his story. The effects of the gilded age are seen throughout the book in Gatsby’s mansion, Gatsby, and Daisy. As soon as the golden gleam tarnishes and the cheap metal once looking swank disappears it shows that all they want is wealth and corruption.

This essay will explicate a section of Beryl Satter’s book Family Properties. This section argues that the white population of Chicago took part in restrictive covenants or legally binding contracts that prevented the sale of properties to colored people in an effort to confine Chicago’s colored population to specific sections in the city. The purpose of this paper is to explicate a section of Family Properties through analysis of structure, tone, and imagery. It will then identify how the evidence relate to one another, and possibilities of meaning. Lastly this essay will conclude with summarizing my results and examining how using explication as a textual tool affects my approach to a reading.

In the nineteenth century, families of all different kinds of races resided in tenements. The tenements I will be writing about are located on 96 Orchard Street in the lower east side of New York City. Every room tells a remarkable story of the lives

The Gilded Age was a tough time for me and other families to have a life and prosper in. Long hours and low wages were common as owners could find low-cost workers. Without unions, I and the rest of the workers were exposed to extended hours during a time where paying someone overtime did not occur. With limited opportunities workers like me and families had jobs that we struggled with and no hope of getting far in life. During the Gilded Age, there were two social classes, the wealthy and the poor and, unfortunately I was in the poor social class. The Gilded Age had a meaning behind it and I had an idea of what it meant, “Gilded means covered with a layer of gold, but it also suggests that the glittering surface

Mark Twain collaborated with Charles Dudley Warner on The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today. Published in 1973, as Twain’s earliest work of extended fiction, The Gilded Age gives a name to the period of opulence and corruption at the end of the 19th century. Portraying the superficial luxury of Washington and high society, the authors describe “The general laxity of the time, and the absence of a sense of duty toward any part of the community but the individual himself” (Twain 203). Twain’s The Gilded Age, like Wharton’s The Age of Innocence focuses on high society. Yet, the imperfections in the gilding betray the dramatic change of the period. Forces of corporatization, unionization, immigration, urbanization, populism,

According to Mark Twain, the “Gilded Age” was a period in time when America was glittering on the surface, but was corrupt underneath. The Gilded Age (1873-1900) was characterized by endless economic expansion, the rise of a new nation, and new inventions. The United States conquered Western regions and had taken the lead among other nations, in trade and industry. America was transformed from an agricultural society of small producers into an urban society controlled by industrial businesses. The population and economic boom that America faced lead to the creation of an incredibly powerful wealthy class. However, underneath all this “gold” were greedy Robber Barons, shady business systems, scandalous laws and politics, and extreme display of brutality. The Gilded age was an era of political corruption, inequality, and capitalism. Labor violence, increase racial tensions, unsatisfactory among the unemployed,

Jim Williams, the owner of a Savannah antiques store, was a self-made millionaire known for both his loving restorations of local houses and his grand parties. Williams never really felt the embrace of Savannah’s wealthy constituency. Although his bank account certainly qualified him for entry into their circle, he was nouveau riche, and hence, an outsider. Old money and aristocracy hold a lot of weight in the South. Williams answered their snobbery with “It’s the riche that counts” (Berendt, p.7). Williams lived in a mansion known as Mercer House, it was built in 1861 and stands at the west end of Monterey Square. Mercer House is the center stage for much of the book. It is also where his well-known Christmas parties were held and its study was the site of the shooting of Danny Hansford. While we’re on the subject, Danny Hansford was a part-time employee and houseguest of Williams. Hansford was a young man that had quite a reputation in Savannah for his violent temper and his sexual proclivity to service both men and women. Not to mention his abusive use of drugs and alcohol, which helps explain why he had been in and out of jail so many times.

The Gilded Age was an era overlapping the Reconstruction Era in the late 19th century, referred to the time in which America’s farming society transitioned to an urban society, in which was taken over by industrialized industries. The documents “Autobiography of a Chinese Immigrant” by Lee Chew, “Gilded Age LYSK” slides, and “Emma Goldman Autobiography” by Emma Goldman all explain the ideology behind the Gilded Age and how it was developed over it’s era. Essentially, during the Gilded Age, America began to “reform”, or make changes economically and transitioned America into an “economic powerhouse.” The saying, “all that glitters is not gold” could fundamentally be used to describe the Gilded Age era, considering it was a time in which things seemed to be going well, however, it in the inside it had been corrupt. Ultimately, for several political, economic, and social reasonings, this era could be viewed to be corrupt in several manners.

The Gilded Age, was a brief period in American history, from the late 1800’s to the early 1900’s, where there was a rapid economic growth as the industry expanded, generating groundbreaking opportunities for individuals. At its triumph peak, society was perceived from the outside that the new era of Americans was prosperous, however, conspicuous consumption and luxury masked corruption and the fact that a majority of people were suffering. Like gilded gold, the outside looks exemplary, but much like the Gilded Age, the inside contrasted dramatically. Besides the wide amount of success in this era, society was unbalanced with hierarchy, with a competition of the common people and successful business, as laborers fought for recognition and

Being black in America means to exist while subconsciously striving to reach out and own that imaginary white picket fence. You know, that nice house nested inside that white picket fence in that wonderful neighborhood with the perfectly cut grass on top of that sunny hill along with the perfectly paved roads leading up to it. African Americans see it all the time in televisions, magazines and newspaper ads. As poor blacks invest their life’s work in trying and subsequently failing to achieve this imaginary dream, they end up devouring any sense propriety remaining in their life; the play A Raisin in The Sun by Lorraine Hansberry exemplifies this tragedy.

Throughout the story. Joe gives coins to Missie May. What is the significance of the silver dollars at the beginning of the story? Contrast this with Joe’s meaning when he leaves Missie May the gilded coin on the table. How has the significance of the silver dollars changed at the end of the story?

For far too long, African Americans have been neglected the rights to decent and fair housing. In “In Darkness and Confusion,” William Jones expresses his discontentment with the almost cruel living conditions of the ghettos in Harlem as he stated, “It ain’t a fit place to live, though” (Petry 261). William was especially motivated to move to a better home to protect his wife, Pink’s, ailing health. William and Pink searched high and low for more decent places to live – however, they simply could not afford decent. Though marketed to those with lower than average incomes, the ‘better’ housing for blacks were still deficient and extremely pricy. In

Zora Neale Hurston, author of the Gilded Six Bits, has a very unique writing style. The artistry in her story makes it a pleasant, easy read for any audience. The title suggests the story is based around money; but rather if one were to dig deeper the reality of the story is being told around the playfulness of money. Character disposition, an idealistic dialect, and the ability to work past an issue all work together to prove that Joe and Missie May’s lives are not strictly revolved around money.