Race, gender, sexual orientation, or social class should not determine one’s personal identity. Identity should only determine one’s character and beliefs. Often enough, though identity is determined by the former. The personal narrative “How it Feels to be a Colored Me” by Zora Neale Hurston, show flaws in peoples’ judgments of identity. Whether or not it is human nature or blind ignorance that makes us prejudge people due to external features, preferences, or financial status judging people due to these qualities is erroneous. In the personal narrative essay “How it Feels to be a Colored Me” Hurston states, “Up to my thirteenth year I lived in the little Negro town of Eatonville, Florida.” Hurston grew up in a town known to be predominantly African American in Eatonville, Florida. Most of Hurston’s life she was in a cultural bubble living in a place where citizens with the same or very similar beliefs and ethnicities so leaving her home town would create a “culture shock”. She lived there for the first thirteen years of her life so all she knew was Eatonville; she would not realize the reason for intolerance. Living in a place labeled as a Negro Town could possibly make one feel demeaned. People labeling it as such are judging the town and the people living there based on an external characteristic; they know nothing of …show more content…
There is no great sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes.” Hurston is not sad because she is African American and she appears joyful. When Hurston says ‘I am not tragically colored’ she is saying she doesn’t view it as a bad thing it is just her situation she was dealt. Hurston, while dealt a bad hand (in that time period) continues to go on optimistically. Hurston was colored and identified as such people would sometimes prejudge her and she did not despair over it or use it as any form of excuse to not live her life which is
“How It Feels to Be a Colored Me” The essay “How It Feels to Be Me” by Zora Neale Hurston was written to make known her life of a young colored girl who lived in Eatonville, Florida. Zora, who grew up in an almost exclusively black town, had no problem with a person’s race, including her own. As a matter a fact, she preferred being colored. She says “It’s thrilling to think – to know that for any act of mine, I shall get twice as much praise or twice as much blame.” In Zora’s mind, the color of a
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
you are, and the strength needed to overcome it is represented in the essays, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”, by Gloria Anzaldúa, and “How It Feels to Be The Colored Me” by Zora Neale Hurston. Though they are not based on aliens from another galaxy, these two texts are based on two strong women who were alienated from society because of their backgrounds. Though they give
Page 1. “How You Became You” #1, 2, & 4 1 2. “The Declaration of Independence” #1, 2, & 4 2 3. “Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions” # 1-4 3-4 4. “Men Women, Sex, and Darwin” #1-4 5 5. “Women’s Brains” # 1-4 6-7 6. “Letter from Birmingham Jail” #1-4 8 7. “How it Feels to Be Colored Me” #1-4 9 8. “Clashing Civilizations” #1-4 10 9. “A Clack of Tin my ass Sparks: Remembrances of a Gay Boyhood” #1-4 11 10. “Me Talk Pretty One Day” #1,
that being black, or any race, is not important. People saying they do not see color is just as damaging as racism. Everybody is different and we should do our best to notice these differences instead of ignoring them. After reading “How It Feels to Be Colored Me”, everyone should that chance to read it and absorb its message. It teaches people that there is a lot more to them than their outside appearance. People need to understand that being black, or any race, does not have to be their only defining
How It Feels to Be Colored Me I AM COLORED but I offer nothing in the way of extenuating circumstances except the fact that I am the only Negro in the United States whose grandfather on the mother 's side was not an Indian chief. 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
In “How it Feels to be Colored Me,” Zora Hurston tells her story as she transformed into a wiser person. She began to see race as an important divinity for identity and something that should not be viewed as an important to the society. When Hurston was 13 years old, she moved to a school in “Jacksonville” a village where the mass majority of the population were white. Thus, Hurston for the first time in her life, endured alienation by a different racial group. Hence, she was raised in a village
I was asked a question on how it feels to be colored me. To be honest even if I did tell you the answer it will take a lot more than just an essay to understand how it feels or what it is like to be me, beautiful colored me. If I can give you, the reader, just a glimpse of what it is like to not just be colored but specifically African American, I hope that you would learn and know how I feel. The feelings of love, pain, and hope. Knowing the love and self-pride that I possess for myself, my culture
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
How it Feels to be Colored Me In “How it feels to be colored me” Zora Neale Hurston begins recanting her life in Eatonville, Florida. This little town was a black community and the only white people who ventured in to Eatonville were tourist either coming from or heading to Orlando which was just south of Zora’s home town, Eatonville. The town never gave much attention to the southerners never stopping from chewing sugar cane as they pasted but the Northerners who came through were a different breed
Zora Neale Hurston’s essay “How it Feels to Be Colored Me” and “I, Too” by Langston Hughes, both have a theme of racism in common. Although these works of literature depict racial inequality, the main characters are portrayed as self-confident and proud individuals. They are not discouraged or disheartened by the attitudes of those who try to oppress them. “How it feels to be colored me” portrays the attitude of the author after learning she was colored at the age of thirteen. The young Zora
How It Feels to Be Colored Me, written by Zora Neale Hurston. Occasionally, once in a great while, a unique person comes along. Zora Neale Hurston was one of those bigger than life people. She would have told you so herself. She was just as she should have been. She was, "Zora." When she was young, Zora was already full of who she was, with strong hints of the amazing person she would become. She did not notice the differences between the racial societies. Her hometown, of Eatonville
n this essay, the narrator Langston Hughes encounters a type of music called Bop, while passing Simple’s house and engages in a symbolic discussion with Simple, a colored man, about this particular music. Simple emphasizes that Bop music would not create the same feelings within a white person as it does to a colored person because they are not being directly influenced by the violence. Throughout his essay, Hughes describes the racial discrimination against colored people and the pain they suffer
In her essay, "How It Feels to Be Colored Me" Zora Neale Hurston sends a powerful message about the discovery of her self-pride and self-identity from being a colored girl through her use of anecdotes, imagery, analogies, and by using a conversational tone in her essay. Hurston starts off her essay with a pleasant story of her early childhood in the small town of Eatonville, Florida. By using anecdote she throughly depicts her joyous childhood of singing, dancing, and watching the little world
For my core reading I chose “How It Feels To Be Colored Me.” The audience for this essay and for the core reading is not only me, my instructor, and my classmates but any reader who is wanting to know more about racism from someone's personal experience or just wanting to know more about racism in general and wanting to not only learn about the occurrences but the effects it had on both black people and white people. The time that this was written was around late 1940s and early 1950s. The first