Hurston has an interesting take on southern life. Her writing is very different than anything else we have read. "How it Feels to be Colored Me" shows that Hurston thinks of people as individuals, not colors. That is obvious right from the title. She is not colored black, she is colored by her individualism. This is something that has not been a common theme in the readings we have done. For example, Wright shows the differences between blacks and whites. According to Hurston, the only difference between blacks and whites was that the whites only "rode through town and never lived there" (416).
The main thing that I got from reading "How it Feels To Be Colored Me" was that Hurston did not want to define herself as "colored." She felt that this was the least important aspect that makes up a person. She would rather be defined as a woman, or an American. "I belong to no race nor time. I am the eternal feminine with its string of beads" (418). Hurston has a really interesting way of describing people as "paper bags." The things that make up a person are the things inside the bag.
Another interesting thing that Hurston does in this piece is kind of mock other writers of the time. "But I am not tragically colored... I do not belong to the sobbing school of Negrohood who hold that nature somehow has given them the lowdown dirty deal and whose feelings are all hurt about it... No, I do not weep at the world- I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife" (417). I think that Hurston is taking away from writers such as Wright. She believes that the real way to make change is to overcome hardships and raise above one's race, not write about the problems. Her piece is very optimistic in the sense that everyone is in control of their own destiny.
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3 comments:
I agree with you that Hurston takes a stab at writers such as Wright. It almost seems that she thinks that some black people create certain situations that bring about hardships. Then, these people take pity on themselves.
Hurston believes create your own destiny, regardless of race. Zora, with her "oyster knife" wants to conquer the world. Her race isn't going to hold her back. I think Hurston's strong sense of self and womanhood has empowered her writings and has given her much fame.
I agree that in "Howw It Feels To Be Colored Me," we see yet a different view of the South through Hurston. We see Zora trying to place herself above racism. It seemes to me though that she had to do a lot of pretending, I think it would have been a lot of work to pretend that all the racism and segregation taking place around wasn't really happening. Hurston seemed to be in her own idealist world where Wright had been about stating facts and life as they really were. Wright sheds his innocence in the first few lines of his writing yet Hurston's writing seems to be about holding on to that innocence.
I agree, and I basically wrote my post on the same topic. I especially liked how she took the stance that African Americans shouldn't be weeping and writing about their problems all the time, like you said about Wright. Hurston points out that yeah- slavery happened, but what they gained from slavery being abolished was amazing. African Americans gained the attention of the nation. Maybe Hurston was trying to prentend that slavery wasn't an issue, or to hold herself above it- but the fact is that once you stop thinking about yourself in a certain way and stop adhearing to the sterotypes set for you others will eventually forget them as well. I feel that Hurston was trying to say not to live up the expectations others have of you.
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