Be True to Yourself: A Conflict of Interest by Hurston and It's Hard Enough Being Me by Raya

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The value of a life can only be adequately defined by its possessor. So It is that, to be true oneself can only defined by the possessor. In the essay, "A conflict of Interest" by Zera Neale Hurston and the short story "It's Hard Enough Being Me" by Anna Lisa Raya, both authors illustrate what it means to be true to oneself. As well as what it means to not be true to oneself. In which case, being true to oneself means acquiring the maximum amount of self interest to ones best abilities. The essay "A Conflict of Interest" by Zera Neale Hurston; a segregation writer. Is an essay written in the point of view of an African American woman. In Washington, DC during 1942. The essay is about a Negro man that goes into a whites only barber shop demanding for someone to cut his hair. The barber shop consists of all black employees. Mr. Banks;the owner refuse to cut the Negro's hair. He says "I don't know how to cut your hair…I was trained on straight hair. Nobody in here knows how." (Hurston 1293) Referring to the fact that the Negros hair is curly, but really insinuating that he does not want to cut a black man's hair. Instead the Negro remains persistent on getting his hair cut in that particular barber shop. Eventually everyone, weary of the scene he was making, all came together. Black and whites worked together to throw the Negro out of the barber shop. Houston; a black woman also wanted the Negro to leave the shop because his presence creates a threat to her business. " He was one of us. Perhaps it would have been a beautiful thing if Banks had turned to the shop crowded with customers and announced that this man was going to be served like everyone else." (Hurston 1294) Hurston admits that a rebellion against the Jim Crow Laws wo... ... middle of paper ... ...truly is. "I have to be politically-and-socially-aware-Latina-with-a-chip-on-my-shoulder-because-of-how-repressed-i-am-in-this-country…I am a quintessential imperfect Latina." (Raya 1041) Ultimately Raya later becomes true to herself when she realizes that she is herself and no one else. And she should not seek the approval from no one but herself. Overall both authors Zora Neale Hurston and Anna Lisa Raya become the epiphany of being true to oneself. Although they achieve their understanding at different stages in their life. Hurston almost immediately of when the incident happens, chooses the side that would most benefit her. Raya has to go through years of self discovery before she understands what it means to be truly true to oneself. Everyone goes through a journey of self discovery. it is also a person's responsibility to figure out what honestly defines them.

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