The Theme Of Marriage In The Gilded Six-Bits

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Love is something not easily or even completely understood, it is an always too hard to but it 's only to look but not touch. But how far can temptation go before it turns into desire? In Zora Neale Hurston’s short story “The Gilded Six-Bits”, marriage and betrayal are something that is wired in the heart of many people. Marriage creates a bond within the institution of any relationship that can make it more emotionally connected to the spouse. Betrayal can tear the most delicate flower into dust; it violates any type of trust in the relationship. Hurston gives an example of three stages in a relationship which consist of Love, Admiration, Betrayal and Forgiveness in this story. The character Joe Banks love his wife Missie May, but her infidelity …show more content…

One day, Joe arrives home from work tired and complaining about back pains and gets a massage from Missie May, it the first time in months they become intimate. The next morning Missie May realizes that the coin in beside her and that Joe “had come home to buy from her as if she were any woman in the longhouse” (Hurston pg. 4). Missie May considers leaving Joe, but decides that she will continue with the slow torture and humiliation until he doesn’t want to be married to someone like her. At least, she soon realizes that the piece wasn’t really a “gold’ piece she sold herself for, but actually a silver coin painted gold. Her thoughts strengthen the idea of what she should do next; what mostly every character should believe in that not all things are like what they seem to be. To add more fuel to the fire, Missie May becomes pregnant; the author adds confusion and now with the question confusing many readers about the paternity of the child in question. Whereas, Joe questions his wife "You reckon, Missie May?” (Hurston pg. 5). The author adds confusion regarding the paternity of the child, though it was clear that the child was conceived months after Slemmons is run out of town. Missie May is positive that the child is Joe’s. When the child is born Joe’s mother has it confirmed that the child is genuinely Joe’s son, “You oughter be mighty proud cause he sho is de spittin ' image of yuh, son. Dat 's yourn all right, if you never git another one, dat un is yourn. And you know Ah 'm mighty proud” too, son that the child has his gene and is a genuine Banks baby” (Hurston

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