The doctrine of self identity is one that has throughout history been a way for people to identify who they were in relation to other individuals and society as a whole. To take into account how an individual’s identity is shaped, it is imperative to know it through the context of oneself and of society. This will not only provide a more holistic approach to understanding how self identity is shaped, but also how it relates to race. Nikki Giovanni’s poem “Nikki-Rosa” and Zora Neale Hurston’s “How It Feels to Be Colored Me,” reflect on the idea of racial self identity through harsh critiques from societal and internal pressures seeking to label and categorize people on the basis of race. Authors are frequently categorized in some ways by the particular era they are writing in. This often gives a sense of what message the speaker is trying to relay, and the context in which the author is writing. Addressing the issue of self identity through this context allows a …show more content…
Hurston, however, feels that her identity is not shaped through her guilt over slavery or segregation. Many black and white readers have read this as shame or denial of her race, but in actuality Hurston is simply denouncing that her race is a essential to how she views herself In her essay “How It Feels to Be Colored Me,” she states “I am off to a flying start and I must not halt in the stretch to look behind and weep,” to reiterate that she does see herself as “tragically colored”. Her role in shaping her own identity does in some aspects, however, relate to her becoming aware of her ‘blackness’. This idea similarly relates to the speaker in Giovanni’s poem who asserts that she never saw herself this way until she was represented through dreadful renditions by
Ethnic group is a settled mannerism for many people during their lives. Both Zora Neale Hurston, author of “How It Feels to Be Colored Me; and Brent Staples, author of “Just Walk On By: A Black Man Ponders His Power to Alter Public Space,” realize that their life will be influenced when they are black; however, they take it in pace and don’t reside on it. They grew up in different places which make their form differently; however, in the end, It does not matter to them as they both find ways to match the different sexes and still have productivity in their lives.. Hurston was raised in Eatonville, Florida, a quiet black town with only white passer-by from time-to-time, while Staples grew up in Chester, Pennsylvania, surrounded by gang activity from the beginning. Both Hurston and Staples share similar and contrasting views about the effect of the color of their
In ‘How it feels to be colored me’ Neale Hurston opens up to her pride and identity as an African-American. Hurston uses a wide variety of imagery, diction using figurative language freely with metaphors. Her tone is bordering controversial using local lingo.
Regardless of what society one derives from, when an individual is born, the community ascribes certain identity markers upon that person without their permission. Once that individual reaches an intellectual capacity to mentally understand their own existence in the world, they begin to yield the power to foster their prescribed identities, completely neglect it, or start anew. Many people hinge their entire lives on the identities society gave them, however for author-anthropologist, Zora Neale Hurston, she lacked an affinity for her blackness. Rather, in her highly criticized autobiography, Dust Tracks on a Road, Hurston inherently implies that her subscription to whiteness is what essentially helped garner her success.
Through the use of imagery, diction, and several literary tools Zora Hurston shows love for her culture and color; therefore Hurston contributes to the essay’s theme, of celebrating her African American culture, by conveying her emotions. Hurston’s use of imagery allows readers to easily imagine the things which she so vividly describes, her diction conveys the emotions she felt throughout her experiences, and her use of literary tools captivate readers. The theme of “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” is not sad or dreary, rather it is upbeat and optimistic because Hurston loved who she was.
This chapter attempts to focus upon the problem of identity that confronted the African-Americans in America. Thus it investigates the African-American’s identity dilemma as shown in the poetry of Claude McKay and Langston Hughes. At the same time, it provides a solution for the African-American’s problem of estrangement and identity crisis. But while McKay’s self-rejection of his blackness urges him to trace the quest for identity in exile, Hughes’ self acceptance of his blackness enables him to reconcile with the white oppressors who stripped the black race from its identity. Moreover, it sheds light upon the psychological consequences that resulted from the violation of the African-American’s identity. Furthermore, this chapter shows the African-American’s self debasement, helplessness, and double consciousness that emanate from the sense of uprootedness.
Though How to Tame a Wild Tongue was published in the late 80?s by Gloria Anzaldua, it can relate to the theme of discrimination against identity in the 1920?s narrative, How It Feels to Be Colored Me, by Zora Neale Hurston. Hurston and Anzaldua are both teaching the audience not be ashamed of their identity. Both authors share their struggles of discrimination they encounter due to the fact that they are not like everyone else. Hurston describes the struggle using her skin tone, and Anzaldua describes the struggle using her native language.
Zora Neale Hurston describes her discovery of racism in “How It Feels to Be Colored Me”. As a child, Hurston was unexposed to the racial prejudices that entangled the United States because she was raised in the African American community of Eatonville, Florida. However, Hurston moved to Jacksonville, at the age of thirteen, to attend boarding school. Upon arriving to a Caucasian-dominate region, Hurston learned the meaning of being colored. Overall, Hurston describes her realization of racism, development of racial pride, and overcoming of slavery.
Though her race was a victim of brutal, harsh discrimination, Hurston lived her life as an individual first, and a person of color second. In the narrative “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” by Zora Neale Hurston, Hurston says, “The cosmic Zora emerges. I belong to no race nor time. I am the eternal feminine with its string of beads” (Hurston 3). She feels as though an extraordinary form of herself is brought out. This form is not bound by physical traits and is the everlasting woman with the cards she is dealt. The “cosmic Zora” emerging represents the empowered, fearless Zora from Orange County, Florida. When she says that she belongs “to no race nor time”, she means that her race and background do not define who she is as an individual. “The eternal feminine” symbolizes the
1) Write an essay that analyzes how Zora Neale Hurston uses color as a motif in “How it Feels to be Colored Me.”
Both Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes were great writers but their attitudes towards their personal experience as an African American differed in many ways. These differences can be attributed to various reasons that range from gender to life experience but even though they had different perceptions regarding the African American experience, they both shared one common goal, racial equality through art. To accurately delve into the minds of the writers’ one must first consider authors background such as their childhood experience, education, as well their early adulthood to truly understand how it affected their writing in terms the similarities and differences of the voice and themes used with the works “How it Feels to be Colored Me” by Hurston and Hughes’ “The Negro Mother”. The importance of these factors directly correlate to how each author came to find their literary inspiration and voice that attributed to their works.
In Zora Hurston’s essay “How It Feels To Be Colored Me” she separates her life into four sections, using vivid imagery in each, to show her audience different examples of how she overcame prejudice, not by conforming, but by remaining herself. In her first section she sketched out her childhood to show how she was “everybody’s Zora” (Hurston 4). The second section goes on to show how her skins color “fails to register depression” (Hurston 7) with her, she is proud of her history and embraces it actually. In the third section, she sets the scene in a jazz club, and describes the difference in how she feels the music and how a white man just hears it. And in the fourth section, she explains how she is not defined by her race then goes on to compare it to a brown bag. In this essay I will detail each section of Hurston’s essay and explain how each section has its own lesson to teach us and how it all ties in together.
In “How It Feels to Be Colored Me,” Hurston breaks from the tradition of her time by rejecting the idea that the African American people should be ashamed or saddened by the color of their skin. She tells other African Americans that they should embrace their color and be proud of who they are. She writes, “[A socialite]…has nothing on me. The cosmic Zora emerges,” and “I am the eternal feminine with its string of beads” (942-943). Whether she feels “colored” or not, she knows she is beautiful and of value. But Hurston writes about a time when she did not always know that she was considered colored.
Throughout my whole life, I was taught the idea that it is bad to be different and to avoid being unique. As a teenager, conforming to society might be the best road to take since you’re still figuring out who you are but it can lead to powerful internal conflicts if you completely lose your self identity. Some would argue that being yourself will make you happier by not pretending to be someone you’re not. Others insist that being yourself will separate you from everyone and always feel lonely. On the other hand, I believe being true to ourselves will enable people to see our real identity without a disguise. People will see what we are really like on the inside and they can appreciate our real self.
When people ask me about my interests, I’m usually unsure of what to say. I find it difficult to define myself in broad terms and generalities akin to ‘interests’. I usually like specific things and not generalities. Similarly I find it difficult to define myself. Who I am on the outside and who I am on the inside are intertwined through my race and yet still do not dictate one another. My ideas of the person I want to become is equal in emotional to professional parts.
There are different forms of expressing one’s opinion and feelings; it can be expressed through literature, a novel, or through music, the lyrics of a song. For instance, the novel Anthem by Ayn Rand brings up questions regarding identity, and tries to establish the wish to distinguish oneself from society. Furthermore, the lyrics of these songs: Robot by Miley Cyrus, Let Me Be Myself by 3 Doors Down, and Clones (We're All) by Alice Cooper validate humanity desire to stand out, to be different and to be accepted as they are. With that said, this essay explains how the three songs can relate to the book through the concept of individuality; both the book and the songs conveys the craving to create their own identity.