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Surname 1 Student’s name Institution Course Date “How it Feels to be Colored Me” Analysis When Hurston began writing, African-Americans were subjected to pervasive racial discrimination at the hands of American individuals and financial, educational, and governmental institutions. Hurston maintains that African-Americans tend to exaggerate or romanticize their identities to hide their race, avoid prejudice, or coerce others into treating them as unique people. “At certain times I have no race, I am me” (Hurston 3). Asserting a distinct lineage is not only frequent but also sometimes successful exemplifies how nebulous and fluid the concept of racial identity can indeed be. However, Hurston consciously decides to move closer to, rather than further away from, her African-American ethnicity. According to the prevalent school of thought, an individual's race is an inherent or biological property. Hurston's claim that she “became colored” is her way of arguing that one's race may be less of a fixed trait and more of a product of shifting perspectives and the influence of society (Mulhern 5). Race is not a fundamental characteristic that an individual is born with; rather, it is something that develops in response to particular social conditions. Hurston did not identify as black until other individuals made her feel that manner. As a child, Hurston's view of race was heavily influenced by socioeconomic status and geographic location. This shows that the race idea is not fixed because it is affected by various identity factors. The social status of white people can be determined by looking at

Surname 2 whether or not they own horses or automobiles. Because they are more economically similar to the black people of Eatonville, whites from the south can be readily ignored; nevertheless, northern whites, enhanced by the richness and geographical location, are genuinely foreign and warrant study. Eatonville locals are categorized into two categories by Hurston: those who are self-assured enough to watch the white visitors and others who cannot. The truth that the northern whites are visitors enables them to study their surroundings; nevertheless, young Zora flips this dominance dynamic by appearing as if the visitors are there for her amusement by pretending they are there for their benefit. Since Hurston resides in an all-black neighborhood when she is a youngster, she is shielded from the greatest humiliations that might result from racism. But when she performs for the white visitors, she begins to recognize that these people have money and are willing to pay for entertainment and art. She comes to this realization as a result of the fact that her audience is white. This starts to spark her understanding that art can be financially lucrative in addition to the personal rewards it provides. Eatonville’s black citizens won't pay her after performing, but they treat her with genuine respect, highlighting the difference between an audience and a community. Hurston's move to Jacksonville, which is presumed to be a larger and whiter city, marks the beginning of her “colored” life because Jacksonville acknowledges and implements racial distinctions, but Eatonville does not. The most crucial thing is that she feels that she is losing her identity as “Zora” and her formerly pampered childhood. Instead, she is branded as a single instance of a more general category, which results in the revocation of the privileges she was previously accorded in Eatonville. The fact that Hurston doesn't become aware of her race until she moves when she's thirteen seems to imply that both environment and culture influence racial identity. Once more, Hurston breaks with a dominant stream of African-American thought and replaces a history of power-based persecution of African Americans with one that centers on

Surname 3 race. While she comprehends the slavery fears and the racism pervasiveness, she believes the world is her oyster; however, an African-American woman possessing exceptional talent may still succeed. As a result of her ambition, she adopts a historical perspective that downplays the harshness of racism and the lasting effects of slavery. Hurston elaborates on her perspective of history by claiming that those who emphasize the ongoing effects of slavery may impede her progress by placing barriers in her way. According to her racial history, black liberation and empowerment have steadily progressed over time. She acknowledges that only through much sacrifice was this possible. It shows the diversity of thinking among African- American anthropologists and historians and their characteristic optimism and self-assurance. This transactional perception of history differs radically from the perspectives of many black philosophers, both then and now. Race relations in the United States during the 1920s are explored via the lens of performance here. While white people are considered individuals, a single African- American's behavior will necessarily represent the entire African-American population in the view of white America (Library of Congress). Even though Hurston thinks this to be discriminatory, she sees it as a positive thing and finds the dramatic swings of fortune fascinating. As a result of her positive early experiences in Eatonville with a white audience, she is confident that she is up to the task. According to Hurston, African-American growth is just as vital as its existing status. When it comes to black racial progress, she approaches it like she would a gladiatorial match in hopes of gaining notoriety and riches for herself. Also, she's unconventional in evaluating social groupings' psychological and material well-being. As a result of slavery, the "soul" of white America is haunted, which will impede its future advancement. Hurston maintains that “coloredness” is a relative condition formed in majority-white societies where others reinforce disparities between black and white people, either directly or

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Surname 4 implicitly. In addition, she explains why she does not feel “tragically colored.” Previously, she believed that her “little girl of color” identity obliterated her identification as Zora. Now, her black woman status confirms her identification, and she employs a strength and tenacity image to underline this. According to Mulhern, this is how she maintains her identity in a strange community (Mulhern 13). In the context of this narrative, Hurston confronts the pervasive and offensive assumption that African-Americans are in some way more brutal and far less educated than other ethnic groups. She remembers a tribal, violent background, but in writing, that is both elegant and enthralling. Consequently, the less “civilized” way of living feels more necessary than the modern way of life. By accepting the insult, Hurston mitigates its sting. This also indicates a closer relationship with art, which Hurston identifies as one of her abilities that grants her access and privilege in white contexts. Using a racist cliché as an asset, she also reverses the apparent advantages of civilization that whites of her period claimed. The distance between Europe or America and Africa is what she refers to as “a continent” in her conversation with her partner. In the jazz club, on the other hand, the poise and stoicism, which are trademarks of civilization, appear completely different. When it comes to art, civilization is only a hindrance. The term “white” might denote something more akin to “cold and lifeless” than the ideals that white America aspired to. The “Great Soul” doesn't confine Hurston to her blackness; she also loves her female identity and, at times, disavows identity completely. This kind of performance enhances her ability to switch between different personas. She likens herself to an American nobleman as she strolls the streets of Manhattan. Despite her admissions of being the victim of discrimination, she comes across as arrogant rather than distressed. Additionally, Hurston uses this fake superiority as a disguise to avoid the prejudice of her period. As Hurston grows in her awareness of race, she uses the various colored bags as a primary metaphor. Individual ideas, memories, feelings and experiences are represented by

Surname 5 the bag's color and the contents' variety based on skin tone and appearance. Both lovely and ordinary, the contents Hurston recounts surpass the bags' exteriors in the specificity of description. According to Hurston, the internal substance is more significant and intriguing than a one-word skin color depiction. Hurston implies that the skin color of an individual does not reflect one's thoughts, feelings, or abilities by claiming that objects in various colored bags are the same. Non-white people can gain the same abilities and experiences provided they are given freedom (Ford). As if Hurston's theory that the "Great Stuffer of Bags" dispersed these attributes arbitrarily regardless of race was an offensive suggestion, her last idea approaches mockery. Hurston would have found it to be a fully logical notion, but it would have been contentious at the time.

Surname 6 Works Cited Ford, Henry. “The Struggle for African American Freedom.” Google Arts & Culture , artsandculture.google.com/story/the-struggle-for-african-american-freedom-the- henry-ford/VAUh-GjK9Fx4KA?hl=en. Hurston, Zora Neale. How It Feels to Be Colored Me? 1928. Library of Congress. “The Segregation Era (1900–1939) - the Civil Rights Act of 1964: A Long Struggle for Freedom | Exhibitions - Library of Congress.” Loc.gov , 2014, www.loc.gov/exhibits/civil-rights-act/segregation-era.html. Mulhern, James. “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” Analysis . 2013.

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