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Rhetorical Analysis Of How It Feels To Be Colored Me

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Recommended: Zora neale hurston’s essay “how it feels to be colored me”

Skin Color Isn't A Tragedy In "How It Feels to Be Colored Me," from The Norton Reader, Zora Neale Hurston states her experiences with racism as she grew up from the stages of childhood to adulthood. Throughout the essay, Hurston explains how she sees the suffering of black people and how she has accepted her skin color. The author's key point is, although she had accepted her skin color, she still experienced racism around her. In this expressive essay that's developed by narration, Zora Neale Hurston demonstrates different experiences with a common meaning and effectively using imagery and literary devices to vividly narrate the essay. "How It Feels to Be Colored Me" is an expressive essay that is developed by narration. The essay is expressive because it is …show more content…

The rhetorical aim of expression is understood in the first paragraph because Hurston begins in first person: "I am colored but I offer nothing in the way of extenuating circumstances except the fact that I am the only Negro in the United States whose grandfather on the mother's side was not an Indian chief" (12). Hurston does not stray from first person as she continues to express from personal experiences throughout her life. She concludes the essay by questioning "who knows" about the "Great Stuffer of Bags" (15). In Hurston's conclusion, she compares colored people with paper bags. Hurston's essay is effective because (1) she succeeds in organizing her experiences with a common phrase starting the beginning of her paragraphs and (2) Hurston effectively narrates each experience with imagery and literary devices. Hurston's methods of

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The book states, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view-until you consider things from his point of view-until you climb into his skin and walk around in it. ”(39) People should not judge other people's actions or choices because we never know what they experienced in their lifetime. As mentioned earlier, the time period that this book took place in was very judgemental on the color of people's skin and gender roles. On the contrary, many people may argue that the the color of people’s skin does not relate to their life experiences.

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Their Eyes Were Watching God, one of Zora’s eminent bodies of work shows examples of Hurston using figurative language to bring Janie's (the main character) experience of tragedy to life. Janie wants something out of life and love that seems

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Hurston challenges the social norms of current society with her way of words and how she has lived her life. Using the distinctive voice it casts out the racial problems and singles out the social problems of

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Zora Neale Hurston utilizes three narrative strategies, including authentic dialect and free indirect discourse, to communicate the themes and larger messages of the novel in Their Eyes Were Watching God. Hurston uses authentic dialect to give each character a voice and bring them to life, which is essential to the reader’s understanding of the novel. Specifically, this narrative mode is crucial to moments when Janie finds the confidence to voice her thoughts and opinions. However, this dialect only hints towards the novel’s themes, failing to convey the overall message of the book. In comparison, Hurston is able to reveal Janie’s deeper thoughts and corresponding revelations through free indirect discourse as well as convey the larger messages

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Zora Neal Hurston Rhetorical Analysis In American novelist, Zora Neal Hurston’s, How It Feels to Be Colored Me, Hurston’s purpose is that African- Americans should celebrate their individual identity and look towards the future. In order to impress this on her readers, especially all of race-conscious America, Hurston utilizes satire and metaphors in the interest of conveying deeper meaning and implementing her own personality, thus, further developing the effectiveness of her text. Firstly, Hurston incorporates satire into her text, in which she uses humor to expose and criticize people's vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics. Authors take advantage of many aspects of this device, (strong use of irony,

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Zora Hurston uses vivid imagery, natural diction, and several literary tools in her essay “How It Feels to Be Colored Me”. Hurston’s use of imagery, diction, and literary tools in “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” contributes to, and also compliments, the essay’s theme which is her view on life as a “colored” person. Throughout “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” Hurston carefully incorporates aspects of her African American culture in an effort to recapture her ancestral past. Hurston’s use of imagery, diction, and use of literary tools shape her essay into a piece of Harlem Renaissance work. Imagery in “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” is quite abundant.

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( 55). Hurston’s symbolization of Janie’s hair connotes Jody’s jealousy of her and causes the reader to understand that Janie does

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Hurston tells the story of Janie, a black woman who because of her grandmother experiences and beliefs was forced to marry into a loveless marriage with Logan Killicks, a hard-working farmer who had 60 acres of land and could provide for Janie. This marriage ended when Janie ran away with Joe Stark, a man that she fell in love with and thought could give her the love absent between her and Logan. But Janie soon realized that her second marriage wouldn’t turn out better than her first. Joe was just as controlling and degrading as Logan. He hardly expressed his love for Janie and spoke to her like an incompetent child.

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Throughout her story she meets new people and resides in many places, thus shaping and changing who she is. In her novel, Hurston uses characterization to illustrate the theme of how one’s trust of what

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Many authors choose to write about characters who experience adversity. In “ How it Feels to Be Colored,” Hurston shows that there will always be difficult times, but being able to learn and take an advantage out of the adversity will show a great benefit. Taking a bad experience and being able to know your worth even if most do not will give you an advantage, Hurston says, “ How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It’s beyond me.” Hurston uses a sense of humor towards discrimnation, The effects of adversity are prominent in my mother’s life.

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In both story I have found a connection between how race has a direct effect on their identity. Starting off with “How it Feels to be Colored Me” by Zora Neale hurston like when she was comparing herself to "a brown bag" filled with all kinds of random things, and by comparing other people of various races to other bags similarly filled with different stuff, Hurston is basically saying that it really doesn 't matter what color we are on the outside--we 're all filled with basically the same things (the same thoughts, feelings, experiences, etc.) and that this essential similarity that transcends race is probably how we were made to be by God ("the Great Bag stuffer "). Basically, then, Hurston is saying that even though her own experiences

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Hurston

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