The Gilded Love In “The Gilded Six Bits”, a short story by Zora Neale Hurston, the marriage between Joe and Missie May is greatly affected by materialism. Every Saturday afternoon Joe throws nine silver dollars for Missie May to pile beside her plate at dinner; she then runs out to greet him and they play fight with each other. She digs through his pockets for candy kisses and other goods that he has put in them for her to find. They obviously love each other, but I think that in this Hurston is giving a subtle hint of what role materialistic things play in the relationship between them. Slemmons is a wealthy, new man in town that everybody is in awe of; Joe especially, and eventually that leads to hardship in the marriage between him and Missie May. She sleeps with Slemmons because he promises gold, but what ultimately leads her to be unfaithful? Is it that she wants it - thinking only of herself? Or, is she thinking that she …show more content…
In Hurston’s, “The Gilded Six Bits”, what is conveyed is that materialistic things, and the natural greediness of human nature, can tempt and distract people from what they actually have and affect their happiness. …show more content…
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