Zora Neale Hurston The Gilded Six Bits Analysis

Zora Neale Hurston was born on January 7, 1891 in the town of Notasulga, Alabama. At the age of two, Hurston and her family moved even farther south to a small town named Eatonville, Florida. Eatonville is recognized as the first all black town in the United States. Zora’s father was a baptist preacher in Eatonville and Hurston described him as always making life difficult for his wife and eight children. During her lifetime, Hurston studied and graduated from four different colleges that helped her focus and channel her writings into what they are. Her writings are all closely associated with the Harlem Renaissance of the early 1900’s (Baym & Levine, 2013). Zora Neale Hurston was a huge influential writer during the Harlem Renaissance. She

Immediately as the main characters, Missie May and Joe Banks, are introduced Hurston begins to develop a picture of their relationship. Missie and Joe are easy going around each other, with playful banter and rough-housing. After a session of playful games initiated by Joe throwing money and hiding candy from his wife, they settle down for dinner and Joe announces his plans to take Missie May out to a new ice cream parlor in town. Joe is starstruck by the owner, Otis Slemmons, claiming he gets all the girls and is loaded with gold. After meeting “Mister Otis D. Slemmons”, Missie admits that he is a wealthy and attractive man (Baym & Levine, 2013). During this part Hurston makes it clear Missie May thinks Joe would look so much better with all of Slemmons added features and higher social standing. Some time later, Joe arrives home early from work to find Slemmons in bed with his wife. After a dramatic scene of threatening Slemmons and Missie crying, Joe collects his composure and climbs into the bed Slemmons was previously occupying only to find a fake gold gilded six bit connected to a watch chain. Weeks pass, Missie walks on eggshells around her husband, waiting for him to leave her, the ever present six bit a reminder of what Missie May had done in hopes of gaining wealth for her husband. As time passes, Missie becomes pregnant. Joe has the looming doubts that the child is not his, which causes an even bigger strain on the couple. After the child is born, Joe is distant from it. Until one day, his mother was helping care for his bedridden wife and infant. His mother, who was not a big fan of Missie May, made the comment that the baby boy was the spitting image of Joe himself. Having come to terms with what his wife had done and realizing he had a family now, Joe went