Analysis of Gilded Six Bits
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Personal Beliefs Reflected in Fiction
The Gilded Six Bits is a short story written by Zora Neale Hurston, an American author who wrote about her black heritage with great pride. Her short stories did not address the issue of racism but did consist of a setting with an all black community and the use of Negro dialect. Because of those characteristics she was ridiculed by critics and said to be opposing the Jim Crow ideas. Ms. Hurston believed that the blacks or colored people put themselves into their unsatisfactory situations by creating for themselves the things that white people tried to deny them. She was not troubled by the philosophy of segregation. “She said that blacks did not need whites to gain education or to succeed” (Boyd, 64). “When Hurston portrayed black characters not as victims of society but as individuals who were as capable of succeeding and living and loving as anyone else, she was accused of being naпve and ignoring social realities” (Robinson). She lived the life of segregation and she used her experience in all of her works.
In the opening statement of the story, Hurston talks about the yard, the house, and the financial state of the family. She says, “It was a Negro yard around a Negro house in a Negro settlement that looked to the payroll of the G and G Fertilizer works for its support” (Hurston, 1273). “A mess of homey flowers planted without a plan but blooming cheerily from their helter-skelter places. The fence and house were whitewashed. The porch and steps scrubbed white” (Hurston,1273). She also uses the outside scenery to show that the couple is ecstatic to be together and that their home is a joyful home. She is getting the mind set to see a poverty stricken image of a home. However, you can also visualize the care that is bestowed upon the flowers and house that is kept as clean as possible.
Next, Hurston shows her acceptance of the black life versus the white life in different scenes throughout “The Gilded Six Bits”. The scene where Joe says “Wisht Ah had a build on me lak he got. He aint puzzle-gutted, honey. He jes got a corperation. Dat make im look lak a rich white man. All rich mens is got some belly on em” (Hurston, 1276). Missie May responds by stating to Joe that she loves him, regardless of his appearance, his accessories or his financial backing. She says:
“Ah seen de pitchers of Henry Ford and hes a spare-built man and Rockefeller look lak he aint got but one gut. But Ford and Rockefeller and dis Slemmons and all de rest kin be as many-gutted as dey please, Ahs satisfied wid you jes lak you is, baby. God took pattern after a pine tree and built you noble. Youse a pritty man, and if Ah knowed any way to make you mo pritty still Ahd take and do it”. (Hurston 1276).
In this Hurston is displaying how some black people portray what a white mans physical appearance should be. They should have a gut that would be acquired through the consumption of eating hearty food, “prosperity and no need for physical labor” (Rhodes). A black man should have a slim physique without a gut because they can not afford the food to fulfill this white characteristic. The blacks admire and want to be more like the wealthy white people. Hurston identifies with Missie May by showing her personal views through this opinionated character. Missie May tells Joe how fine he is, just the way God made him. This is the way that Hurston feels in her own personal life. She believes that people are perfect within their own identities.
Hurston then empowers her way with character conversation when Joe and Missie May have discuss Otis Slemmons, Missie May expresses she is not impressed with what she knows about this new man. The character of Joe is infatuated with Otis Slemmons and his gold pieces. Joe is intrigued and talking about how great Slemmons is or how great his life has been. Slemmons is placed upon a pedestal by Joe. Joe says to Missie May, “Hes got a five-dollar gold piece for a stick-pin and he got a ten-dollar gold piece on his watch chain and his mouf is jes crammed full of gold teethes. Sho wisht it wuz mine. And whut make it so cool, he got money cumulated. And womens
give it all to im”. Missie May says, “Ah dont see whut de womens
see on im. Ah wouldnt give im a wink if de sheriff wuz after im” (Hurston, 1276). Joe proceeds to tell Missie May how the people in Chicago were crazy about Slemmons and she thinks he should have stayed up there where all the people thought he was wonderful. It is my opinion that Hurston uses Joe here to represent the Jim Crow believers. She uses Otis Slemmons, as stated earlier, to represent the whites and Missie May to represent Hurstons own personal beliefs of supporting segregation.
When Joe was on his way home, prematurely one night, he was thinking that “the best part of life – going home to Missie May. Their white-washed house, the mock battle on Saturday, the dinner and ice cream parlor afterwards, church on Sunday nights when Missie out dressed any woman in town – all, everything was right” (Hurston, 1277). But Missie May had started feeling like she wanted to be a part of what Otis Slemmons was a part of and it causes devastation for Joe and Missie Mays relationship. She desires the gold piece for herself and Joe, for their family, but when Joe catches Otis in his bed with his wife in the middle of the night, the gold is not significant any longer. With this, “Hurston uses the affair to reveal the true essence of corruption and manipulation that people with money have over people without. This is typically white people over black people” (Rhodes).
Then Hurston uses the character of Missie May to show her own thoughts concerning the types of men that have the same personality as Mr. Slemmons. Hurston had seen and dealt with men like this throughout her life. She once worked as a housekeeper for a family of white folks where the wife was very ill.
“At dusk, Hurston would find the husband waiting by her door, as if he were entitled to her as he was to all privileges of being a white man in a country run by people like him. Hurston was mum about whether or not she gave in to her predators sexual advances, but she implied she had little choice: she says, Finally, I got over being timid of his being the boss and just told him not to bother me. He laughed at that. Then I said that I would tell his wife, and he laughed again. The very next night he was waiting for me” (Boyd, 60).