“How it Feels to Be Colored Me” is an amazing essay written by Zora Neale Hurston. In this descriptive essay Hurston explores her self-discovery and her self-pride. Since Hurston grew up in the all-black community of Eatonville, and was protected from racism, once she left her home community, she was introduced to a different lifestyle where the color of her skin was an ‘unfortunate’ quality to have. During her childhood, she had learned to love herself and the color of her skin, however, after she moved to New York she began to see racism for the first time. Although Hurston begins to see racism in its prominence, she is stressing to her readers through her tone, diction and use of imagery, that unlike a number of African Americans at this
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Zora Neale Hurston was certainly not an example of that stereotype, which is evident through her language and diction. Such as when she says; “My favorite place was atop the gatepost. Proscenium box for a born first-nighter”, instead of saying theater stage she says a proscenium box. Another time, instead of saying that the only difference she knew of white and colored people was that the whites rode through town, but never stayed, she chose to say it differently; “white people differed from colored to me only in that they rode through town and never lived there.” Hurston’s diction was extensive enough in this essay that it may have caused even the reader to look up a few words. Also in the first sentence she demonstrates her strong vocabulary; “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.”, she says this instead of saying that she has nothing to make the fact that she is black any better, except that she is the only Negro whose grandfather on their mother’s side was not and Indian Chief. Zora Neale Hurston’s diction only adds to theme of her being prideful of her color, not only was she colored, she was colored and educated as …show more content…
She tells her story with an amazing use of diction, imagery, and tone which all help to contribute to the overall theme of being prideful of herself. However, Hurston does not see herself as a race, she says "I have no separate feeling about being an American citizen and colored. I am merely a fragment of the Great Soul that surges within the boundaries." Meaning she doesn 't see herself as anything other than a normal person in the human race. Though when she sometimes feels discriminated against, it does not make her angry, it merely astonishes her, how anyone can deny themselves the pleasure of being in the company of Zora Neale
Zora Neale Hurston was certainly not an example of that stereotype, which is evident through her language and diction. Such as when she says; “My favorite place was atop the gatepost. Proscenium box for a born first-nighter”, instead of saying theater stage she says a proscenium box. Another time, instead of saying that the only difference she knew of white and colored people was that the whites rode through town, but never stayed, she chose to say it differently; “white people differed from colored to me only in that they rode through town and never lived there.” Hurston’s diction was extensive enough in this essay that it may have caused even the reader to look up a few words. Also in the first sentence she demonstrates her strong vocabulary; “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.”, she says this instead of saying that she has nothing to make the fact that she is black any better, except that she is the only Negro whose grandfather on their mother’s side was not and Indian Chief. Zora Neale Hurston’s diction only adds to theme of her being prideful of her color, not only was she colored, she was colored and educated as …show more content…
She tells her story with an amazing use of diction, imagery, and tone which all help to contribute to the overall theme of being prideful of herself. However, Hurston does not see herself as a race, she says "I have no separate feeling about being an American citizen and colored. I am merely a fragment of the Great Soul that surges within the boundaries." Meaning she doesn 't see herself as anything other than a normal person in the human race. Though when she sometimes feels discriminated against, it does not make her angry, it merely astonishes her, how anyone can deny themselves the pleasure of being in the company of Zora Neale