This is an analytical essay on “How It Feels To Be Colored Me” by Zora Neale…
June is introduced at the beginning of the novel by telling the story of her death. Although June is dead through the entire novel her memory lives on as her family and friends recall memories they shared with June and even some of their own memories throughout the novel. “June will figure throughout the novel as a touchstone for the other characters” (Sweet Wong 57) June’s death affected all of the characters in the novel. June is “…the erratic and once vivacious beauty of the family…” as described by Sweet Wong. (38) June left behind her husband Gordie and her son King, along with her lover Gerry whom she also had a son with named Lipsha. Every character in the book is impacted by June’s death. June is said to be “the catalyst for the narrations that follow, stories that trace the intricate and often antagonistic relationships in the two families from which she came” (Sweet Wong 38).…
The poet Maya Aneton once said “It [is] one of the greatest gifts [a person] can give [him or herself] to forgive. Forgive everybody.” It is difficult sometimes for people to forgive themselves for past issues or transgressions. The result often becomes an inability to exculpate others as well. However, if a person can seek forgiveness, then happiness will become more apparent in his or her life. In the novel The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd demonstrates how contentment becomes prevalent in a person's life through the characters Lily and June once they seek forgiveness. Lily, a fourteen-year-old runaway white girl, not only struggles to forgive herself, but her father, T Ray, and her mother for their wrongdoings in her lifetime. Similarly, June, one of the Boatwright sisters that takes in Lily when she runs away, strives to pardon her ex fiance and Lily’s mother due to the undeserved way they treated June in her past.…
T.Ray is verbally abusive, making Lily feel terrible, whereas August words are soothing and inspiring. Lily spends a night in the orchard and when waking up in the morning to find T.Ray. T.Ray misunderstands and gets mad at her for thinking she was out meeting a boy. T.Ray then yells at her: "I expect this out of boys, Lily, you can't blame them. But I expect more out of you. you act not better than a slut" (24). Even though she grew up without her mother she still feels a sense of protection and love from her. Lily tells T.Ray what she thinks about her mother and he ends up once again yelling at her. "That women could have cared less about you... you could hate me all you want, but she's the one who left you... You little bitch" (39). T.Ray verbally abuses Lily. He never shows her any signs of love or affection. He intentionally causes her pain and is constantly yelling at her. When comparing August to T.Ray,…
* Thesis: Love can be found in many different ways, no matter the color of your skin. In the novel “The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd, love is strongly shown between two young people of a different race, and motherly love. The main character sets out to find that love, but along the way she finds that love is not easy no matter which way you may look.…
Kate really does change. She shows us that she changes at the end of the novel when…
Against the KKK, women's suffrage and equal rights. She would march across the tiny town of Ambler expressing her opinion. Her dad would often worry that she would be looked down upon by the town for her strong views and differences. June did not mind, she was independent and strong. When she turned 19 she decided to set out and see the world for herself. Anna was still at home keeping her father company and caring for him as he grew older. June went to the city of New York where urbanization was on an extreme rise. She showed her favorite pieces to different galleries and began to make profit from doing so.Currently she is living in a small apartment located a few blocks from Wall Street. She continues to put on art shows and she just adores what she does. Sometimes she will feel sadness and hurt from previous trauma but she said that’s what fuels her. It ignites a fire within her that helps her create pieces beyond thought. She also works a night shift at a restaurant around the corner from her home. She’s financially steady and emotionally healing. She stays in close contact with her sister Ana who is now a grade school teacher in Ambler, and her father whom is still going strong.She makes sure to visit them frequently but the town reminds her of her mother and sets her in a slump.Things in the world are changing immensely but June loves change. She is optimistic and believes that change is a…
Lily’s father, T. Ray, only deepens this conviction, telling Lily that her mother only came back for her things, not for her daughter. This false belief that her mother died regretting her existence destroys Lily. She grows to have such a strong desire to feel loved that it begins to control her in a negative way, making her feel constantly unwanted. Meeting the Boatwright’s, she finally is surrounded by the kind of love and affection she so desperately needed. Staying at the honey house, she learns more than the honey business itself, she begins to realize that the same lessons they teach her about the bees can apply to her life. When explaining how to handle the bees, August says, “Above all, send the bees love. Every little thing wants to be loved.” (92) To be loved is all Lily has ever wanted, and once she begins living in the honey house, she realizes how loved she truly is, and has been all of her life, even though she didn’t know it. The love that nearly all the people in Lily’s life have for her is as immense as Pip’s love for Estella, but for her, it took many years of darkness before she could finally see the light. Once Lily opens her heart, she realizes how extraordinary it can be to both love and be loved: “I myself, for instance. It seemed like I was now thinking of Zach forty minutes out of every hour, Zach, who was an…
Firstly, Sandy’s perspective is used to represent the consequences of racism on Pat Read, with her tending to be isolated from the rest of the town. Secondly, characterisation is used to reveal the effect of racism on May Read, for example May’s sadness and sense of unworthiness. Finally, the physical effect of racism is shown on Billy Read through the symbol of his death. Considering these points, Julia Lawrinson depicts the effects of racism in Bye, Beautiful on the Read family through use of perspective, characterisation and…
When she home by herself June’s mom is telling her not to tell anybody on the phone that your home by yourself. For example in paragraph 15 her mom asks her if she has her key and she lifts it up to show her. Then she says “I won’t let any strangers into the house”. This proves that she is a good mom because June already knows not to do that stuff and that she taught her not to do it.…
| In her thesis she explains that even though people do discriminate against her, she does not feel colored. She states “There is no great sorrow dammed up in my soul, or lurking behind my eyes. I do not mind at all” to show how she doesn’t care that she’s colored. Being color does not determined who is she is or what she will be. She doesn’t get depressed that she’s colored. Being colored just describes one single fact about her.…
While on the way to dinner with her husband Elisa finally realizes that she had been taken advantage of. She sees that the handy man has discarded her beloved chrysanthemums in the ditch on the side of the road. She realizes that the man used flattery of her and her flowers to get work. This realization makes her break down and cry. She then understands that she is doomed to her current role in society, a passive woman, and she hates it.…
Change does not occur easily or without conflict. Change does not occur quickly nor smoothly. Many characters go through change in a novel, like Edna from The Awakening. Edna lives as a simple mother-woman and follows the general rules of society. She later experiences new bearings which lead to her self-discovery toward a better life. Edna kills herself at the end of the novel and frees herself from the social confinements.…
The attitudes of both main characters in the story drastically change during the birth of Lily. The husband goes from frantic and excited to annoyed and stressed while the calm wife had quickly turned into and emotional rollercoaster with an evil witch riding it. This shows through their actions, the wife starts to demand a middle name for the baby immediately while the husband did not understand why they couldn’t wait until the whole…
How does it feel to be colored? In these more recent and modern times, the thought probably doesn’t occur in most African Americans’ heads. However, in her 1928 essay, Zora Neale Hurston gives a vivid firsthand experience. In this piece, Hurston describes life growing up African-American not only in her community of Eatonville, Florida as a child, but also as she moved to Jacksonville to attend school in her teenage years, and as she became an adult living in New York City. Hurston explains to us through this passage that even though she is aware of her skin color, she does not let this hinder her attempts at getting ahead in life, and becoming successful in all that she does.…