The Gilded Six-Bit Summary

Nora Hurston’s “The Gilded Six-bit” takes place in the early 1930’s in Eatonville, Florida. The story starts with the description of Joe and Missie Bank’s house as a “Negro settlement that looked to the payroll of the G. and G. Fertilizer works for its support.” Joe works at G. and G. Fertilizer during the week, and on Saturdays he has flexible hours. After work on Saturdays Joe likes to go home and throw silver dollars at his porch to surprise Missie May. She runs outside and play wrestles with Joe, Missie calls it a “romping”. At dinner Joe tells Missie Mae he wants to take her to get ice cream. He asks her if she had seen its new wealthy owner, Otis D. Slemmons. Missie admits to seeing him while she cleaned the porch that day. Trying to
change the subject Missie tells Joe, "Aw, he don't look no better in his clothes than you do in yourn. He got a puzzlegut on 'im and he so chuckleheaded he got a pone behind his neck." (Hurston) They talk about Mr. Slemmons gold watch and the ten-dollar gold piece attached to it. Brushing it off and wanting to impress Otis, Joe then says, “He talkin' 'bout his pritty womens—Ah want 'im to see mine."(Hurston) After the trip to the parlor, the couple head back home and Missy May is stuck on how wealthy Mr. Slemmons is. She states that maybe she would find money like his on the ground somewhere. Joe doesn’t care about money, and tells her how unlikely that would be. He is content with being married to Missie Mae, and is hopeful of having a child one day. One Saturday night, after being released early due to a lack of needed ingredients at his factory, Joe headed home to surprise Missie Mae in the usual fashion. Joe’s mood quickly changes when he finds Missie Mae in bed with Otis Slemmons. In shock, Joe stands there and watches the rustling and crying of the two adulterers. As Otis scrambles to
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get his clothes on Joe starts striking him throughout his house.
During his last frantic swipe, Joe grabbed his watch and a gold coin. From that point on, Joe is emotionally detached from Missy, and keeps Slemmons gold coin in his pocket as a constant reminder. Late one night Joe puts the coin under Missy’s pillow for her to find. She awakes to find the coin and feels instant shame. The coin is a 75 cent piece, known as a gilded six-bit, and not a ten-dollar gold coin. She realizes, Mr.Slemmons is a fraud who preyed on her gullibility. Missie Mae becomes pregnant during the time of the incident and Joe is unsure who the father is. After 9 months, his nightmare is lifted when his mother tells him, "You oughter be mighty proud cause he sho is de spittin' image of yuh, son." (Hurston) Knowing that the child is his changes his demeanor towards his wife. In his recent happiness, Joe ends up going through his old routine. Buying candy from Orlando, and throwing silver dollars at his front porch in anticipation of Missy Mae’s arrival. As we see in this story, the grass is only as green as you make it. Joe knew this already, but Missy almost lost everything in her attempt to gain quick riches. Even when the odds are stacked against you, some things are just not worth
losing.

The gilded six bits was written in third person limited point of view. We can see this through some of the thoughts of missy may, “She often wondered if he still had it, but nothing could have induced her to ask nor yet to explore his pockets to see for herself. Its shadow was in the house whether or no.” (Hurston) The two main characters of the story are Joe and Missie Banks, Husband and wife. Other members of the story that are of relation to the Banks’s are Joe’s mother and their baby boy. Mr. Otis D. Slemmons is the ice cream parlor owner in the city, and he employs one clerk. There is also the Foreman who lets Joe go home early from work after their company runs out of needed supplies. Intuitively, out of these characters, the natural choice for the Antagonist would be Mr. Slemmons, but Missy Mae is the one who has the conflict with Joe, the protagonist. Both main characters are dynamic characters, and each of them learn their lessons at different parts of the story. There is a glimpse of Missy’s internal conflict when her thoughts are expressed, “Missie knew why she didn't leave Joe. She couldn't. She loved him too
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much, but she could not understand why Joe didn't leave her. He was polite, even kind at times, but aloof. There were no more Saturday romps. No ringing silver dollars to stack beside her plate. No pockets to rifle. In fact, the yellow coin in his trousers was like a monster hiding in the cave of his pockets to destroy her.” (Hurston) After Missy realizes that Otis is a fake she feels shame and embarrassment. Missy learns that nothing is worth losing the unwavering love of her husband. If anything, Joe learns forgiveness and he is able to examine himself as a possible father and husband. It may seem like a small lesson to learn, but to Joe it is tormenting. The author's use of characterization supports the central idea of the story by putting the characters in a position of limited cultural options. Racial division, women’s rights, along with the emergence of the Great Depression, gives Missie an automatic desire for a change. The settings the characters are placed in is an abysmal one. A place many today could never imagine. Joe’s personal strengths and unconditional love is a true testament of his character. Even with the world against him in so many ways he is content and satisfied with what he has. His wife is blind to this fact. Throughout the story Joe gives Missie words of encouragement and love, and does everything he can for her. For some it is not enough. It takes the complete forgiveness of her husband after a tragic blow to the core values of their family to realize what she almost lost. She knows she doesn’t deserve Joe, and is internally tormented by her actions. She is grateful and relieved when her family is back to normal. A thing which she had to begin with, but sometimes you never know what you have until it’s gone.