The Gilded Six Bits Analysis

The Gilded Six Bits This story, written by Zora Neale Hurston, is about a marriage that seems perfect at first. Missie May and Joe seem like the perfect couple, they are playful and clearly in love. Though Missie May loves Joe, she has an affair with a rich man named Slemmons. Joe walks in on them and ends up taking Slemmons gold watch charm. Missie claims Slemmons offered to pay her to have sex with him. Their relationship is stand-offish from that day until they find out she is pregnant. When the baby is born he is clearly Joe’s. After the baby is born, their relationship returns to what it once was. If the baby had turned out to be Slemmon’s child, Joe might not have stayed with Missie though. The theme of the story is that money cannot buy happiness. The six-bits symbolize the deception of money. Joe thought that Slemmons was the greatest man in town, but the money just provided a guise for Slemmons. Money almost drives the couple apart. The color white is used to symbolize purity. The couple’s porch
Joe has a fulltime job and is able to bring home small gifts for Missie. He hears about the rich man Slemmons though, and he aspires to be him. At first, Missie does not think that money will make them any happier, but later in the story she has an affair with Slemmons, supposedly for the money. However, this money only causes discord in the couple’s relationship. It takes love and a baby to bring them back together. In conclusion, though their marriage seemed perfect and unbreakable, Missie’s affair almost caused the marriage to crumble. We do not know what would have happened had she not ended up pregnant wit Joe’s baby, but it is likely that they would have separated. Their baby provided them a reason to stay together though, and they seemed to be in a love again at the end. Money almost tore them apart, proving that money does not buy happiness and that it can lead to misery as