Realizing Reality in How It Feels to Be Coloured Me by Zora Neal Hurston

At what moment in our childhood do we realize the real from the fantasy? Now a day the differences aren’t as harsh as they were in the earlier times but they are still evident. For a simple example, once a child turns about 5 they realize that Santa Claus does not exist. Back in the day it was harsher like you realize that because your skin is darker, you won’t be afforded simple things like education. How much does your history affect the person you are today and will become in the future? In How It Feels To Be Colored Me by Zora Neal Hurston, Hurston tells us about the day when she “became black”.

Iwould argue that Hurston grows as a person but she grows in a mature manner. “Someone is always at my elbow reminding me that I am the granddaughter of slaves. It fails to register depression with me.” Most people would want you to be saddened and angered about the way their ancestors were treated by the white man.

Hurston however, uses this past history as a positive fire to achieve more in life and strive to be better than where she is now, because she owes her ancestors that. “The terrible struggle that made me an American out ofa potential slave said “On the line!” The Reconstruction said “Get set!” and the generation before said “Go!” I am offto a flying start and I must not halt in the stretch to look behind and weep.

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” For a child to have this type of drive is incredible and shows a lot about how her parents raised her. Something big that contributed to Hurston being so intelligent and strong willed I believe, is the fact that she was raised in an all black community. It wasn’t totally isolated from whites because she would see them pass by from time to time. “I remember the very day that I became colored.

Up to my thirteenth year I lived in the little Negro town ofEatonville, Florida, It is exclusively a colored town. The only white people I knew passed through the town going to or coming from Orlando” 13 years in the same community allows for a child to soak up so much around them. “The front porch might seem a daring place for the rest of the town, but it was a gallery seat for me. This allows for a child to be deeply rooted in their history. Especially in these times, black history was super important and was carried down from generation to generation, On this day she noticed the difference, but it wasn’t in a harsh manner that some may encounter. “During this period, white people differed from colored to me only in that they rode through town and never lived there.”

This was a simple difference, However, she went on to say “But changes came in the family when I was thirteen, and I was sent to school in Jacksonville.” It was not until she was taken out of her “comfort zone” that the differences were more pronounced. “I was not Zora ofOrange County any more, I was now a little colored girl, I found it out in certain ways, In my heart as well as in the mirror, I became a fast brown–warranted not to rub nor run.”  It is not until we are surrounded by people that are not like us that we feel some type ofway about who we are. It is at this moment that people can either embrace themselves or be ashamed. And it’s only when we think on the situation too long that we think about it, “I do not always feel colored.

I feel most colored when I am thrown against a sharp white background.” She also gives a vice versa view on the situation by saying that when a single white is in the sea of all blacks, our rich culture is embraced even more. The best part about Hurston‘s story is that even though she’s placed in a setting that may seem “uncomfortable” to her, she still embraces herself and her culture. “At certain times I have no race, I am me.” “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. My country, right or wrong.” (Huston pg, 3) We should all have this type of outlook on life and learn how to stay positive in uncomfortable situations. Life was not made for us to stay stagnant in comfort, Ifthat was the case, we would never grow and better ourselves. Let us pass this on to our future generations and keep the positivity alive.