Summary & Response

Summary & Response: How It Feels To Be Colored Me Living in a world where it is foreign to be colored was hard for many people of this nature in the 1920s. For Zora Neale Hurston, this was not a challenge at all. This high-spirited girl gives an explanation of how it felt to be, “...like a brown paper bag of miscellany propped against a wall” (Hurston 197). Written by Hurston herself, “How It Feels To Be Colored” gives us a humorous, sarcastic-ridden view of what her childhood was like from her home in the colored town of Eatonville to her adulthood, surrounded by people of other races. Across the essay Hurston gives her audience a few examples of differences between the people she encounters. She explains the cultural and racial differences in small things, such as music, as well as the ever present feeling of being different, no matter whether you are the minority or majority. Throughout her journey, Zora is never phased by how others view her appearance. She knows who she truly is and that is all that matters to her. Hurston expresses her opinion on the way others see her by saying, “Someone is always at my elbow reminding me that I am the granddaughter of slaves. It fails to register depression with me. Slavery is sixty years in the past. The operation was successful and the patient is doing well, thank you” (Hurston 196). This passage communicates how she does not think of herself in the same way as others might. She sees herself as an equal with the same chance of succeeding as all the others, regardless of who treats her differently due to the color of her skin. The quote also conveys her sarcastic thoughts toward others’ view of her. It supports the idea that differences between people shouldn’t affect how you think of yourself and you should stay true to who you are. In some form, I live in a similar situation to that of Zora 84 years before me. The difference I have with others is my chemical imbalance of attention deficit hyperactive disorder, or