The Gilded Six-Bits and the Pardon: Stories of Betrayal and Forgiveness
Ivan Nouel
Professor Brahlek
Enc1102 – 10:00am
July 10th, 2012
The Gilded Six-Bits and The Pardon
The Gilded Six-Bits by Zora Neale Hurston and The Pardon by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings both have several things in common as well differences. These are both short stories that were written in the 20th century that have to with betrayal as well forgiveness. A psychoanalytic approach of these two stories would be an examination of characters; comparing and contrasting the characters personalities and situations.
The main characters names in these stories are Adam and Joe. In The Pardon Adam is white and in The Gilded Six-Bits Joe is black. Both men seem to be kind hearted individuals who love their wives. In The Pardon Adam is excited to see his wife, which shows how much he’s missed her, and in the Gilded-Six-Bits Joe and his wife have a traditional game they like to play on Joe’s pay day, which shows that they like to fool around and have fun. Despite all this love for their wives though, they are both betrayed.
In the Pardon, Adam goes to jail for quite some time leaving his wife alone at home. After a certain amount of time, a person will do just about anything for some company. In The Pardon, Adam’s wife says to him “’I had to have help on the place. A woman can’t farm it alone. The fence was near about rotted to the ground’ ” (Rawlings Kinnan, Marjorie). This was her excuse for cheating on him and having another man’s baby. In The Gilded Six-Bits, Joe’s wife sleeps with Slemmons while Joe is at work for some money. In the story, she says “’Oh Joe, honey, he said he wuz gointer give me dat gold money he jes’ kept on after me’ ” (545). The way both men reacted to this was both similar and different.
Adam is shocked when his wife admits to cheating on him, but he remains calm. The same goes for Joe when he finds his wife with another man (Slemmons) in his own home. Even though you can tell that Joe is a tad bit frustrated, he keeps his cool and prevents
Professor Brahlek
Enc1102 – 10:00am
July 10th, 2012
The Gilded Six-Bits and The Pardon
The Gilded Six-Bits by Zora Neale Hurston and The Pardon by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings both have several things in common as well differences. These are both short stories that were written in the 20th century that have to with betrayal as well forgiveness. A psychoanalytic approach of these two stories would be an examination of characters; comparing and contrasting the characters personalities and situations.
The main characters names in these stories are Adam and Joe. In The Pardon Adam is white and in The Gilded Six-Bits Joe is black. Both men seem to be kind hearted individuals who love their wives. In The Pardon Adam is excited to see his wife, which shows how much he’s missed her, and in the Gilded-Six-Bits Joe and his wife have a traditional game they like to play on Joe’s pay day, which shows that they like to fool around and have fun. Despite all this love for their wives though, they are both betrayed.
In the Pardon, Adam goes to jail for quite some time leaving his wife alone at home. After a certain amount of time, a person will do just about anything for some company. In The Pardon, Adam’s wife says to him “’I had to have help on the place. A woman can’t farm it alone. The fence was near about rotted to the ground’ ” (Rawlings Kinnan, Marjorie). This was her excuse for cheating on him and having another man’s baby. In The Gilded Six-Bits, Joe’s wife sleeps with Slemmons while Joe is at work for some money. In the story, she says “’Oh Joe, honey, he said he wuz gointer give me dat gold money he jes’ kept on after me’ ” (545). The way both men reacted to this was both similar and different.
Adam is shocked when his wife admits to cheating on him, but he remains calm. The same goes for Joe when he finds his wife with another man (Slemmons) in his own home. Even though you can tell that Joe is a tad bit frustrated, he keeps his cool and prevents
Bibliography: Rawlings Kinnan, Marjorie. When the Whippoorwill. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1940. Print. Hurston Neale, Zora. “The Gilded Six-Bits.” Literature Craft & Voice. Ed. Nicholas Delbanco and Alan Cheuse. New York: Mcgraw-Hill, 2010. 541-547. Print.