Every average person at certain times, struggles to look on the positive side of life, especially when things get tough. Whether its work or people causing the stress, we all have to let out these feelings from time. Even I struggle with this after long weeks of staying up late doing schoolwork.
This is a normal part of life, but some have had even greater stresses to deal with. Back in the late 1800's and early 1900's, African Americans had to cope with being completely separated from whites and looked at as incapable of doing certain things that whites did. As a result, many blacks reactions were negative, expressing the bad things about being black and how unfair society was toward them. Surprisingly, even through they were discriminated, some chose to try to be optimistic about their situation and not worry about what others thought because of their skin color. Zora Neale Hurston, a writer who lived during these times, is one of these people. In her essay titled How it Feels to be Colored, she talks mainly about the fact that she is not ashamed to be black. She sometimes feels like she stands out when with other white people, but she does not let that discourage her and looks to the future.
Hurston's essay can be related with the book The Secret Life of Bees because their are multiple black women in the book who have a similar attitude to hers about society. Rosaleen has the strength of character which Hurston. She shows this when she stands up to the white men and does not apologize even when they beat her because she doesn't care what they do, and doesn't let them make her feel ashamed of her skin color. Hurston's optimism is especially shown through August. Throughout the book, she is very positive in almost every situation, despite how difficult it is. She also in no way treats Lily different because she is white.
So often people focus on the hard things in life, but Hurston's essay makes me think that maybe people should try be more positive when tough things come their way. It may be tough, but I'm sure that if black people could be optimistic in their even tougher situation, we can be more positive in the little things of life.
I agree that black people being discriminated against should be more optimistic as well. In fact, I feel all people of every nationality should stand tall against racial slander. It's funny how in The Secret Life of Bees, Lily, the only white protagonist, seems to fear racism more than any of the black people in the book. How can "we" be more positive in life if black people are optimistic in tough situations?
ReplyDeleteI like that you connected Hurston's positive attitude to August because i do agree they have a connection. Black people shouldnt be ashamed of their race. Instead, they should use their struggles to move ahead in life. Why do you think August remains positive throughout the entire book?
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