How It Feels To Be Colored Me Literary Devices

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In 1865, all slaves were freed in the United States. Slaves were finally allowed to start a new life; a life of freedom and equality. But were these people really treated equal? In “How It Feels to Be Colored Me”, Hurston makes use of literary elements such as analogies and symbols in the final paragraph, and also expresses metaphors and allusions when talking about the race of her life. These literary terms have enhanced the meaning of the work by accentuating that everyone in society should be treated equally. In the final paragraph of the short story, Hurston exploits analogies and symbols to indicate that everyone in society should be treated equally. In the early stages of the final paragraph, Hurston compares herself to a brown bag “against a wall in company with other bags, …show more content…
Hurston starts out by describing how slavery was endured and already paid for by the ancestors of African Americans when asserting how the horrible struggles that made her an "American out of a potential slave said on the line” (Hurston 2). At this point, it is noticeable that Hurston is comparing the life of herself and many African Americans to a race. Hurston uses this metaphor to get across to the reader that all of the suffering was endured in the past and African Americans should have received equality, so why are people still being discriminated against? Hurston also uses an allusion when saying how “the Reconstruction said get set” (Hurston 2). The author is alluding to the reconstruction period in America right after the civil war when African Americans were granted more rights and privileges. Although African Americans were granted these rights, people in society, especially in the south, often discriminated against them. The equality that the African Americans deserved was not given, relating back to Hurston’s theme that everyone in society should all be treated

How It Feels To Be Colored Me Analysis

In Hurston’s essay, “How It Feels to Be Colored Me,” the tone shifts as the author describes her life in Eatonville, Jacksonville, and New York. Initially, the tone is lighthearted and humorous when Hurston speaks about her childhood in Eatonville. At this time, Hurston is not aware of all the discrimination that African Americans face. In fact, “white people differed from colored to [Hurston] only in that they rode through town and never lived there” (Hurston). However, the tone shifts from welcoming…

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