The Gilded Six-Bits Analysis

We don't actually know that we're in Eatonville until the end of the story, but Hurston settles us in with the opening line: It was a Negro yard around a Negro house in a Negro settlement t...

As with many Hurston stories, the narrator in "The Gilded Six-Bits" is omniscient. How do we know this? The narrator reveals the thoughts of both Missie and Joe, as in the following passage:...

This tale focuses on a young married couple and the insertion of a stranger to that dynamic. On the outside the marriage between Joe and Missie seems ideal, loving and innocent. Joe brings home t...

Hurston's tone is initially one of lightheartedness; there is a happy go-lucky air around Joe and Missie that is often seen in their playful banter. Take it away, Joe: Nope, sweetenin' is for...

With Hurston, writing style is all about mixing and matching. What do we mean by that? Well, in "The Gilded Six-Bits" there are two different voices. One of the voices is that of the narrator, wh...

"The Gilded Six-Bits" is a reference to the supposedly gold watch chain that Slemmons wears. What exactly is a gilded six-bit, you ask? Good question. To start, gilded means something overlaid or c...

The ending completes a circular narrative arch in "The Gilded Six-Bits." The story begins with Joe coming home and throwing silver dollars through the door for Missie, and it ends on a similar note...

The toughest thing about "The Gilded Six-Bits" is probably the dialogue (and figuring out what the heck a six-bit is—don't worry, we'll get to that later.) At the heart of the story is the rela...

Exposition (Initial Situation) Rub-a-dub-dub, Missie May in the Tub The story opens with a wide-angle lens on an all black town (Eatonville), but it quickly changes scenes to the bedroom, where M...

In the 1930s Hurston was the only widely published author on the Florida payroll. You go, girl. (Source)In 1939, Hurston wrote an entire essay on the lives of turpentine workers, which you can...

While we never see any sex taking place in "The Gilded Six-Bits," it's hinted at quite often. Plus, a story that introduces a character in the nude with "stiff young breasts thrust forward aggres...

Bible: Lot's wife turning into a pillar of salt from Genesis19:26 (95)Bible: Samson from the Book of Judges chapters 13-16 (71) Eatonville, Florida—the first all-black American community (13...