The Gilded Six-Bits

by Zora Neale Hurston

Genres: Short Stories, Classics, Fiction, Read For School, American, Historical Fiction, African American

40 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1986

About the author

Novels, including Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937), and nonfiction writings of American folklorist Zora Neale Hurston give detailed accounts of African American life in the South.

In 1925, Hurston, one of the leaders of the literary renaissance, happening in Harlem, produced the short-lived literary magazine Fire!! alongside Langston Hughes and Wallace Thurman shortly before she entered Barnard College. This literary movement developed into the Harlem renaissance.

Hurston applied her Barnard ethnographic training to document African American folklore in her critically acclaimed book Mules and Men alongside fiction Their Eyes Were Watching God . She also assembled a folk-based performance dance group that recreated her Southern tableau with one performance on Broadway.

People awarded a Guggenheim fellowship to Hurston to travel to Haiti and conduct research on conjure in 1937. Her significant work ably broke into the secret societies and exposed their use of drugs to create the Vodun trance, also a subject of study for fellow dancer-anthropologist Katherine Dunham, then at the University of Chicago.

In 1954, the Pittsburgh Courier assigned Hurston, unable to sell her fiction, to cover the small-town murder trial of Ruby McCollum, the prosperous black wife of the local lottery racketeer, who had killed a racist white doctor. Hurston also contributed to Woman in the Suwanee County Jail , a book by journalist and civil rights advocate William Bradford Huie.

Reviews

[Chrissie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here follows a free online link to Zora Neale Hurston's short story The Gilded Six-Bits:
https://www.cla.purdue.edu/from-pless...

Scroll down from page 997 to the right side of page 1011.

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I liked this a lot, so four stars it gets. Not only long books are eligible for so many stars! I go by my emotions; long or short doesn’t matter to me.

We are given a happily married couple. They are so very much in love. They are Blacks and they don’t have much money, but their house has a pretty front yard and it is sparkling clean. It is Saturday morning, and Joe delivers his Saturday treat—chocolate kisses. The physicality of their love breathes on the page. A pure delight to experience through Hurston’s words.

Then, of course, something happens that threatens their marriage. We read to find out how it will end.

We are delivered a happy story that is also realistic. Along the way, we experience authentic dialogs in the Southern dialect. A delight to read.

[The Nutmeg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to give this five. Under ordinary circumstances, Joe alone would be reason to give a short story five stars. The POOR DEAR MAN, I just wanted to give him a hug. Or rather, for Missie May to give him a hug.

But I'm gonna be a stickler for content and knock off a star.

(But guys, the phrase "making little feet for little shoes" is the most adorable term for pregnancy that I think I've ever heard.)

[Aleea · Rating 5 out of 5]

and you would do it too for a check !?!?

[Peyton Mansfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book wastes no narration. The story is heartwrenching and heartwarming, and it felt meaningful. I liked it, but in a conflicted way. Being a newlywed myself, the story just felt so vivid.

[klau · Rating 3 out of 5]

in this economy?? i don't know how to feel about this

[Renee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh Joe and Missie May.

How easily we are deceived, cheaply bought, and don’t realize what we have while we have it.

I guess the lesson here is about forgiveness but it still hurts.

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a tale with an interesting concept (though not original in our modern worldview) -- a married couple with their traditions have a life uplifted by infidelity caused by some type of desire.

The problem of this story, other than a feeling of a lack of originality, is the dialogue is atrociously done. There is a reason most writing instruction implores people to avoid regional, dialectal, and colloquial speech: The language is jarring and nigh unintelligible. If you want your character to speak in a certain accent, do so through description and less through dialogue. I know this goes against the show-vs-tell mentality, but if your dialogue kills your prose then it's time to rethink your dialogue.

[Maddie · Rating 4 out of 5]

More of this pls Mr. Ehret!

[Aiala · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pobre hombre.

[des · Rating 2 out of 5]

gave it 2 stars bc it features a black "love" story (seriously Missie May??) and I don't want to get my black card revoked.

[Ray LaManna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful story about trust, broken and forgiveness.

[Angie Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting story to read as it is written in the dialect of the African American South approx. one hundred years ago. To be honest, I needed to read some of the quotes out loud to understand what was being said. Most of the characters are not that nice people, there is a couple that starts off great, you really hope that everything will work out for them, but then there is some infidelity, and they do struggle to find their way back together. Another character is just out to make money off others, by any means necessary. He is completely untrustworthy, though he plays the games to the other extreme. This is an interesting character study and was also made into a film by the same name. It was screened as part of the AALBC.com Brownstones Series in Harlem, New York.

[Jennifer M. Hartsock · Rating 2 out of 5]

Zora Neale Hurston, in her stories The Gilded Six-Bit and Sweat in which one of her characters shows us separation from white and black, while the other shows us rising above tyranny. Missie May’s husband, Joe, in The Gilded Six-Bit says, “He got de finest clothes Ah ever seen on a colored man’s back… dat make ‘m look lak a rich white man.” Delia from Sweat rose above her own controlling husband, giving us a keen idea of how hard it is to rise above someone of your own color, let alone be equal with someone who’s white and has always looked down upon you. Very different experiences than white modern poets and writers.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for American Lit

I read this during a week where we were studying the Harlem Renaissance and we focused almost entirely on poetry (lots of Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Jean Toomer) and I was happy to read one actual story. Some of the poetry was actually pretty good but poetry just isn't my thing. This was well-written and thought provoking and sad and maybe a little hopeful and redemptive as well.

[Fefe · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5

[Anastasia · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing was good, the story itself kinda pointless

[gianna 🫂 · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book made me actually upset…i was rooting for you millie-may…

[Mariana Relvas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to read this for class and I really liked it. It is an easy read, and romantic while being somewhat a critique of racism and stereotypes without it being in your face. It’s like the reader needs to work out what Zora is trying to say when it just looks like a typical short love story.

When we were analyzing it in class, the professor told us some scholars thought the ending was unrealistic, but I disagree. If every other love story can have a happy ending, why can’t this one?

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story is interesting because it was written in 1933, and the characters speak in the black vernacular of the deep south, which is spelled phoenetically. The transitional phrases where the narrator speaks are not written in the vernacular. It is a very nice story with a moral, and it made me want to read more about the author and more of her works. I agree this should be on the list of Best Short Stories.

Read in a pdf online. From a list of Best Short Stories.

[Juergen John Roscher · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short story about a young couple being conned by a man, who pretended to be wealthy to take advantage of women, when their husbands were working. There is a good example of the man showing forgiveness at the end of the story.

Reading this short story was a little challenging as Hurston used black vernacular of the deep south for the dialogue.

[Stephen Pollard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A ternura e o calor do casal são encantadores e convincantes. Houve um simbolismo interessante. A moeda simbolizava que tudo tem valor - o valor que atribuímos a isso. O autor nos surpreende com sucesso duas vezes: primeiro, Joe reage a traiçoo de forma tão branda. Segundo, Joe perdoa sua esposa. A história terminou de onde começou - apenas talvez um pouco mais fortalecida.

[Bree Dawn · Rating 2 out of 5]

If I'm being totally honest, this wasn't my cup of tea. It's a well-written short story, but it's just not something I really enjoyed. The dialogue was also incredibly hard to read because of the dialect. It's always cool to see how authors portray dialects on the page, but this was just really hard to read.

Content Warnings: Infidelity

[Erika · Rating 4 out of 5]

I forgot how much I loved Zora Neale Hurston. I read her back in high school, but I hadn't read The Gikded Six-Bits. In such a short story, Zora had me falling in love with Joe and so devastated when he found out what Missie May was up to.
This is a story of love, betrayal, and forgiveness. I will be reading more of her stories for sure.

[z al. · Rating 3 out of 5]

this story showcases how deception can be used. The author highlights how people aren’t always as they seem. Both Missie and Joe thought that money would lead their relationship to happiness but, they turned out to be wrong.

[Monzenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story, great use of language, the plot development is spot-on. Yet another notable experience in the black culture - this one not necessarily involve racism (but that last few paragraphs though).

[mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a Hurston short story published in book form, but a beautiful quick read about a couple's love and the bumps along the way.

[Samantha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Deception, it’s a true killer.

[Chase · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hurston's writing style is very unique and refreshing in my opinion. The story itself is interesting to read, and the characters seem real to me.

[Nahia · Rating 3 out of 5]

2'5 en realidad.

[Raphael · Rating 4 out of 5]

for class mwah. really liked the language but feel like the point missed me completely. i'm sure i'll find out