“How It Feels to Be Colored Me” by Zora Neale Hurston is a first-person account of her journey to discover her individuality and identity along with his exceptionally difficult relationship with race. This essay covers Hurston's insights into what it felt like to be a young black girl during the Harlem Renaissance and the awakening she experiences when she moves from the exclusively black neighborhood of Eatonville to Jacksonville, a predominantly white city. The huge theme of race is fueled by the different settings in the essay, and through these settings, Hurston highlights the vital role that race plays in her journey of self-discovery. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The geographic setting at the beginning of the essay, Hurston's hometown, portrays her naive understanding of race as a child and shows how sheltered she initially was from the brutally real world of racism. While living in Eatonville, Hurston explains that "white people differed from colored people only in that they passed through town and never lived there" (1090). Hurston's view on race at this point is extremely naive as most children are, and while endearing, it won't prepare her for the harsh reality that is the real world. Because Eatonville is an "exclusively colored town," Hurston does not have much interaction with whites other than whites who "passed through town on their way to or from Orlando." Hurston describes how these white tourists paid her to perform and entertain them, which she enjoyed doing, but also found very strange because none of the blacks in her community had ever done such a thing. This reveals to Hurston that these white tourists have money to spend on entertainment, unlike people in her black community and these interactions she experiences in her hometown are what fuel Hurston's realization that there are more differences between whites and blacks her. realized.When Hurston is thirteen, she moves to Jacksonville, a predominantly white city, and this change of setting plays an important role in Hurston's journey to discover and experience racism, as well as shaping her into the independent individual she becomes. Unlike Eatonville, this larger, whiter city has no problem recognizing racial differences and treating people of color as if they were inferior to them. Before she moved, Hurston was simply “everyone’s Zora,” someone whose identity and worth were not defined by the color of her skin. However, while traveling to Jacksonville, Hurston begins to realize that this was no longer the case and writes, “I was no longer the Zora of Orange County, now I was a little black girl. I discovered it in certain ways. In my heart as well as in the mirror, I have become a fast brunette, condemned not to rub or run.” This is the first time in his life that Hurston feels colored, and although he wishes people wouldn't see his skin color, he soon begins to realize that his race is now ingrained in how people of this age will perceive it. new city. Barnard College and in New World Cabaret not only further show the difficulty of being black in a predominantly white environment, but also show how far she is from being that "little black girl." Hurston explains that she doesn't "always feel black," however, when she finds herself somewhere like Barnard, surrounded by whites who recognize the differences between the races, she feels black again. Hurston writes that “Among a thousand white people, I am a dark rock.