Question

Identify the arguments Hurston counters in this essay. For example, what is the argument that prompts her to counter, “But I am not tragically colored” in paragraph 6?

Answer 1

I read the paragraph with the phrase "“But I am not tragically colored”.

She is colored but she did not experience the tragedy other colored people experienced because of their color. She defied the concept that one has of colored people. For her, being colored is just a part of her life. She does not harbor any bitterness or entertain any negativity about her plight as a colored person. She knows that there is more to life and in life than the pigment of the skin. She does not let other people's prejudice deter her from seeking her own life's journey.

Answer 2

In the previous paragraph, Hurston briefly described what it felt like to go to Jacksonville where racial differences were more emphasized. Anyone would expect her to resort to self-pity from there, but she did not. That phrase in paragraph 6 served to be an emphasis that she did not mind being one of the colored people.