The Gilded Six-Bits
What is the setting in the story, The Gilded Six-Bits?
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The Gilded Six-Bits takes place in a community that is all black, thus racial difference is not much of an issue—quite an exceptional situation in the United States, especially during the race-conscious 1930s when Hurston wrote. Instead, Hurston addresses the issue of race through celebrating the integrity and cultural richness of the all-black community. Because she often chose such happily segregated settings, Hurston's black literary peers sometimes criticized her for failing to address racism. The issue of the community's insularity is explored in "The Gilded Six-Bits" through the device of a disruptive worldly outsider, Slemmons, who is impressive to Missie May and Joe largely because he is from "spots and places—Memphis, Chicago, Jacksonville, Philadelphia and so on." Hurston also offers the nearby city of Orlando as a contrast to Eatonville. Joe goes there to shop and chats with a white clerk in a friendly way, only to be called a "darky" as soon as he leaves. Hurston portrays the small all-black town as a harmonious haven that shields its inhabitants from the deceptions and prejudices of the larger society.
The Gilded Six-Bits