Racial Pride

In class we just read How It feels to be Colored Me, by Z. Hurston. This passage directly relates to many events of Secret Life of Bees that are crucial to advancing the plot. The passage deals with a woman and the adversity she had to overcome due to being colored. She expresses how she learns and grows from the experiences, never letting being colored become something she is ashamed of or something that holds her back, developing a strong sense of pride in her race. One of the many events in Secret Life of Bees that this relates to is from the very beginning of the book, when Rosaleen is in town. A man makes a racist comment towards her, and Rosaleen, feeling not at all ashamed of her race, pours her bottle of spit over the mans shoes. She also demonstrates a sense of pride in being colored.

Today, such adversity is not as large of a factor. Racial disputes have largely been settled, unlike in the time period that Secret Life of Bees takes place in. Highschools are integrated, and people are all treated the same regaurdless of color. This is much different than how blacks were treated in Secret Life of Bees or how Zora was treated as she changed into a primarily white school in How it Feels to be Colored Me. Although there are still some instances where color plays a role in conflict now a days, it is much less than in the time periods of either of these peices of literature.