Elements of the Essay—Zora Neale Hurston

As with the elements of poetry, fiction, and drama, we can also analyze essays via literary elements. As with the other genres, we’ll work with a single text, an essay by Zora Neale Hurston, “How It Feels to Be Colored Me.” First, the essay, then discussion of the elements of voice and tone, style, structure, and thought. I prefer the term “thought” to “theme” generally, but especially with respect to essays. Another term and related concept I like to use is “idea.” Both “idea” and “thought” suggest the act of thinking, the thinking of the writer and that of the reader. Hurston’s essay is about race and race relations between Black people and white during her time. But it’s also about her response to her blackness and her relationship to all those she encountered in the separate realms of Black and white America during her life. In addition, it’s about her resilience and sense of self.