In “The Gilded Six- Bits,” by Zora Neale Hurston, the idea of wealth will make people do the unimaginable. Missie May and Joe exclaimed their love for one another and Missie made it clear that she would do anything to keep Hoe happy and make him feel better about himself. By Joe being so fascinated by the appearance of Slemmons and saying “Wisht Ah had a build on me lak got […] He jes’ got a corperation”(3), made Missie willing to do anything to pick him back up. Her putting herself in the position to give up her body to Slemmons, in order to get some “gold money” for Joe displayed her having pure intentions but incorrect actions. She risked losing the love of her life to get him the materialistic thing that would make him happy. The betrayal and infidelity committed was to make the other partner happy and helped reveal the flaws that other people possessed.
2 thoughts on “Consider the role(s) of betrayal and infidelity in the story.”
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Do you think a part of Missie may have also craved money? Why would she feel she had to risk losing the love of her life for something materialistic if Joe made it clear he was happy with her and her alone? Although they made up in the end, do you think Missie and Joe’s relationship will ever be the same?
I agree with you that betrayal and infidelity brought out the flaws in Missie May. In my opinion, I don’t think that her intentions were completely pure and I don’t think her intentions were only to “make Joe happy”. I think that part of the reason why she slept with Slemmons was because she was greedy/materialistic and saw an opportunity to gain something, the gold coins, that would boost her social status.