Proud and Self-Confident Characters in Zora Neale...

Zora Neale Hurston’s essay â€Å"How it Feels to Be Colored Me† and â€Å"I, Too† by Langston Hughes, both have a theme of racism in common. Although these works of literature depict racial inequality, the main characters are portrayed as self-confident and proud individuals. They are not discouraged or disheartened by the attitudes of those who try to oppress them. â€Å"How it feels to be colored me† portrays the attitude of the author after learning she was colored at the age of thirteen. The young Zora lives her entire childhood in a small, all colored, South Florida town where she proclaims herself, â€Å"†¦ everybody’s Zora† (Hurston, 539), because she holds no prejudice in her innocent heart. When she enters school in Jacksonville at the age of thirteen she is shocked to realize that she is now â€Å"†¦ a little colored girl† (Hurston, 539); she lost her identity somewhere along the way. Neal write the she found she was colored in her â€Å"†¦ heart as well as in the mirror [she] became a fast brown †¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Hurston, 539) her world was never the same. However, Zora is not willing to surrender to the rules of society, she continues to live her life in a positive manner. â€Å"I, Too† also portrays the racism of the times, but in a much different way, Hughes character is a young colored boy, a symbol of black America. His family depicts white America. The boy is sent to the kitchen when the family entertains, because he is â€Å"†¦ the darker brother† (Hughes, L.2, 872), whom the family wants to keep