American historical heritage is rich and diverse. Writers were the ones to picture this rich experience in their works. A closer look at works of these contemporary writers reveals a common idea presented differently in their writings. Therefore, it is not a coincident to find multicultural writers like Anna Raya and Zora Neale Hurston exploring similar historical themes in their works. These authors explore racism and identity crisis, and their adverse effects on American society. This essay compares and contrasts various ideas, styles and other elements of writing between Raya and Zora’s essays. Zora’s short story, How it Feels to Be Colored Me, explores a sense of pride in being black and her unique identity. On the other hand, Raya’s short story called It is Hard Enough Being Me portrays difficulties multicultural Americans are facing in their attempts to define themselves in a racial American society.
Zora defines her sense of pride and uniqueness in being a black American. She proudly starts her writing by asserting her origin and sense of identity. She knows that she is different from the rest and must maintain a positive attitude. Unlike her contemporary writers such as Brent Staple’s Black Men and Public Spaces who presents characters full of fear about their skin color, Zora holds her identity and race in high esteem. In a racial society that discriminates against blacks, Zora does not consider this a disadvantage; instead, she treats such challenge as an opportunity to stand against social order and claim a new one – where her identity is different rather than a dishonorable one. The author talks about her path to self-understanding through proving everyone else that she is unique. In fact, Zora was the one to take up the challenge of showing that a black person is a human, first of all. She then forced the society to face that a black person is not only human; moreover, he/she is a unique identity. (Steinbeck, 2008).
While Zora positively reinforces her identity and uniqueness, Raya presents confusion and struggle to define her identity. Raya demonstrates the confusions and uphill tasks that American youth had to undergo in their struggle to fit in a multicultural society shaped by racism. People referred to Raya as Latina. By virtue of being a Latina, they expected her to know salsa dance, Mexican history, and, above all, speak Spanish (Sylvan & Hugo, 2007). However, she did not know any of the above. Raya considered searching for her heritage and coping with college burden life (Sylvan & Hugo, 2007). Raya lacks the positive attitude we see in Zora when it comes to her cultural heritage. Zora calls for attention and hopes that the Miami Chamber of Commerce will take notice of her for being the first black to welcome tourists in Florida. She takes pride in being the first black to welcome tourists. By doing this, Zora distinguishes herself as a unique black who prefers being the first in everything. There is always a sense of pride in being the first person in accomplishing a task (Steinbeck, 2008). Raya believes that she has multiple identities, though copes with this. The idea is to focus on inner self and remain self-content rather than paying attention to other people’s opinions. This sense of realization put Zora and Raya at par. The two authors can now equally focus on themselves with a positive attitude. Zora and Raya present a valuable insight of how people of mixed races, or in a racist society can live happily without the negative effects of labeling by heritage.
The two characters undergo two different paths to the ultimate understanding of who they are. Zora puts herself through hardships of identification of her inner self through current racism issues and previous generations’ slave society. Raya, on the contrary, starts this struggle hesitatingly while being in college, where she has to adjust herself to different social groups every time it is required. Consequently, Raya finds out that defining herself through her heritage is tedious. Zora openly declares that she belongs to no race; she is herself (Steinbeck, 2008). This assertion makes Zora a bold character when it comes to handling identities and individuality in a racial society. The society labels Raya depending on where she is. At home, she is a Mexican, but when she is with some people, they refer to Raya as Puerto Rican. Individuality and self identity remains a significant concern to both authors. Zora lets her identity stand out. She has become everybody’s favorite because her heritage is not dragging her behind. She knows that slavery is sixty years behind her, though someone is always reminding her of being a granddaughter of a former slave. Raya is different from Zora. Zora knows that she is not accidentally colored. They both present a sharp contrast of character identity in the beginning of their stories. While Zora begins to declare her identity assertively, Raya is pictured as a confused college girl who is unable to define her identity. After discovering herself, she asserts that she is herself and that is it (Sylvan & Hugo, 2007). Although the two characters under consideration have different nationalities, they have undergone very similar life conditions, though differing at specific stages of their lives and adjusting to society conditions. Moreover, the similar trait in these two stories is the first person narration, which is extremely appealing and makes a reader live the drama through.
The two authors show difficulties associated with self-identity in a multicultural society. They demonstrate that unless people recognize their identities and be proud of it, they will always experience dissatisfaction and lead unhappy lives. One can only achieve happiness through asserting oneself and embracing one’s true identity.
References
- Steinbeck, J. (2008). The American Tradition, Grade 11. St. Paul, MN: EMC/Paradigm Publishing.
- Sylvan, B. & Hugo, B. (2007). Critical Thinking, Reading, and Writing. Boston: MA: Bedfoprd/ St. Martins Publishers.