How it Feels to be Colored Me

by Zora Neale Hurston

How it Feels to be Colored Me: Mood 1 key example

Definition of Mood

The mood of a piece of writing is its general atmosphere or emotional complexion—in short, the array of feelings the work evokes in the reader. Every aspect of a piece of writing... read full definition
The mood of a piece of writing is its general atmosphere or emotional complexion—in short, the array of feelings the work evokes in the reader. Every aspect... read full definition
The mood of a piece of writing is its general atmosphere or emotional complexion—in short, the array of feelings the work evokes... read full definition
Mood
Explanation and Analysis:

The mood of "How it Feels to be Colored Me" shifts between hopeful and defiant throughout the essay. As the essay itself is a recollection of multiple memories from her younger years that produce a diverse array of emotions, Hurston's mood is far from static. Although she details negative experiences about "realizing" her race amidst a sea of Whiteness and White power—whether in Jacksonville or New York—Hurston's mood throughout the essay remains largely hopeful: 

The cosmic Zora emerges. I belong to no race nor time. I am the eternal feminine with its string of beads. I have no separate feeling about being an American citizen and colored. I am merely a fragment of the Great Soul that surges within the boundaries. My country, right or wrong.