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Missie May is the attractive, spirited young wife of Joe Banks. Together the couple lives in Eatonville, Florida, where Missie May takes pride in maintaining their modest but beautiful home, giving attention to small details. She also delights in cooking abundant meals for them to share. She relishes her role, calling herself “a real wife, not no dress and breath.” She loves Joe deeply, cherishes their playful routines, and is proud of his noble appearance. When Joe takes her to the ice cream parlor, Missie May shows her skeptical side by questioning Otis D. Slemmons’ charms, but she does find his self-proclaimed wealth appealing, even musing how she and Joe might discover gold of their own. At the story’s climax, Missie May sleeps with Slemmons, and when Joe discovers them, she is genuinely remorseful. She tearfully admits that Slemmons had offered her his gold piece, but that she still loves Joe. After Joe tauntingly leaves Slemmons’ gold piece under her pillow, Missie May is insulted by Joe’s insinuation that her love can be bought, and she plans to leave him. However, she again displays her stubborn pride when she decides to stay with Joe after seeing her mother-in-law, who has prayed for their marriage to fail. Not long after, Missie May is revealed to be pregnant. As she had predicted to Joe, she gives birth to a son who is the spitting image of him. With newfound respect, her mother-in-law calls her “strong as an ox” and expresses approval of the marriage. Not long after, Missie May joyfully reconciles with Joe.
Missie May Banks Quotes in The Gilded Six Bits
The The Gilded Six Bits quotes below are all either spoken by Missie May Banks or refer to Missie May Banks. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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The Gilded Six-Bits Quotes
It was a Negro yard around a Negro house in a Negro settlement that looked to the payroll of the G. and G. Fertilizer works for its support. But there was something happy about the place.
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With the story’s opening sentences, the home of newlyweds Joe and Missie May Banks is introduced. These two lines not only set the tone for the story—they also encapsulate important elements of Zora Neale Huston’s literary approach. In contrast to some of her contemporaries in the Harlem Renaissance movement, Hurston preferred to lift up themes of cultural pride and everyday thriving as a means of countering injustice. By emphasizing “a Negro settlement,” Hurston embeds the reader in the cultural particularities of Eatonville, with its deep historical roots as an African American town. In addition, she immediately establishes this home as Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptate
She had not seen the big tall man come stealing in the gate and creep up the walk grinning happily at the joyful mischief he was about to commit. But she knew that it was her husband throwing silver dollars in the door for her to pick up and pile beside her plate at dinner. It was this way every Saturday afternoon.
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Missie May has just concluded her Saturday housework and taken a bath when she hears the ring of silver dollars being tossed in her front door. The setting having been established, Joe’s character is now introduced through the unusual device of the couple’s coin-tossing game. Like his home, Joe is happy and even “joyful,” and his throwing of money underscores his role as the financial provider for the family—a status in which Missie May, proudly displaying his earnings on the kitchen table, clearly delights as well. Though Joe sneaks up to the house, the ringing of the coins is no Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. A
A new man done come heah from Chicago and he done got a place and took and opened it up for a ice cream parlor.... Mister Otis D. Slemmons, of spots and places—Memphis, Chicago, Jacksonville, Philadelphia and so on.
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After Missie and Joe have shared a heaping Saturday dinner, Joe surprises Missie May with news of the ice cream parlor and its enigmatic proprietor. Coming on the heels of a lengthy introduction to the couple and their rooted, contentedly routinized life, the entrance of Otis Slemmons into the story is abrupt and somewhat jarring. According to Joe, Slemmons isn’t really from anywhere in particular, immediately setting up a contrast between the itinerant newcomer and the Eatonville household with its unvarying ways. Joe’s description also establishes a precedent for the way Slemmons is embodied (or not) throughout the story. Aside Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis.
“His mouf is cut cross-ways, ain’t it? Well, he kin lie jes’ lak anybody else.”
“Good Lawd, Missie! You womens sho is hard to sense into things. He’s got a five-dollar gold piece for a stick-pin and he got a ten-dollar gold piece on his watch chain and his mouf is jes’ crammed full of gold teethes…And womens give it all to ‘im.”
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After dinner and before visiting the ice cream parlor, Missie May and Joe continue to discuss Slemmons, the ostentatious stranger. Missie May has seen Slemmons from a distance, but Joe has also heard Slemmons talk about himself. Among Slemmons’ boasts is that women everywhere are crazy about him. In contrast to Joe’s enthusiasm, Missie May responds skeptically to Slemmons’ self-promoting claims. Quite sensibly, she points out that no matter how impressive the man’s appearance, he can lie as well as anyone—a point that Joe, humorously, rejects as stubborn nonsense. These contrasting reactions hint that Slemmons will continue to be a Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit be
That was the best part of life—going home to Missie May. Their white-washed house, the mock battle on Saturday, the dinner and ice cream parlor afterwards, church on Sunday nights when Missie May out-dressed any woman in town—all, everything was right.
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Summing up the first half of the story, this quote describes the pattern the Banks’ lives have assumed after Slemmons’ ice cream parlor becomes part of their Saturday routine. The narrator has just described Joe’s usual routine of walking home at dawn following his night shift, and the sentiments regarding “the best part of life” are attributed to Joe, reinforcing his character. Joe is presented as a simple man, content with the rhythms of married life: the home and material goods he provides, his love for his wife, and time enjoyed together in public. Yet Joe’s satisfaction in “parading” his Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor a
As Joe rounded the lake on his way home, a lean moon rode the lake in a silver boat.... It made him yearn painfully for Missie. Creation obsessed him. He thought about children. They had been married more than a year now. They had money put away. They ought to be making little feet for shoes.
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Expanding Joe’s reflections on “the best part of life,” this quote marks the midpoint of the story. Zora Neale Hurston often used personification of natural phenomena such as the sun and moon in her fiction, and Joe’s sighting of the moon is the most striking such image in “The Gilded Six-Bits.” Throughout the story, the sun’s movements mark shifts in the Banks’ marriage, and this sole appearance of the moon foreshadows the story’s major turning-point. It is arresting, first, because Joe typically observes sunrise day after day, making the moon an extraordinary sight as he gets off work early and Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perf
There were no more Saturday romps. No ringing silver dollars to stack beside her plate. No pockets to rifle. In fact the yellow coin in his trousers was like a monster hiding in the cave of his pockets to destroy her.
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This quote appears some weeks after Missie May’s infidelity with Slemmons. It is ambiguous exactly how much time has elapsed, though enough Saturdays have gone by that the couple’s new routine is well established. It is the inverse of their old, joyful domestic routine. Instead of playful romps filled with affection, there is polite aloofness and lack of intimacy. Instead of rifling through Joe’s pockets for candy, Missie May doesn’t dare look in them. Because so much of the first half of the story is devoted to establishing the Banks’ household customs and those customs’ role in bolstering their identity Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi neces
Before morning, youth triumphed and Missie exulted. But the next day, as she joyfully made up their bed, beneath her pillow she found the piece of money with the bit of chain attached…She took it into her hands with trembling and saw first thing that it was no gold piece. It was a gilded half dollar.
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About three months after the infidelity, Joe comes home from work with back pain, and after Missie May rubs him with liniment, the couple sleeps together once again. The narrator’s use of the phrase “youth triumphed” has an impersonal ring, as if their intimacy was inevitable and will not, by itself, heal the marriage. Nevertheless, Missie May at first takes their reunion as proof that she and Joe are fully reconciled, but she soon she discovers that Joe has left Slemmons’ coin—which she had not seen since the morning after she’d slept with Slemmons—tucked under her pillow. In addition, she Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta.
Dat’s yourn all right, if you never git another one, dat un is yourn. And you know Ah’m mighty proud too, son, cause Ah never thought well of you marryin’ Missie May cause her ma used tuh fan her foot round right smart and Ah been mighty skeered dat Missie May wuz gointer git misput on her road.
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With these words Joe’s mother, having just tended Missie in childbirth, shares with Joe the news of his newborn son. Joe had asked how his wife had fared, but, seemingly still ambivalent, waited for his mother to volunteer information about the baby. In spite of Joe’s unspoken fears, the boy reportedly does look just like him—just as Missie May had predicted earlier. Joe’s mother also reveals the source of her longstanding animosity toward Missie May—that Missie’s mother had been known for promiscuity, which, Joe’s mother thought, did not bode well for Missie’s marriage to Joe. The irony is that Missie Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ip
Back in Eatonville, Joe reached his own front door. There was the ring of singing metal on wood. Fifteen times. Missie May couldn’t run to the door, but she crept there as quickly as she could.
“Joe Banks, Ah hear you chunkin’ money in mah do’way. You wait till Ah got mah strength back and Ah’m gointer fix you for dat.”
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At the conclusion of the story, Joe returns home from shopping in Orlando. The physical homecoming, triumphal in tone, anticipates his long-awaited reunion with Missie May. Their reconciliation is sealed by the reinstatement of the coin-tossing game, which had been absent from their home for months. Yet circumstances are different now. Missie May is still weakened from childbirth and can’t run to the door or chase Joe with the carefree abandon of the story’s opening scene. Also notable is that Missie doesn’t pretend to wonder who is at her door, as she did in the newlywed version of their game; Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui a
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Missie May Banks Character Timeline in The Gilded Six Bits
The timeline below shows where the character Missie May Banks appears in The Gilded Six Bits. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
The Gilded Six-Bits
Missie May is taking a bath in the bedroom. Her dark skin glistens, and her “stiff young...
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Missie May appears at the door “in mock alarm” and demands to know who has tossed the...
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As they recover from their play-fight, Missie May urges Joe to bathe and dress as well, teasing him, “Ah’m a real wife, not...
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As they finish their supper, Joe reveals that he is taking Missie May to the town’s newly opened ice cream parlor, and the two discuss its proprietor, a...
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...piece on his watch chain—which Slemmons claims were given to him by women in Chicago. Missie May is skeptical of Slemmons’ stories and disappointed in Joe’s gullibility (“he kin lie jes’ lak...
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...has taught them. (“Dat wife of yours,” Slemmons tells Joe, “is jes’ thirty-eight and two.”) Missie May , meanwhile, is preoccupied by the gold Slemmons wore. She has never seen gold money...
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...settles into a happy routine. The best part of Joe’s life is returning home to Missie May at sunrise after his night shift, enjoying their mock battle on Saturdays, visiting the ice...
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...sight of the moon reflected on the lake touches his emotions, making him yearn for Missie May . He reflects that they have been married for more than a year and have...
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Joe slips into the house in hopes of surprising Missie May , but when he knocks something to the floor, he hears a gasp and loud...
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As Missie May sobs, Slemmons pleads for his life, offering sixty-two dollars in gold money. As Slemmons considers...
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Missie May continues to weep. Joe is overcome with emotion for a while, then has a good...
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...sleepless night until “the sun’s tide crept upon the shore of night.” As dawn breaks, Missie May finds Joe’s presence and voice “strange” and despairs for her marriage, but when Joe asks...
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...every day, the impersonal old man that beams as brightly on death as on birth.” Missie May still loves Joe and cannot leave him. The Banks’ marriage remains outwardly intact, but it...
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One night, some three months after Missie May ’s infidelity with Slemmons, Joe comes home from work with back pain. Missie May rubs...
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Missie May examines the supposed gold piece and discovers that it is only a gilded half dollar;...
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Returning the hated coin to Joe’s pocket, Missie May resolves to leave her husband. Shortly after leaving the house, however, she encounters her mother-in-law....
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Missie May sees the coin no more. Joe’s health is still poor, and every ten days or...
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Almost six months later, Missie May goes into labor and gives birth to a healthy boy. Joe comes home from work...
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...and places.” He uses Slemmons’ fake gold piece to pay for a large amount of Missie May ’s favorite candy kisses. Though the clerk suggests buying a wider selection of candy, Joe...
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Returning home, Joe tosses fifteen coins at his front door. Missie May , still recovering from childbirth, makes her way slowly to the door. She teases Joe...
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