Appearances and Reality
Hurston introduces the theme of appearances versus reality right at the story's outset. Initially, the couple's yard is depicted as merely a "Negro yard around a Negro house in a Negro settlement that relied on the payroll of the G and G Fertilizer works." However, Hurston soon takes readers inside the couple's home, unveiling their playful exchanges and loving banter. What appears simple and unassuming from the outside is actually brimming with love and happiness on the inside.
Hurston contrasts this with the character of Slemmons. Unlike Missie May and Joe, Slemmons has traveled extensively and experienced much of the world. He exudes an aura of sophistication and wealth, particularly through the ostentatious gold jewelry he wears. Despite being content with their humble life, Joe and Missie May are captivated by Slemmons's external allure. The shiny gold jewelry he displays especially fascinates them, as they have never encountered such opulence. They admire that he possesses enough wealth to wear some of it as adornment. Naively, they assume Slemmons is as affluent as he appears and possesses something enviable. Eventually, they discover that the ten-dollar gold piece on Slemmons's watch chain is merely a fifty-cent piece covered in gold. Although Slemmons may be richer and more worldly than Joe and Missie May, his life lacks the genuine happiness they enjoy. The fake gold piece symbolizes the false facade Slemmons presents. In reality, he has nothing that can rival the joy and authenticity of Joe and Missie May's life together.
Betrayal and Forgiveness
The narrative of "The Gilded Six-Bits" revolves around Missie May's betrayal of her husband. The reasons behind her infidelity are intricate. Even though she loves Joe deeply, she is swayed by his admiration for Slemmons's alleged wealth and his comment, "Ah know Ah can't hold no light to Otis D. Slemmons." When she begins to doubt Slemmons's claims of wealth, Joe points out the gold stickpin and watch chain as evidence of Slemmons's affluence. Missie May suggests that the gold would look better on Joe, but he brushes off her idea, calling her crazy and insisting that a poor man like him will never have gold money. Joe professes satisfaction with his life as long as he has her, yet Missie May perceives his yearning for Slemmons's status and prosperity. She enters into a sexual relationship with Slemmons because he promises her gold—the very thing Joe believes he can never attain. In her attempt to provide Joe with gold, she inadvertently takes away something far more precious—his trust in her.
When Joe discovers Missie May with Slemmons, she fears that his love for her is irreparably damaged. However, Joe's response to her betrayal is multifaceted. He neither pushes her away nor articulates his emotions to her. Missie May finds some comfort in returning to their daily routines, yet she is troubled by the lack of affection and communication between them. Although Joe advises her not to dwell on the past, he subtly reminds her of the betrayal by keeping Slemmons's gold trinket in plain view. This becomes Joe's only method of addressing the issue. When she gives birth to a son who unmistakably resembles Joe, he finally manages to move beyond the incident. He trades the trinket for molasses kisses, which symbolize forgiveness and the restoration of their lost affection. These kisses, which dissolve in the mouth, also represent the gradual fading of Joe's resentment.
Love and Passion
‘‘The Gilded Six-Bits’’ is, at its core, a love story. Although Missie May and Joe's affection might not appear dramatic on the surface, they bring excitement into their lives through playful mock battles. The opening...
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scene, where Missie May welcomes Joe at the door, is charged with erotic undertones. Their sexuality is depicted as positive, open, and playful. Missie May is first seen sitting naked in the bath. When Joe arrives, she chases him, and they tumble to the floor together, becoming ‘‘a furious mass of male and female energy.’’ Joe pretends to resist as she searches his pockets for the small gifts he brings her, even threatening to tear off his clothes. This vibrant, joyful love faces a challenge when Slemmons enters the picture, enticing Missie May with promises of gold, which she desires out of love for Joe. Her encounter with Slemmons lacks the eroticism of her relationship with Joe and seems more like a transaction or sacrifice. By the story's end, the couple begins to heal through their cherished domestic routines, their irrepressible sexual passion (‘‘youth triumphed and Missie exulted’’), and most importantly, through the birth of their baby boy, the product of their love.
Countering Stereotypes
Zora Neale Hurston’s intention in “The Gilded Six-Bits” is to counter the lingering“happy darky” stereotype by which African Americans were regarded in her time. Specifically, she refutes the clearly condescending attitude of the white store clerk at the end of the story who wants to be like the African Americans, apparently worry-free and always laughing. Such a perception is rendered ridiculous and absurd by Hurston’s story of the internal turmoil caused by an act of marital infidelity and the extraordinary efforts of Joe and Missie May to rekindle their love and save their marriage.
Human Sameness
In addition, Hurston’s positioning Joe and Missie May in an edenic setting in the opening of the story, complete with bowers of blooms and glistening cleanliness, only to have Eden invaded and defiled by the serpentlike Otis D. Slemmons makes her message abundantly clear: If it can happen to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, why not to ordinary black people in Eatonville? Hurston advances this idea numerous times by insisting on human sameness even in the face of cultural differences.
Moreover, to make her point, Hurston wants there to be no mistake about the racial identity of her characters or the fact that her black characters’ day-to-day lives are affected only peripherally by whites. Because of this separateness, whites have little real knowledge about black lives that, on a human level, are little different from their own. Hurston would further explore this idea of human sameness in her last novel, Seraph on the Suwanee (1948).
Power of Love
In “The Gilded Six-Bits,” Hurston argues that love has the power to heal all wounds if it is given the opportunity. In the beginning of the story, Joe and Missie May’s love is a strong, youthful one. There is naïveté on both parts, but because their love is real, it is able to withstand the challenge of the defilement by Slemmons. That Joe can laugh at the matter and resume his routine and that Missie May can respond in kind suggests that love does have the power to heal itself if those who express it do so in a genuine manner. Although the earlier innocence is not restored, clearly Joe and Missie May have learned and grown as a result of this ordeal. Also, the baby boy functions as an agent of healing. The baby is something both Joe and Missie May wanted, and he arrives just in time to save a marriage that might have been doomed otherwise.
