“How It Feels to Be Colored Me” Zora Neale Hurston

Vocabulary Raiment: clothing apparel Proscenium: the part of the stage between the curtain and the orchestra. Venturesome: having or showing a disposition to undertake risky or dangerous activities. Circumlocutions: use of many words where fewer would do. Parse-me-la: a dance

Vocabulary Continued Rambunctious: difficult to control or handle. Miscellany: group or collection of different items. Hegira: any flight or journey to a more desirable or congenial place (Islam). assegai: lance or spear specter: phantom

Vocabulary Continued Deplored: to feel or express deep regret or concern for someone or something. Ebb: going out of a tide. Extenuating: serving to make a fault (to appear less serious). Exultingly: to show or feel extreme joy. Cabaret: a restaurant providing food, drink, music, a dance floor and often a floor show.

Figurative Language Examples “There is no great sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes.” (6) “No dark ghost thrusts his leg against mine in bed.” (9) “When covered by the waters, I am; and the ebb but reveals me again.” (10) “This orchestra grows rambunctious, rears on its hind legs and attacks…” (11) “He is far away and I see him dub dimly across the ocean and the continent that have fallen between us.”

Figurative Language Continued… “When I set my hat at a certain angle and saunter down Seventh Avenue, Harlem City, feeling as snooty as the lions…” (14) “I am the eternal feminine with it s string of beads.” (14) But in the main, I feel like a brown paper bag of miscellany propped against a wall.” (17)