When I finished reading "The Gilded Six Bits" by Zora Neale Hurston, I felt as if there was hope. Hope in the fact that true love does exist, even in the story of a literary writer. I always do enjoy a good love story, but, Hurston goes beyond the norm. The main characters, Joe and Missie May, are not what I would consider a normal couple. At the beginning of the story, Joe and Missie May convince me of true love. You read it and you can actually feel Missie May's anticipation of Joe returning home from work (252). The couple play an adorable game, every Saturday when Joe returns from work, he tosses silver dollars onto the floor for her to stack beside her dinner plate(252). The most delightful part was he would hide outside behind a cape jasmine bush waiting for her to give chase(252). All of this for the candy kisses Joe would have in his pocket for is wife to find(252). How wonderful is that? How much do we all look for someone we can jest with, a lover we can banter with? Joe hides now words with Missy Mae. He reveals his feelings for her unlike most men. "Ah"m satisfied de way ah is so long as ah be yo husband, ah don't keer bout nothing else. Ah"d ruther all de other women's in de world to be dead than for you to have de toothache" he told Missie Mae(253). I tried to imagine what a woman would really feel like, to have a man actually feel this way about her. He would rather see millions of women than to see your wife have a toothache. My first impulse was, how pathetic are you? I had to stop and ask myself what the real problem was. Jealousy. A dangerous emotion, but, one I actually felt for a few seconds. Missie Mae was a lucky woman to have a man like Joe. .
Joe, this is a decent, loving, caring man. Joe is a man that is very much in love with his wife and is looking forward to many happy years with her. Joe is a poor man though, poor financially, but, rich in the important things.
