The Gilded Six-Bits

“The Gilded Six-Bits” is a short story written by Zora Neale Hurston and originally published in 1933 in Story magazine. The story explores themes of Sex, Physical Desire, and Marriage, The Function and Morality of Money, and Appearance Versus Reality. Hurston, in addition to being a noted African American author, was also an anthropologist and folklorist. She is best known for her 1937 novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. “The Gilded Six-Bits” is Hurston’s most anthologized short story, and it anticipates many of the themes in Their Eyes Were Watching God. A film adaptation of “The Gilded Six-Bits,” directed by Booker T. Mattison, was released in 2001.

This guide refers to the 2008 HarperPerennial Modern Classics version of “The Gilded Six-Bits” found in The Complete Stories by Zora Neale Hurston.

Content Warning: This study guide quotes and obscures Hurston’s use of the n-word. The source material also contains instances of racial stereotyping.

The “Gilded Six-Bits” opens in a house in Eatonville, a historically Black community in Central Florida. The house belongs to Joe and Missie May, a young couple who appear happily married. The house likewise seems “happy,” with its outer appearance being both neat and clean: “The fence and house were whitewashed.