“The Gilded Six-Bits”

The ending in “The Gilded Six-Bits” displays a reality that some marriages go through, that, if strong enough, the forgiveness that Joe demonstrates and Missie May’s continuation of the wife role helps bring the marriage together again.

I am not so sure if I were in Joe’s shoes, that I would have reacted in the same way. To find the love of your life in the arms of another, having an affair. I can only imagine the deluge of feelings he must have felt.

Missie May is wrong for what she did, Joe is also in part to blame, as is Otis D. Slemmons, a venomous snake that was fooling everyone with his “rich” façade while lusting after other people’s wives. Joe’s reaction to the affair is that of great restraint, and, once the baby is born, his reaction towards his wife and the baby is that of unconditional love.

 

 

 

 

 

Discriminatory Reaction

I’ve had acne for a while and still do. I made it worse when I was younger because I would keep touching my face, thereby spreading the acne gunk.

I knew my acne was bad, just didn’t realize how bad, until I was walking through a shopping strip and heard a female in passing say to another female, “you see her face, she is “suffering” from severe acne…” as if I had some infectuous disease on my face that they have studied and found it to cause victims “suffering” from the abnormal growth.

Until that point, I never thought of acne as a “disease.” After that point, having adopted that mind-set, my self-esteem went down. As I grew older, I later realized I was being judged for my appearance without my character, superficially instead of the rich sustenance of character that truly matters.

 

 

Coming from a low self-esteem experience, I try and find beauty in all things. It’s probably the reason why I am so optimistic. Now my self-esteem is much higher and I am stronger for having gone through my experience.