Color Struck

Color Struck, by Zora Neale Hurston, is a play that was published as part of the literary magazine “FIRE!!” in 1926. The play revolves around Emma, a black woman, and John, a light brown-skinned man, and their relationship as a couple. The first three scenes take place 20 years earlier than the fourth scene, set in the present. In the first scene, Hurston establishes Emma’s feeling of jealousy towards Effie. Effie is mulatto, meaning that she has both black and white ancestry. Emma’s jealousy towards Effie stems from believing that John likes Effie because she has a lighter skin color. Despite Emma being set in her thoughts, John has only ever loved Emma. Emma’s fixation on Effie’s skin color eventually leads to Emma and John separating. 20 years later, Emma is caring for her daughter, Lou Lillian, who is very ill. Lou’s father was white, and Hurston describes her as a “very white girl”. John comes to find Emma after his wife had died, professing that he had always loved her. When John sees Lou suffering, he tends to caring for her and tells Emma to get a doctor. Emma believes John cares for Lou because of her lighter skin color. In the time Emma fixates on John caring for Lou, it is already too late, and her daughter has died by the time the doctor arrives.

The text is written for acting in the play. It notes the expressions to be conveyed by the actors, which helps the reader understand what Hurston intended the true emotions embodied by each character. Throughout the play, Hurston is focused on the topic of colorism– discrimination based on skin color.

One part of this text that I found compelling was that Hurston did not note the race of the doctor on the list of persons. Yet, Emma specifically gets a white doctor, because she does not believe a doctor of a darker complexion is good enough. Despite this, the doctor revealed what killed Lou was time. What I found most compelling about this play was the last scene.