On "The Gilded Six-Bits," Missie's infidelity test the strength of the marriage with her husband Joe, a marriage which utltimately weathers the storm. The marriage in " The Gilded Six-Bits" is spared because, despite Hurston's harships in her own marriages, she saw marriage as an important institution capable of providing possibilities in life. There are four main characters involved in this short story: Missie May, her husband Joe, Otis D. Slemmons, and the store clerk at the market. The story takes place in Eatonville, Florida, a southern, black working class town which looked to the payroll of the G.and G. Fertilizer works for its support. Joe and Missie May appear happy and stable depite their background of poverty and social life. When the story opens, immediately Hurston writes that, "there was something happy about the place," (335) referring to the yard of Missie May and Joe. There are positive images that describe their life together, such as bright colors, white washed walls, porches and floors scrubbed and clean, homey flowers, sunshine and water. Although, Joe is a hard working husband who brings home gifts to lavish his adorning wife,he throws his hard earned coins onto the porch of their home where Missie May runs out to greet him every day. The following weekend, the couple's relationship takes a turn for the worse. Otis Slemmons, the third character in the story is a city slicker from Chicago who claims to be wearing a real gold pin and watch piece and has opened an ice cream parlor in town. Impressed with his power and riches, Joe introduces his wife to Slemmons and claims he wishes he was more like him. Hoping to reap his riches and share the wealth with her husband, Missie May sleeps with Otis Slemmons, and is caught by her husband. After a long punishing silence, Missie May feels as though Joe is a different person. While Joe is at work, Missie wants to pack and leave and never return but, she loves Joe too much.
