Zora Neale Hurston describes the necessity in human life for competition, particularly when something important has to be decided.  She does this by telling a story about three men who all wanted to marry the same girl but; the girl’s father could not make up his mind as to who should receive this honor, so he decided to hold a competition to see who could do the most impressive feat.  Although these feats were completely unrealistic and impossible, they did serve the purpose of demonstrating how people love to compete for a certain right or privilege and how they feel when they come out on top. Hurston shows that it is human nature to compete for survival as well as just about every other aspect in life.  She sets a competitive tone,   as she describes the way the men are competing for the girl and how they boast of their abilities to each other, gloat over their successes.  Through her story, Hurston looks at human nature and shows that part of being human means wanting to compete and win.