Character Analysis Of Zora Neale Hurston's Spunk

The short story “Sweat,” by Zora Neale Hurston, seems to exemplify the epitome of a bad marriage. Hurston uses foreshadowing and irony to demonstrate the disintegrated relationship between the abusive husband and the diligent wife. Throughout the story, it becomes obvious that the husband does not oblige by the motto, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Hurston’s use of irony and foreshadowing helps reveal the fact that “the good will prevail” and Sykes will finally get what he deserves.

The Harlem Renaissance marked the coming out of many brilliant black authors and thinkers. Names like Jessie Redmon Fauset, Alain Locke, Ralph Waldo Ellison, Langston Hughes, and Zora Neale Hurston marked the scene. Hurton portrays many messages in her stories without having to explicitly spell it out. This among other reasons make Hurston's writing so rich. Two of her almost fable-like stories, "Sweat" and "The Gilded Six-Bits", each portray powerful messages individually. In "Sweat," you get a message of "whatever goes over the Devil's back, is got to come under his belly." You will reap what you sow among other messages. In "The Gilded Six-Bits," you learn that time will heal, money is the root of all evil, and other morals. These

Joe is power hungry and seeks to dominate Janie, who cannot be held back and craves the freedom to manage her own life. With such caustic tension, it seems odd that Janie would stay with Joe until his death. Clearly, she was not afraid to walk out on a husband, so why did she choose to stay? Though Joe was frequently an oppressive dictatorial husband, he still offered more love to her than the cold, quasi-emotionless Logan Killicks. Only after finding love with Tea Cake, however, would Janie realize one of the major themes of the novel: in order to gain true happiness, you cannot sacrifice one desire for another, in her case freedom from oppression for love.

Zora Neale Hurston’s use of language in her short story Spunk allows the reader to become part of the community in which this story takes place. The story is told from the point of view of the characters, and Hurston writes the dialogue in their broken English dialect. Although the language is somewhat difficult to understand initially, it adds to the mystique of the story. Spunk is a story about a man that steals another man’s wife, kills the woman’s husband and then he ends up dying from an accident at the saw mill. Spunk believed that it was Lena’s husband, Joe Kanty, who shoved him into the circular saw, and the people in the village agreed that Joe Kanty had come back to get revenge. The language used by the characters helps to

As the story goes on, the readers begin to see a love triangle forming. You realize that Marian has feelings for Shane on page 65 when Bob overhears her talking with Shane. Marian says, “Don’t go, Shane. Joe needs you. More than ever now…it’s only fair to say it. I need you too”. There are apparent feelings shown between Marian and Shane, but just the same Marian is still obviously in love with her husband Joe. You see that Marian loves and supports Shane in almost in the same way she cares for Joe. For a while, it almost seems that Marian has two husbands because the bond between her and both men is so strong. The strange thing however, is that Joe knows that Marian has feelings for Shane. And because Joe knows that she still loves him and does not have any desire to have a physical relationship with Shane, he is okay with it. You know that Joe knows that Marian has feelings for Shane is on page 80. Marian is taking care of Shane after the fight in the bar and is so proud of both Shane and Joe. Joe says to Marian when he is holding her, “ Do you think I don’t know Marian? Don’t fret yourself; I’m man enough to know a better when his trail meets mine. Whatever happens will be alright”. Even though Joe knows what is going on, his respect for Shane makes him okay with it.

“Everybody's good when they're good, darling. You don't judge a person by that. It's how they act when things aren't good that tells you who they really are.” ― Megan Jacobson (Goodreads, “56 Quotes”) Much like the world around us, literature has many elements that have the reader portray their own understanding and perspective of it. In Sweat, Zora Neale Hurston gives the reader many different situations where many readers can have several viewpoints. This seems to be very similar to the Bible, where a child of God can read the same scripture as another and have a completely different meaning in their eyes. Zora Hurston uses many elements that focus on the idea that actions one does speak louder than words, by the use of religious imagery and Delia, the wife.

The story Sweat by Zora Neale Hurston tells the story of Delia who overcame her abusive husband, Sykes through her development of becoming a strong woman. The development of Delia’s character throughout the story relates to Zora Neale Hurston’s life of growing up into a strong, empowered woman. Delia and Zora were both verbally and physically abused which made them afraid and timid. Zora made her characters talk in a dialect that she grew up listening to which was uncommon to do in literature. Delia and Zora both had to provide for themselves by putting in the effort remain stable and happy. They also stood up for what they believed in which started their development into strong women. Delia had to let her husband die in order to gain independence, while Zora had to move away from home in order to be successful in her future which developed them both develop into independent women. They became stronger because of these things which empowered them to take back control of their lives. The snake is a symbol in the story that represents the evil that was overcome by the good. This story can now be better analyzed when looking at the life of Delia which connects to Zora Neale Hurston’s life.

Throughout Janie’s relationship with her next husband, Joe, she continued to keep her strong voice but showed weakness emotionally. Speaking of "change and chance", Janie was immediately attracted to Joe Starks. This is exactly what Janie wanted at the time: a change from her life with Logan and a second chance at life and love. But the change and chance that Joe was speaking of was very different than what Janie wanted or expected. He was not looking for love or a companion, but instead wanted to use Janie to promote his image as a leader for his new plans to start a black community. Janie soon realized this after it was too late. Her life with Joe was horrible. Joe rarely said a word to her or even looked at her

In addition to the issues within the family, the crime committed against mother has cause inner turmoil for Joe. He is faced with the feelings of obligation to avenge his mother. He sees her sheltering herself every day in her bedroom, slowly becoming just a shell of the woman she used to be. “The damned carcass had stolen from her. Some warm part of her was gone and might not return. This new formidable woman would take getting to know, and I was thirteen. I didn’t have the time” (Erdrich 193), says Joe. Feeling more and more alone, Joe is forced into

In the opening sentence of the story Hurston’s writes, “It was eleven o’clock of a Spring night in Florida. It was Sunday” (Hurston, 73). The beginning signifies correct English grammar and proper sentence structure, but in seamless Zora Neale Hurston’s fashion, the dialogue from the protagonist Delia Jones reads in broken incorrect syntax, “Sykes, you quit grindin’ dirt into these clothes! How can Ah git through by Sat’day if Ah don’t start on Sunday” (74)? In her short stories Hurston’s diction is elevated with the usage of morphology with the constant exchange of word formation with infixes, affixes and the combining of word choices. Hurston’s choice of diction offered a rhymical affect that adds a melodious tone to her writing shaped by the Harlem Renaissance period. As noted in the, The Florida Historical Quarterly “Hurston blended narrator and protagonist through language” (Haskin, 207) Her writing style aid in the management of mood, tone, character depiction, movement, and atmosphere in storytelling procedures. In the commencement of her stories, the storyteller, is communicating in standard English, the third-party narrative speaks as a representative for the character waiting to find his or her voice. As the character(s) discoveries their voice, they sway the narrator, and in the conclusion the narrator and central character are speaking for each other, using equally poetic, participating language (207).

After recently read a short story titled “Spunk” by Zora Neale Hurston about two men fighting for the woman that they love. Some stories end in happily ever after, but others end up in a tragic, like “Spunk”, one may say “fight for the person that you love”. In this story the two main characters are Spunk and Joe, they are both in love with the same woman, Lena. Spunk has a physical appearance that makes the village afraid of him, including Joe. Joe is married to Lena, but spunk wants her as well. Joe was shot after he took someone’s advice that he should go after Lena, which he did and for that advice caused his death. Spunk thought he

Joe Kanty is very loving and kind hearted to his wife, Lena, because he loves her. The following article, “Love and lust are among the most instinctive emotions experienced by human beings”, clearly states the type of bond that Joe has towards Lena which is a loving bond that some people will never possess (Kwon, Han 1). However, Lena is insanely in love with her mistress, Mr. Spunk, whom is capable of getting whatever he wants or wishes, because of the fear he places in others hearts. Love makes individuals react a certain way to situations which is why Joe decides to follow Mr. Spunk and Ms. Lena from the lounging general store to try and win his love back. With the help of narrators,

Zora Neale Hurston breathes life into “Spunk” by contrasting African American slang with the formal, educated tone of the narrator to emphasize adversity and express culture in the South. Hurston’s most memorable moments in her childhood were a result of “Skillful story-tellers [that] could hold their listeners spellbound for hours, with tales that combined elements of African tradition, the history of slavery, and current events,” (Bily). Oral storytelling was a news source and form of entertainment for those living in poverty. In “Spunk,” it is evident that Hurston’s goal is to combine the setting she grew up in with her fondness for written literature when Elijah Mosley cries, “‘Looka theah, folkses!’… slapping his leg gleefully.

     Zora Neale Hurston depicts the realness of Joe and Missy May through her writing style and by including her life experiences. Hurston

Because of these changes in emotion and attitude that have occurred in both Joe and Violet, Joe feels that he needs to find a way to re-sensitize himself to emotion: As he describes to Malvonne in the apartment, it is the quiet that he cannot take with Violet, he is “just hoping for a lady friend. Somebody to talk to” (49, 46). Joe needs to express himself to someone, but Violet is not letting Joe do that. The narrator describes Joe’s lover as being “Joe’s personal sweet—like candy” (120). Candy, though, as Joe describes in a totally separate incident, “is something you lick, suck on, and then swallow and it’s gone” (122). By providing the image of Dorcas as the temporary candy, Morrison shows how the relationship is not what Joe believes it to be. Yet, Joe wants to convince himself that his affair with Dorcas is more than the transient taste of a peppermint stick, and as he describes in his speech to himself, “This was something else. More like blue water and white flowers and sugar in the air” (122). Joe wants to have a deep relationship with Dorcas—a relationship where he can talk with her and share his feelings, but it is just his mind fooling him into this belief that the relationship is built around a deep bond.