Essay on Foreshadowing and Irony in “Sweat” by Zora Neale Hurston

Missie May was slowly regaining the position she once held in the relationship. In "Sweat," the power dynamics started off a bit differently. Sykes seem to have all the power in the household, as he did come and go as he pleased and beat Delia considerably. Hurston begins "Sweat" by illustrating Sykes' dominance over Delia. Delia is in a submissive position on her knees while Sykes is towering over with a whip. Delia is frightened because she believes the whip to be a snake. The whip is described as "something long, round, limp, and black"(Sweat 1491) which creates the illusion of a penis. Delia's feeling for the one-eyed snake, the whip, equates to her sexual desires to Sykes. But throughout the story, time and time again, Delia attempts to grasp some power. When her house becomes threatened, she stands up to Sykes. This is such a surprise to him that he doesn't beat her as he usually would, he instead leaves. The story does leave one wondering how much power Sykes really has in the town. He parades around town with his mistress. He beats on his wife and tries to woo every woman he sees. These are all points brought up by the townspeople themselves as they complain about him. They even talk about killing the man, but they continur to remain at a distance and watch everything he does. Can one really argue that Sykes isn't powerful in a town that allows him to do whatever he wants? But this power is, indeed,

people’s clothes demonstrates her strength and determination. Delia is a dynamic character as shown early in the story with this quote: “She seized the iron skillet from the stove and struck a defensive pose, which act surprised him greatly, coming from her.” Sykes’ dumbfounded reaction to Delia’s defensive action allows the reader to assume that this

In the story Sweat Delia is a very religious woman who believes god will handle anything possible and this why Delia is able to deal with her Sykes evil jokes. Sykes knows Delia is terrified of snakes and he knows even a toy snake will have her jumping out of her skin like a cricket. Delia believed the snakes were considered evil and poison. "Sykes, what you throw dat whip on me like dat? You know it would skeer me – looks just like a snake, an' you knows how skeered Ah is of snakes" "Course Ah knowed it! That's how come Ah done it". This showed Sykes had no sympathy for Delia's scare of snakes and he gets a kick out of her being scared.

Foreshadowing is a common device used in many short stories, but “Sweat” uses it in a untypical way. In “Sweat,” two events are foreshadowed, but only one occurs. When referring to Sykes’ mischief, Delia says, “Some day Ah’m gointuh drop dead from some of yo’ foolishness” (Hurston 1022). After Sykes brought the snake into the house, Hurston writes, “Delia came down.. she saw his chalky-white fangs curved… in the wire meshes” (Hurston 1027). According to this, Delia’s death is being foreshadowed. She feels that Sykes actions will lead to her demise and the snake’s exposed fangs create an image of how she will

In the story, Sykes is described as anything but honorable. The story starts off with Sykes pretending a bullwhip is a snake to scare Delia, knowing how terrified of snakes she is. Also, while Delia is working on cleaning clothes, Sykes kicks it on the floor and calls her a hypocrite for working on the Sabbath day. Even though Sykes is not religious at all, he still mocks her and criticizes her for everything. Not only does he provoke her, he also cheats and abuses her. He is always threatening her and beating her and everyone in town knows about it. Everyone also knows, including his wife Delia, that Sykes is cheating with another woman named Bertha. Sykes has no shame and does not try to hide his mistress one bit. All these characteristics about Sykes represents evil in the story.

Delia Jones, the main character, lived in an abusive relationship with Sykes Jones for 15 years (Thompson 745). The abuse was physical and verbal. The abuse also was portrayed in the way of public embarrassment. Sykes flaunted around his mistress Bertha, in town for everyone to see yet Delia paid no attention to it and held her head high. This is one of the prime examples of how Delia is put in situation that the average person would be weakened by yet Hurston portrays her as strong and independent woman.

Sykes’ bull whip, mistaken for a snake, invokes “great terror” (line 355) and extreme fear in Delia, foreshadowing is an event that is to come. An example of irony is that Delia is a washwoman, but her clothes stay dirty. An example of symbolism is the title “Sweat.” This symbol describes the hard work that Delia is doing to survive. The men in their town does not like Skyes. Several men talked about how Skyes does not work and how he controls Delia. The men also talk about how Delia was very beautiful before she got married to

Due to the abuse that Delia suffers in the short story “Sweat” by Zora Hurston, she becomes stronger and gains independence. Sykes is a overcontrolling husband and frequently abuses Delia throughout their marriage. He does this in several different ways. First is verbal, he is always yelling and at Delia and never has anything nice to say. Along with a general rudeness toward her he makes threats to her, saying things such as, “Ah oughter mash you in yo’ mouf fuh drawing dat skillet on me (Hurston 3).” This threatening manner eventually stops working as she grew numb to his threats after fifteen years of marriage. So, in response to her numbness he escalates his abuse by physically assaulting her. The third way he torments his wife is psychologically

Throughout “Sweat”, Zora Neal Hurston illustrates a number confrontational instances which occur between Delia Jones and her abusive husband, Sykes. The story opens with Sykes scaring Delia with a whip, which was initially thought by her to be a snake; an animal of which she explicitly states her fear. Their encounter on that evening ends with Delia pulling a cast iron skillet on Sykes who threatens to beat her as he leaves the house. Despite Sykes knowing of his wife’s snake-fear, he brings one into the house and neglects to kill the reptile which eventually kills him. When Delia approach her dying husband, Sykes calls out, “Delia, is dat u Ah heah” (Hurston 571), to which she does not respond. Therefore, it can be concluded that Sykes open

This short story name "Sweat" goes back in forth with what it truly means to put your heart and soul into something. For me depicting sweat as a whole lets me visualize what Delia went through. For a dedicated hardworking woman to be treated like trash because Sykes her husband thinks he superior. Delia has put up with Sykes ruthless behavior for too many years. She has endured beatings, used her efforts and was trampled upon as something less than a human being. Delia will no longer remain silent even though she has endured much in her association with Sykes.

Despite her husband’s abuse, Delia is a brave character throughout the story. Delia stands up for herself when her husband tries to belittle her. Whenever Sykes kicks over her basket of white people’s clothes towards the beginning of the story, Delia is quick to react: “She seized the iron skillet from the stove and struck

Zora Neale Hurston's short story, “Sweat,” portrays a conflict between the elements of good and evil. Delia, a battered wife, represents God or a God like figure. Sykes, or the evil Satan like figure, constantly inflicts physical, psychological, and verbal damage to this God like figure. He does this to attempt to overcome Delia, or defeat God. If his actions are successful, it could be perceived as Satan defeating God.

For example, perseverance is a key attribute that Delia possesses. The reader soon discovers that Delia makes a living by washing clothes for the community. However, her husband Sykes does not contribute to their income in any way, is unfaithful, and beats her. The author of this story, Zora Neal Hurston, shows how Delia expresses her frustration towards Sykes and surprisingly, this may have been the first time Delia has stood up to him. “Ah been married to you fur fifteen years, and Ah been takin' in

Hurston found herself heavily ridiculed for her methods of writing “Sweat” because people claimed that she was writing in a way that brought African Americans down to fit into standard racial stereotypes instead of bringing them up to be equals with whites. In reality, “Sweat” conveys the true lives of many African American women of the 1900’s but this is more of a feminist story than a racial story through the empowerment of Delia by having a strong economic power over Sykes. She built her home “for her old days” and she poured her sweat and work into it. Even the people in the town recognized that she was a hard worker and deserved more than what Sykes was giving her. The town folks reveal that she used to be a beautiful woman but Sykes had

The first few paragraphs of “Sweat” establishes the idea that Delia Jones is a hard worker. She spends a great deal of her time doing her job in order to provide for her way of life. Delia does this despite the fact that her abusive husband provides only grief to the relationship. Sykes ignores her hard work, and often does his best to unfold what she has done. This is symbolized by the carefully folded clothing that he intentionally kicked around, implying that this situation has occurred more than once (Hurston 559-560).