Religion and Sexism in Sweat

The character, Delia Jones, in Sweat and the narrator in The Yellow Wallpaper are personalities that are significantly persuaded by what their societies considered to be acceptable roles and behaviors for married women. However, throughout both works, both personalities opposed these norms to overcome the obstacles in their respective lives. Delia in Sweat was a washwoman, which made her the sole financial provider of her household. Her husband, Sykes, did not work at all and also challenged the era’s social standards by carelessly spending Delia’s hard earned money. Delia wanted to wash her clothes when she came back from church on Sunday. Although it was

From the very beginning, the reader notices the psychological and verbal abuse that Sykes puts on Delia. It was a Sunday and Delia decided to get ahead on her work for the week by separating piles of clothes by color. Fear then came

With rage and anger towards her husband, Delia states, “That ole snaggle-tooth black woman you runnin’ with ain’t comin’ heah to pile up on mah sweat and blood. You ain’t paid for nothin’ on this place, and Ah’m gointer stay right heah till Ah’m toted out foot foremost.” (Hurston 680). Her home is all Delia has. She worked hard for years and years to build and maintain the house she loves, and the last thing she will ever allow to happen is for someone to take that away from her.

In the very beginning of “Sweat” one can see that Delia possesses a very strong work ethic, by the way that she is working vigorously to wash the clothes for the white people that she worked for to put food on the table and a roof over her and Sykes’ head. The white clothing that Delia washes in the story represents her character. White signifies her virtuousness and wholesome

Delia represents the good in the story. She remains calm, level-headed, and spiritually in tune despite her husband‘s determination to make her miserable. Once a "right pretty li'l trick," Delia is now worn and dried out like sugar cane that's been chewed to no end (“Sweat” 43). However her soul remains strong as she turns to her spirituality for comfort and hope. She has smarts although uneducated and the fact that she built her own house and now supports her and her husband by washing white

Delia is a hard working woman who uses her faith in God to guide and protect her from her husband’s physical and emotional abuse. She, as a protagonist, is physically weak but yet spiritually strong. Sykes, in the story, tormented Delia in many ways throughout the story. One incident was with the bull horn when he tried to scare Delia while she was sorting

To begin the story, Hurston, with the use of the narrator being from third person omniscient, introduces us to Delia as a wash-woman who was working on a Sunday night all the way until eleven o’clock after church earlier in the

Not only does he drain her financially, but he has also abused her mentally and emotionally for the most of their marriage. Delia reminds Sykes that all she does is "Sweat, sweat, sweat! Work and Sweat, cry and sweat, pray and sweat!" from the fifteen years she has been washing laundry and laments (Hurston 278). However, despite all the cruelty that is happening, the author still portrays her persona with great compassion. Delia has enormous love, but soon discovers that she has the capacity to hate as much as she loves which has developed from her long-suffering life with Sykes. The author creates Delia based off her own life of being a Christian woman, therefore, in the story "Sykes is clearly wrong throughout the story, and Delia is right in living out the principles of Christian love, tolerance, and humility" (Banks). The importance of this quote is that it puts Delia's character into perspective and reveals why the way she is. The author's beliefs and practices are demonstrated through Delia and explain her actions in the story.

Delia was physically abused many times by her husband, Sykes. He was also mentally and verbally abusive to her by calling her names and constantly teasing her. This can be seen when he pretends to scare Delia with a snake, and then calls her names for being scared. In Zora’s life, this is seen where she also grew up as an abused child from her father. Her father did not like her very much because her sassy attitude. He said that she “was too spirited and too mouthy for her own good” which hurt her feelings and made her very aware that she was not his favorite child in the family (Boyd 27). Her father would also physically abuse her by threatening and spanking her as a child. In the story, Sykes represents Zora’s father because they were both abusive towards women. Zora included this detail in her story to explain her life as a child. The story is put in the perspective of a grown woman who had been abused, but how she would feel the same pain a child would feel who had been abused. No matter the person’s age, anyone

In reading the story it is easy to see that Sykes becomes somewhat jealous of Delia. At first, he did all that he could to win Delia’s heart and keep it. As said by Walter Thomas, one of the minor characters in the story, “he useter be so skeered uh losin’ huh, she could make him do some parts of a husband’s duty” (Hurston 4). Yet somehow, Sykes falls out of love with Delia early in their marriage and that’s when his oppression over her began. He not only wears her down by beating her and ultimately changing her appearance, he also abuses her mentally. He resented not only the fact that Delia was the only one of the two that was financially stable within the household, but he mostly resented her job and the reality that she was comfortable with washing clothes for the “white folks”. Time and time again he tried everything in his power to make sure she didn’t finish her days work as a wash woman. For example he shows his disgust with her job when he comes home in the beginning of the story an sees his wife working, “he stepped roughly upon the whitest pile of things, kicking them helter-skelter as he crossed the room” (Hurston). He blatantly disrespects her and sends the message that no matter what he

Delia was a hard-working woman, who was the sole provider for both her and her unemployed husband Sykes, and was also forced to work to pay for Sykes mistress, Bertha, who lived over

Hurston deliberately labels Sykes as the patriarchal male head of the household. In a typical household a man is labeled as “strong”, “protective, and “decisive” one in the family while a woman is typically “Emotional”, “motherly”, and “submissive” (Hurston 85). Sykes physical and emotional abuse can be seen as an outlet to remain a part of the patriarchal rule in which a man subsides and as an outlet to enforce gender rules within the household. An example of his verbal abuse is “Well you better quit gettin’ me riled up, else they’ll be tottin you out sooner than you expect. Ah’m so tired of you Ah don’t know whut to do! Gawd! How ah hates skinny women!” (Hurston 2). Sykes seems to have no sense of empathy for Delia and continues to physically and emotionally abuse her through violence. He frightens her terribly, condemns her, and doesn’t give one penny to the family. His only concern is keeping her emotionally and physically hurt as he knows that as a woman she is vulnerable.

On the next Saturday Delia was riding through town delivering and picking up clothes as usual as a few of the local townsmen share their insight into the Jones' home. After concluding that Sykes and his "stray woman," Bertha, should be severely disciplined for their actions, they push money forth to share a watermelon. At that moment, Sykes and Bertha arrive, and a silence falls on the porch and the melon is put away. Delia drives by as Sykes is "ordering magnificently for Bertha," but Sykes has no reason to hide his infidelity, for it "pleased him for Delia to see." As the two leave the store, Sykes reminds Bertha "this was his town and she could have it if she wanted it." The men on the porch resume their melon feast at Sykes and Bertha's departure, and they continue their expression of low opinion of Sykes.

In “Sweat”, Hurston’s use of Sykes’s evil qualities illustrates the actions and the personality of the character Sykes. For example, Sykes has kicked the clothes around the ground because Delia refuses to stop cleaning white men’s clothes and kept working. Hurston’s description of how Sykes is threatening Delia as “Next time, Ah’m gointer kick’em outdoor!,” foregrounding his intimidation (Hurston 517). Snakes were known for being demanding to get what they want and Sykes used a ruthless tactic to hope that Delia would do what he wanted. Also, another illustration of his wicked qualities is shown when Merchant talks to the village men about Sykes seducing his wife with a basket of pecans. The description is described as “He's allus been crazy 'bout fat women, put in Merchant. He'd a' been tied up wid one long time ago if he could a' found one tub have him. Did Ah tell yuh 'bout him come sidlin' roun' mah wife-bringin' her a basket uh pee-cans outa his yard fuh a present? Yessir, mah wife! She tol' him tub take 'em right straight back home, cause Delia works so hard ovah dat washtub she reckon everything on de place taste lak sweat an' soapsuds. Ah jus' wisht Ah'd a' caught 'im 'roun' dere! Ah'd a' made his hips ketch on fiah down dat shell road,” emphasizes this fact (Hurston 519). The author makes use of Sykes’s womanizing ways to show that he tries to win the affection of Merchant’s wife instead of taking the pecans to Delia. His relationship is indifferent when it comes to romance toward Delia, which often

The women of the 1920’s were first introduced to society as a generation that spent most of their time cleaning, cooking, and nurturing their children. However, as the “Roaring 20s” came to impact the