Reoccurring Symbols In Sweat By Zora Neale Hurston

Perhaps the most important event in the story occurs when Sykes brings home a huge six-foot living snake. Fear once again overcomes Delia and she pleads, “Syke! Syke, mah Gawd! You take dat rattlesnake ‘way from heah! You gottuh. Oh, Jesus, have mussy” (360). Sykes, on the other hand, stands in amusement almost as if he loves to see Delia psychologically abused. His cockiness unravels as he acts like he is invincible and like anyone and anything should and will comply with him. In regards to the enormous snake, Sykes boasts, “…He wouldn’t bite me cause Ah knows how tuh handel ‘im” (360). He makes sure to instill fear into Delia by telling her to be careful because the snake would have no problem coming after her. Hurston also has Sykes portray his own death. In this same scene, Sykes’ reply to

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

However, the author also uses the literary device of word choice to convey the respect the narrator has for the snake. Although the narrator gives reasoning for killing the snake, the development of the narrator with word choice verifies that the narrator is very reluctant to do so due to his respect for the snake’s life. For instance, when describing the first encounter with the snake, the narrator states, “My first instinct was to let him go his way… I have never killed an animal… the sport in taking life is satisfaction I can’t feel.” The use of the word “instinct” shows that the narrator naturally and automatically wishes to leave the snake alone instead of killing it. His respect for the snake is also shown when the narrator says,“I did not cut the rattles off for a trophy… I could see him as I might have let him go, sinuous and self-respecting in departure over the twilit sands.”

The organization found within the passage of “The Rattler” illustrates to the reader how the once calm mood turns into one of hostility. At the beginning of the second paragraph, the reader notices how at first the snake’s body lay “undulant”. This moment shows although the snake is capable of attack, it has no intentions to harm the narrator. The mood seems to remain calm until not the snake, but the man, “dragged him out of it with his back broken.” This action exemplifies the mood only becomes hostile when the man initiates attack. Towards the end, the reader can see regret from the man of the “nasty sight”. Respect can be found for both characters as they are both trying to protect something dear to them – the man his fellow members of

The symbolism that is apparent in this story is the snake. Delia is terrified of snakes and her husband Sykes loves to tease her about her fear of snakes (Hurston, 1926). In the beginning of the story, while Delia is sorting clothes Sykes throws his big bull whip on her and she is terrified until she notices what it is (Hurston, 1926). Irony is shown in the story because even though Sykes brings the rattlesnake home to scare Delia off, it ends up killing him in the end (Hurston, 1926). The reader can also see the literary element of figurative language being used when Delia gets fed up with Sykes having the rattlesnake at their house and she begins to let him know how fed up she is of him: “Yo’ ole black hide don’t look lak nothin’ tuh me, but uh passle uh wrinkled up rubber, wid yo’ big ole yeahs flappin’ on each side lak uh paih uh buzzard wings (Hurston, 1926, para.49). Although the above example may be hard to read, it is a great example of similes being used in this short story.

“Sweat,” a story written by Zora Neale Hurston, demonstrates how a washer woman named Delia shows strong female empowerment, and overcomes the abuse of her husband. Written in the 1920s, this story takes place in central Florida, near Orlando. Symbolism is the most significant factor to understanding the story. The title “Sweat” is the most apparent symbol in the piece of literature, the snake is another, as well as the chinaberry tree. These three symbols all represent a selection of meanings and themes such as empowerment, survival, and domestic abuse. Zora Neale Hurston writes about hard work, evil, and freedom all together by incorporating them as different symbols used to describe the story.

The reader generates sympathy through the personification of the snake due to the use of language and detail. The rattlesnake is first presented as calm and watchful. At the sight of the man “he” did not rattle, but looked upon the man with “calm watchfulness”. The snake did not feel threatened by the presence of the man and waiting to see how he would respond to the encounter. The rattler can not only be described as fair, but as generous too. Upon feeling

Since Sykes is the one creating these scare tactics to Delia, he can also be seen as a symbol of evil, which he becomes the evil antagonist of the story. These two instances could also be seen in the religious aspect with Adam and Eve.

The author’s decision to personify the rattlesnake is also important to the establishment of sympathy for him. When first introduced, the snake is described by the pronoun “he”. The use of a pronoun indicates that the snake is not merely an animal. Instead, he has been given the title of a human, elevating his status and giving him the right to have a personality. His personality comes to life further on in the passage, as his actions are described. When the snake and the man first encounter each other, the snake is “lay[ing] rigid” though “much less coiled”. The rattlesnake is not anticipating to attack anyone and shows this by lying there without tensing up. In fact, he poses no real threat since he is not even in the position to attack.

Language: the system of words or signs that people use to express thoughts and feelings to each other. Cadmus is relevant because his story connected Greek mythology together so it is relatable to the lives of the Greece population. His story influenced all aspects’ of culture, he was an epic hero, and his influence is still felt today. Cadmus’s story has influenced culture through written language and bravery.

The author uses wide range of vocabulary to show the varsity of perspective on the story, trying to speak with a reader through the storyline. The action happens in a desert where we meet the main character. The plot takes us to the moment when the man sees «a six-foot blacksnake thick as [the man's] wrist, capable of long-range attack and armed with powerful fungs». From one perspective, the snake is dangerous

Young John Brown is a short story about a young fellow who goes on an adventure discovering the truth about the Puritan lifestyle, or what the author thinks is the real truth. The people he once knew are lying sinners. Even his wife, Faith, is consumed by evil. Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author of the short story, is open about his hatred for the Puritan lifestyle and it’s exhibited through his writing. Hawthorne creates this journey for Brown to go on; where he discovers all the evil in the world he was once oblivious to, to demonstrate how the author thinks all Puritans are sinful.

Once again, the choice of narrator makes the story much more believable and Delia’s situation more extreme which is why it created the sympathetic tone to this story. A combination of what Delia feels and what Sykes does to her leads the reader to feel sympathetically towards her. For example, this happens here with Bertha, the mistress, "Too late now to hope for love, even if it were not Bertha it would be someone else". The things that happens to Delia seems truthful and relatable in real life which makes readers react a certain way to the story. Lastly, the multiple-perspective approach caught my eyes because Hurston did not just tell the story from Delia and Sykes’ perspectives, but also the townspeople’s perspectives to further show us their

To analyze the issue of this novel, we need to figure out the imagery of snakes, which has multiple connotations. Snakes have a repulsive appearance, hallucinatory

The parallel that exists between the snake and Sykes that emphasizes the opposing moral principles of Sykes and Delia is demonstrated in their respective invocations of God. Provoked at Delia’s washing white peoples’ clothes, Sykes lashes out against her, displaying a contemptuous disregard for her labor. Instead of invoking his faith to resist enmity, Sykes exploits it to condemn Delia: “Yeah, you just come from de church house on a Sunday night, but heah you is gone to work on them clothes” (2). He labels her a hypocrite, an “amen-corner Christian” who worships at church, only to come home and work on the Sabbath (2). He declares he had promised God he would not have her washing white peoples’ clothing in his house, threatening her with physical abuse should she defy him (2). Thus, he manipulates religion to justify his acrimony and to validate the venom that he spews. In contrast, Delia uses her faith to deny Sykes’ provocations: “Ah aint for no fuss t’night Sykes. Ah just come from taking sacrament at the church house” (1). It is Sunday, a holy day for Delia in which she furnishes her soul with relief, and she will not let Sykes taint it with his malice.