Zora Hurston 's `` Sweat ``

Sykes personality is totally different than Delia’s. Sykes Jones is physically and emotionally cruel to Delia. He is immoral and unfaithful; furthermore he takes the money that is earned from Delia's tough labor and squanders it away on his mistress, Bertha. Whereas Sykes may be strong in body, he does not have any belief in God. Sykes in a sense can be compared to the devil because like the devil he drained Delia of her beauty, joy and happiness that she once possessed. This point is brought up in the story when Joe Clarke and the village men are talking about Delia and Sykes ” …But dey squeeze an’ grind an’ wring every drop uh pleasure dat’s in ‘em out” (443). According to Davis Masson, who wrote, Essays Biographical and Critical “All sadness and melancholy come from the devil” (86). Once their marriage starts to fall apart, Sykes uses Delia’s anxiety of snakes against her. Andre’ Ménez, who wrote The Subtle Beast, states, “Being sometimes poisonous, hidden in the shadows; slowly and mutely guiding, snakes have often been deemed powerful and shifty, evil creatures whose major aim was to frustrate the natural and proper development of life” (9).

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,

“This irreligious, adulterous man, making such accusations and physically and psychologically abusing her, suddenly causes her to alter the relationship (Banks). Sykes uses his cheating with a woman named Bertha to get under Delia’s skin. He is so evil, he gets pleasure out of making his wife’s life miserable. “Just then Delia drove past on her way home, as Sykes was ordering magnificently for Bertha. It pleased him for Delia to see” (Hurston 4). This quote, along with many others in the short story, shows how truly awful Sykes is as a man and

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

I want to focus on the story ‘Sweat’ because it happened to be my favorite from the selected female authors we read this semester. I was very struck by the story because Hurston wasn’t afraid to speak her mind, and represents women even in a male-dominated culture. The story ‘Sweat’ takes place in a rural setting. Hurston tends to focus on relationships and conflicts in her writing. In this story, Delia is a hardworking woman. She is also strong, despite being in an abusive relationship. Her husband is portrayed as rude, and clearly doesn’t appreciate anything she does. The narrator also tells the reader how young and beautiful Delia used to look before her abusive marriage. The husband in the story is upset and mad at white people. However, Delia has to work so she defends herself and her job. The story ends with a snake bite that kills her husband. However, he was the one who brought it in the house to scare and more than likely kill Delia. I believe that Hurston’s intentions were to represent a strong female woman who held no regards for a man who mistreated her. I also believe that her intended audience was for females in general. By making Delia hardworking and strong, she is a woman who represents female empowerment. By doing so, Hurston makes women more aware that they don’t have to be consumed in a male-dominated culture, but that a woman can do as she pleases, and not have to

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

Modernism is a literary style of American literature that begins in the 1920s and was ongoing until World War II. World War I, industrialization, The Great Depression, and World War II influenced many authors. These authors exemplify disillusion, loss of faith, loss of hope, and feeling of futility within their

The snake in the story symbolizes evil which portrays domestic violence. Sykes tried getting rid of Delia so he could go and be with Bertha, his mistress. He knew how afraid Delia was of snakes so he decided to bring one home. “Then, moved by both horror and terror, she sprang back toward the door. There lay the snake in the basket!” (Hurston 8). He really wanted the snake to bite Delia so he could get rid of her. Leaving the snake in the basket where he knew was the easiest place for it to bite her. Sykes knew that the snake would bite her. He was pure evil. The snake however did not bite Delia but it bit Sykes. “He crept an inch or two toward

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

Depending on who is speaking at the time, the tone of “Sweat” seems either one of anger and frustration, one of hope and determination, or one of sadness and despair. When Sykes speaks the tone is angry and evil because almost everything that comes out of his mouth is negative. In comparison, When Delia speaks the tone rings more of peace, hope, and determination. When the narrator chimes in the tone seems sad because he/she informs the reader of the upsetting truths about Delia’s marriage and the many hardships she has had to face throughout the story.

In Zora Neale Hurston’s short story, Sweat, Delia finds herself stuck in an unbearable marriage. Her husband, Sykes, mistreats her, leaves all work to her, and is unfaithful. After being married to Sykes for 15 years, Delia has lost all hope in the marriage. The countless beatings and painful

Knowing Zora Neale Hurston was a religious woman, it is no shock that throughout the “Sweat” there are many hidden Biblical references. One reference the story often makes is the snake. The snake is a reference to many things. It first, is a reference to the snake in the book of Genesis, where the devil tempts Eve. The snake also represents original sin and the darkness that comes in all of humanity. In “Sweat”, Delia is afraid of the snake, thus showing her fear of sin and darkness, portraying her as a strong Christian character. The snake can also be a connection to Christ. When the snake is first brought to the house it appears dead. It remains this way for three days, until it miraculously awakens (Carter 611). This relates to Christ when he is hung on the cross and buried. He

Delia's repose was suddenly upset by "If it were not Bertha it would be someone else," she told herself. Before finally falling asleep, she found herself talking aloud, concluding that Sykes was going to "reap his sowing." After organizing her thoughts, she was able to spiritually fortify herself against him, and she slept. She slept until his arrival when he rudely kicked her feet and snatched the cover away. In silent triumph she ignored his comments and allowed him his side of the bed.

In Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”, and Zora Neale Hurston’s “Sweat”, the main characters in both of these short stories are the making of male influence, in this case negative influence, and much of their anger and hatred is intermixed with occasional feelings of adoration8. For these two female characters in "A

Sykes eventually brings an actual, physical snake into the house, which he keeps locked inside a soap box near the kitchen door. When he brings home the snake, it is bloated, lazy and hardly able to move from gorging itself on frogs. One may compare this to the way Sykes “gorges” himself on Delia’s income, using her money frivolously to pay for his lifestyle, while he takes no responsibility for his husbandly duties. He is just as useless in Delia’s home as the snake inside the