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Allusions In Sweat By Zora Neale Hurston

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Biblical Allusions in Zora Neale Hurston’s “Sweat”
One prominent theme throughout the short story “Sweat” by Zora Neale Hurston is that resiliency can carry us through dark times. Hurtson shows readers this idea through biblical allusions, specifically the Jordan River and Jesus’ death. Hurston pays homage to Jesus, an important figure in the Bible. Delia’s husband Sykes often boasts about his mistress to the other villagers in their community. In the months when Sykes flaunted his infidelities around town “Delia’s work-worn knees crawled over the earth in Gethsemane and up the rocks of Calvary many, many times…” (4). This references when Jesus openly wept and was arrested in the gardens of Gethsemane; he also carried a cross on his back on …show more content…

However, her resiliency pays off in the end when Sykes’ evil deeds come back to bite him and Delia was still standing. In the Bible, the Israelites were advised by God to cross the Jordan in order to reach the land he had promised them. In this case, the allusion of the river first appears when Delia comes home from church with a hymn stuck in her head. She affirms its message into her mind by singing, “An’ Ah wantah cross Jurden in uh calm time” (6). Biblically, the Jordan River symbolizes adversity to conquer in order to reach happiness. In the story Delia’s marriage with Sykes is seen as a huge hardship in her life, however if she overcomes this obstacle she will be free. Her resiliency will lead her to the promised land. At the end, the rattlesnake Sykes brought into the home to scare Delia earlier in the story had gotten loose and started attacking him. She stood and watched him die because “...she knew the cold river was creeping up and up to extinguish that eye which must know by now that she knew” (7). This calls back to the Jordan River allusion that was mentioned previously. The river represents the difficulties Delia has faced in her relationship with Sykes, and at the

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Historical criticism strives to cognize a literary work by examining the social, cultural, and intellectual context that essentially includes the artist’s biography and milieu. Historical critics are more concerned with guiding readers through the use of identical connotation rather than analyzing the work’s literary significance. (Brizee and Tompkins). The journey of a historical reading begins with the assessment of how the meaning of a text has altered over time. In many cases, when the historical context of a text is not fully comprehended, the work literature cannot be accurately interpreted.

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