Compare And Contrast Sweat And Barn Burning

Insecure Men Based off of the traditional marriage roles, a man’s duty was to be the bread-winner for his family. They were supposed to love and cherish them and provide their basic needs while the wives were to stay at home to take care of the children and cook and clean. If a man is not fulfilling their role for some reason, they might feel emasculated. Zora Neale Hurston’s short story “Sweat” and William Falkner’s short story “Barn Burning” both reveal how a man’s insecurity could cause them to act out through unnecessary abuse and violence. In “Sweat”, Hurston repeatedly points out that the husband, Sykes, does not own the home, does not contribute anything financially, and has abused Delia for most of their marriage. When Delia says,

In the story, one will read about his conflict with his employer Major de Spain. When the father showed up to the man’s house wanting to talk to him, a nicely dressed black man who also worked for Major de Spain opened the door. He told the father, “Wipe yo foots, white ma, fo you come in here” (Faulkner 484). In reply, the father pushes past him, says “Get out of my way, nigger,” and wipes his feet on the very expensive carpet (Faulkner 484).The father might have done this because he did not like that a black man got to wear nicer clothes than him and got to work on the big house instead of the fields like him. The father would not take an order from a black man. When Major de Spain finds out about the ruined carpet he brings it to the father and tells him that he needs to wash it and give him some of his corn during harvest. The father is insecure about his inability to provide the best of everything for his family and he hates to be told what to do, especially by the wealthy. When they take the issue to court and he still has to pay part of the original price asked, the father acts out by setting fire to the barn. The father’s insecurity of being poor causes him to become angry and hard headed. He sets poor examples for his children, especially the boys and burns anyone’s barn that crosses