In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, we follow our protagonist, Janie, through a journey of self-discovery. We watch Janie from when she was a child to her adulthood, slowly watching her ideals change while other dreams of hers unfortunately die. This is shown when Jane first formulates her idea of love, marriage, and intimacy by comparing it to a pear tree; erotic, beautiful, and full of life. After Janie gets married to her first spouse, Logan Killicks, she doesn’t see her love fantasy happening, but she waits because her Nanny tells her that love comes after marriage. Janie, thinking that Nanny is wise beyond her years, decides to wait.
Name: Lakisha Minnis Instructor: Mr. Compton English 2202-001 Date: April. 24, 2017 Sweat Zora Neale Hurston is a prolific writer famed for numerous award winning plays, novels and short stories. In this paper, I will be elaborating on a character from the novel Sweat. Her novel Sweat was first published in 1926. Sweat is a novel that tells a story about the good, evil, and domestic abusive husband.
The short story Sweat by Zora Neale Hurston, framed the life of a woman named Delia and her husband Sykes. The two main characters had an abusive marriage and with there bullheaded characteristic it brought upon Sykes actions to cheat and bring in a snake to break Delias stubbornness and leave the house, so Skye can weide a new woman twice the size of her. With every prode of Sykes snake Delia digs her heal in deeper not giving in to fleeing the home she bought and paid for on her own. In the end Sykes got his just-deserts when he placed the snake in Delia's laundry basket to attempt one last strike, the snake turns on him and kills him while Delia watches from the safe place outside. Hurston uses the snake both literally and symbolically
In the story “Sweat” by Zora Neale Hurston, Sykes Jones, the antagonist, receives his justified consequence for the horrible actions that he executes on his wife, Delia. Sykes commits suicide as the snake that he brings to extract dismay from Delia, ironically turns on him and drives him towards his torturous anguish. Sykes gradually dies from the snake poison as the moon fades, “the gray in sky was spreading” (68), until the sun rises, which indicates that a lot of time passes. Where is Delia during all of this? Her legs “had gone flabby” (69) watching her victimizer die, right in front of her.
After reading “Sweat” by Zora Neale Hurston, you’ll never think of snakes the same way ever again. In “Sweat”, a snake ends the suffering of a woman who’s too afraid to stand up for herself. Snakes are a symbol of a penis and sexual power. In the story, Hurston describes the snake as “long, round, limp, and black”(1), which are adjectives similar to describing a penis and in this story the snake represents sexual power. For example Sykes says to Delia “‘Taint no use uh you puttin’ on airs makin’ out lak you skeered uh dat snake’”(6).
In Zora Neale Hurston’s short story “Sweat” and her essay “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” the African American social group is being represented in many ways. The texts have similar ways that African Americans are represented for the time period. The African Americans or “colored people” are represented in an aspect that comes from the author's point of view. The African Americans are represented as being unbothered, growing up in a closed community, playing the game with whites, and optimistic.
"Sweat" by Zora Neale Hurston is about a woman named Delia, a washerwoman in Florida during the 1900s. Her husband of fifteen years, Sykes does not work, yet he complains about Delia cleaning "white folks'" clothes in their home(603). The marriage is abusive; Sykes began physically and emotionally beating Delia, two months after marrying her and hasn't stop since. Citizens in the town remark how the Delia was once "young and soft" but now has lost it because of Sykes(604). Delia realizes that she does not need to be with someone to be happy, because she has her beliefs, that everything will turn out good in the end.
After reading a ton of short stories this semester, the story that I remember the most is “Sweat” by Zora Hutson. The short story “Sweat” by Zora Neale Hurston, written in the 1920s, is a female empowerment story about a woman overcoming her abusive husband. Set in central Florida, it is a tale that revolves around protagonist Delia and antagonist Sykes. Many stories like this one, shows the famous battle of good vs. evil, Delia shows the side of good, while Sykes represents evil.
Louise and Delia What do most women want in a marriage? Is it hatred and an unfaithful husband? No! Women expect to have a husband who loves and cares for them.
The amount of torment one human can endure is amazing, and Delia Jones in Zora Neale Hurston’s “Sweat” isn’t exempt. She manages to hold together a home, work full-time, clothe and feed her extremely abusive husband. The question lingers; how can one continue to live in this kind of situation. It seems that for Delia, God plays a big part in her life, and Zora has appropriately left behind contextual references, symbols and representations in “Sweat”. Faith is a major theme utilized in the short story, while Sykes’ timely end rewards Delia for her priest-like patience.
Also, comparing "Sweat" to Jeffrey Edleson's "Social Workers” further highlights the feminism in Hurston's story. Zora Neale Hurston’s "Sweat", portrays the struggles and abuse faced by women in a patriarchal society. The main character Delia, is an African
In the short story Sweat written by Zora Neale Hurston, she tells the story of a hard-working woman named Delia Jones and her abusive, cheating husband Sykes. Delia and Sykes are drastically different characters. Delia is an honest, church going woman, who cleans white people 's laundry to make ends meet and Skyes is a low-down womanizer who uses his wife 's income to support not only himself but also Bertha the woman he is having an affair with. After years of putting up with her husband 's mistreatment, Delia finally holds her ground. She defends her job with a skillet.
Before I began reading, I tried guessing what the story was about. Only knowing that the title was “Sweat”, I thought the story might be about sports or hard labor. Then I opened up the story and the first thing I noticed was that the author’s name was Zora Hurston. I only found out that the author was female once I saw “her” in the section below describing her life and writing career. I found out other important things such as she lived in Florida, she wrote during the Harlem Renaissance (1920s), she died impoverished, and her work was eventually found by the women’s movement.
In "Sweat," the main character, Delia Jones, is portrayed as a strong-willed, hard-working washwoman who would wash clothes for white people. She worked tireless to provide for her family. Delia was married to Sykes, who would berate, beat and mentally abuse Delia, incessantly. For example, Sykes would walk into the room where Delia just folded clothing for the white people and find the whitest pile of clothes, stomp all over them and then kick them across the room, leaving her to clean up and restack them. Sykes was also openly living in infidelity with another woman, named Bertha.
During this rough time period, segregation was common and prohibition was recently introduced. Along with this, many other social and political issues played a role in Hurston's "Sweat." Consequently, a historical background of the early twentieth century would be ideal in order for the reader to better comprehend and appreciate the work thoroughly. In this story, Hurston writes about Delia and Syke's work lives. In the early 1900's, approximately sixty percent of African American woman and about twenty percent of men were employed (Mclaughlin).During this time period, men felt that they were vastly superior over women.
