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.
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.
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 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.
Many authors utilize the events that have occurred throughout their lifetime as an inspiration for not only their novels’ plots, but also their novels’ themes. The author of Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston, is one of the many authors who have utilized their life’s experiences as inspiration for her novels’ themes. Throughout her major novels, she has utilized events in her life, such as her early life, her relationships, and the fact that she grew up in an all-black town, in order to inspire several themes in her novels, and several of her beliefs that she conveys in her novels. Themes, and beliefs, such as African-Americans are not all good nor are they all bad, experiences contribute to finding one’s true self, there is no
"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.
Zora Hurston uses vivid imagery, natural diction, and several literary tools in her essay “How It Feels to Be Colored Me”. Hurston’s use of imagery, diction, and literary tools in “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” contributes to, and also compliments, the essay’s theme which is her view on life as a “colored” person. Throughout “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” Hurston carefully incorporates aspects of her African American culture in an effort to recapture her ancestral past. Hurston’s use of imagery, diction, and use of literary tools shape her essay into a piece of Harlem Renaissance work. Imagery in “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” is quite abundant.
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.
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.
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.
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
Sweat by Zora Neale Hurston displays countless acts of symbolism through imagery, it partially requires deeper knowledge and understanding. Religion has clearly played a predominant role in Hurston 's life, this is exemplified by the references to a snake and Gethsemane. The symbolism presented throughout the story has a significant impact and in the wake of evaluating it; they give the story more clout while justifying the true meaning behind the title, Sweat. The most obvious symbol in the story is the title. In the narrative it states, “Looka heah, Sykes, you done gone too fur.
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.
