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Summary Of Sweat By Zora Neale Hurston

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“Sweat” by Zora Neale Hurston was posted on January 21, 2013 by Biblioklept. The short story contained a plethora of different literature tools in order to grasp the audience's attention. The main topic that will be addressed in this essay is Hurston’s use of a adage. Moreover, adage’s are short statements that convey the general truth of certain situations. Specifically, the phrase “what goes around comes around” is an example of an adage and also a recurring theme of the storyline. This is due to the torment Stykes Jones inflicts upon his wife Delina; After either reading this paper or the short story, the reader will be aware of the type of man Mr. Jones is, good or bad. Attain a wide array of evidence from foreshadowed phrases said by characters …show more content…

Furthermore, after getting into an argument with her husband, Delina begins to talk to herself saying “‘Oh well, whatever goes over the Devil’s back, is got to come under his belly. Sometime or ruther, Sykes, like everybody else, is gointer reap his sowing.””(Par. 25, Line 1-3). Not only does this quote reinstates the phrase “what goes around comes around”, but that Sykes is filled with a evil or devilish distinction. Moreover, reap what you sow is a idiomatic expression that means everything someone does has repercussions; it will come back to you one way or another. In Stykes’s case, he will pay for all the dreadful things he has done to delina. Mrs. Jones associates Stykes with the devil because of his love of snakes, and tormenting his wife with them. Satan is actually called the “ancient serpent”; Stykes has not only terrified Delina with the thought of the creature, but he went out and caught a six foot long snake. The town residents actually ask Stykes questions and make statements pertaining to the animal and Stykes replies ““Naw, Walt, y’ll jes’ don’t understand dese diamon’ backs lak Ah do,” said Sykes in a superior tone of voice””. As shown above, he feels as though snakes are not evil, but precious “diamondbacks” that no one understands like he does. Overall, Stykes is in touch with the

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Zora Neale Hurston’s Sweat uses a plethora of imagery and symbolism to capture the anxiety, torment, and eventual relief the main character Delia experiences throughout the short story. It is mentioned numerous times that Delia has a petrifying fear of snakes, however, Hurston also uses the snake to symbolize Sykes, her abusive husband, and the venom he spits at Delia through the abuse. The bed Delia shares with her husband is anything but comforting for Delia; rather, it is where she is bullied by Sykes and where she has her epiphany of her failing marriage. At the end of the short story, Delia finds relief from the hot, Florida morning sun underneath her Chinaberry tree and waits for Sykes to die. The imagery of snakes, the marriage bed,

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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.

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When someone is put into a situation of whether to save someone they love that have been treating them poorly or to ignore them, I think that some people would ignore it. In this short story “Sweat” written by Zora Neale Hurston, Delia and Sykes are married couple for fifteen years. Delia had the choice of helping her husband that was bitten by a rattlesnake, which he deliberately set it up to frighten and get rid of Delia, or to ignore his cry for help. Sykes would physically abuse Delia. For a married couple, Sykes went against his vows.

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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.

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(Hurston 532). She believes in karma, that whatever Sykes does will come back around to him. She is good and believes that in time good things will come to her. Also it is clearly seen in the story how dynamic Delia’s character is. In the beginning, Delia is scared of Sykes and is too afraid to stand up to him.

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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.

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The ‘fish-net’ celebrates the idea of attaining both aspects of passive and active behavior. When one uses a fish net, he or she gains a sea creature in their net while simultaneously allowing the water pass through. Throughout the entire novel, Janie lives up to the stereotype that she has no choice but to be either active or passive. Hurston writes, “The familiar people and things had failed her so she hung over the gate and looked up the road towards way off.

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What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. In Zora Neal Hurston’s short story “Sweat” their was a couple (Delia and Sykes) that their love grew week. Sykes abused Delia many times. Delia stands up to him one day to tell him that they can’t be doing this anymore. Sykes brings a snake to her house and when she found it she ran away to the barn.

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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.

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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.

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Also when Walter Thomas says, “It’s too bad, too, cause she wuz a right pretty li’l trick when he got huh” (68), I learned that Sykes really had done a number on her physically and emotionally. That went on for a awhile and I really got the point that nobody except Bertha liked Sykes. Whether it was intended or not, I thought Bertha being described as “a hunk uh liver wid hair on it” (70) was quite funny. Later on, when Sykes gets the rattle snake, it’s clear he has crossed the line and Delia is done putting up with him. Her normal meekness towards Sykes is gone and when she said “Ah hates you, Sykes” (72) then continued to tell him how extremely much she hates him, I knew with certainty she had enough and was going to do something.

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The short story Sweat written by Zora Neale Hurston takes places in Florida in the 1920s about the marriage of a black couple named Delia Jones and Sykes and how she is trapped in this marriage and is constantly being abused by her husband and uses her fears to his advantage to effect their relationship. There are many themes throughout this short story but the main one that stood out was the strong feminism. Feminism is portrayed in Sweat by the main character Delia Jones which is the breadwinner in the relationship and works as a washwoman and is stuck in a toxic marriage and has to provide for her insecure husband Sykes. Just like how Delia is not privileged due to her race and her gender in Sweat, African American women are also by the same reasons, since slavery they have struggled individually and in groups to overcome the multiple injustices that they and their communities face. The term Black feminism was not a widely used term until the Black women 's movement in the 1970s.

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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.

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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.

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