Summary Of Sweat By Zora Neale Hurston

The story Sweat by Zora Neale Hurston covers the life of a woman named Delia and her husband Skyes of fifteen years. Sykes was an abusive, adulterous, and hard-imbibing husband. Although not always this harsh, over the years he began to resent his wife Delia and started seeing another women. Throughout the story there are many instance where Sykes would deliberately subject his wife to distress and chaos. At times Delia would be washing clothes for her job as a wash women in order to bring in much needed income and her husband Sykes would find the whitest pile of attire and stomp on them and kick them across the room (Hurston 2). Eventually, Sykes inhumane attempts to get under his wife’s skin became unsatisfying, so he devised a plan to get Delia out of the house for good and move his mistress Bertha in. Sykes executes his plan by bringing a

It is made clear throughout the story that it was unlikely that anyone in the community would have came to Sykes aid, a man named Clarke confirms this when he says “We oughter take Sykes an dat stray ‘oman un his’n down in lake Howell swamp an lay on de rawhide till they cain’t say Lawd a mussy….He done got too biggity to live--an’ we oughter kill him.” (Hurston 4). This shows that Skyes has gained a reputation as despicable man not only with his wife but through the whole community. It is very understandable why Delia does not aid her husband while he is being bitten by the very snake he brought into their home in attempts to kill her. Delia was never obligated to warn nor save Skyes, seeing how he did not present her with warning that he put a snake in her laundry basket to murder her, but also because by entering the home and trying to save her husband she would have put herself in danger of being bitten by the snake as well. Skyes own mishaps and spiteful ways led him to his own