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Sweat By Zora Neale Hurston

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Zayan Farzad Ms. Barnett English 9 Honors April 3, 2024. Comparing “Sweat” and “Thoughts on the African American Novel” The texts “Sweat” written by Zora Neale Hurston and “Thoughts on the African American Novel” authored by Toni Morrison provide insight into different cultures during the early 20th century. Both works were written by African-American females, in which they both had extremely weak roles in society. “Sweat” is a short story about an African American couple living in Florida with the wife named Delia and the husband named Sykes. Sykes is an abusive husband and frequently harms Delia, and she tries to escape this abusive household. “Thoughts on the African American Novel” explores ideas on what shaped novels written by African …show more content…

The dialogue in “Sweat” is realistic speech like language and uses African American “slang”. “Sweat” says, “'Nother thing, where you been wid mah rig?”( Zora Neale Hurston 1). This line of dialogue in the text has words that aren’t in the English dictionary and cannot be defined, but could easily be understood by the people in the story. This is because these words and style of speech were common to African Americans at the time and was the way they normally talked; similar to a foreign accent. The tone in which the dialogue is presented in “Sweat” is one of the many things that allows it to fit into Morrison’s criteria for the African American …show more content…

“To make the story appeal oral, meandering, effortless, spoken— to have the reader feel the narrator without identifying the narrator.” (Morrison 3). When she says this, she is implying the fact that when the reader is viewing the text, they should be able to hear the voices of the characters talking in their head, and not just reading the dialogue. “Ah wantah cross Jurden in uh calm time." The vernacular speech being written in “Sweat” is an example of how African Americans who talk similar to the dialogue in the passage can hear the conversation going on because it is written how it is

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Biblical Allusions in Zora Neale Hurston’s “Sweat” One prominent theme throughout the short story “Sweat” by Zora Neale Hurston is that resiliency can carry us through dark times. Hurtson shows readers this idea through biblical allusions, specifically the Jordan River and Jesus’ death. Hurston pays homage to Jesus, an important figure in the Bible. Delia’s husband Sykes often boasts about his mistress to the other villagers in their community. In the months when Sykes flaunted his infidelities around town “Delia’s work-worn knees crawled over the earth in Gethsemane and up the rocks of Calvary many, many times…” (4).

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"Sweat" by Zora Neale Hurston and "Why Women Always Take Advantage of Men" by Zora Neale Hurston are two distinct stories that display the author's writing style and literary devices. Both stories are written in the first-person narrative, which provides the reader with an intimate insight into the characters' thoughts and emotions. However, the language used in each story is different. "Sweat" is written in a dialect that reflects the language spoken by the African American characters in the story, while "Why Women Always Take Advantage of Men" is written in a more standard English language, reflecting the author's education and training.

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Ellison’s main character proclaimed during the battle, “he came at me as though he meant to beat it out of me” (para. 28). We see the throughout, that violence and struggles the African Americans encountered were heightened until the very end of the story, as threats were alluded in every conversation and contact with the white man. This formation of precise verbiage Ellison offers actually helps to convey the intensity of stress and anxiety African Americans faced and still do face

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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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Hurston’s use of symbolism creates a dynamic piece of literature that can be looked at through multiple lenses. The symbolism in Sweat is somewhat overt, making it difficult to not be noticed. There is a heavy use of religious metaphor, tying the story back to the story of Adam and Eve from the Christian bible. This gives the piece a personal touch, showing us that Hurston has a strong spiritual connection. It also helps to add a whole other layer, creating a depth to the story that would not otherwise be accessible.

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Zora Neale Hurston’s “Sweat” depicts the plight of Delia Jones, a Southern black woman married to the abusive, adulterous Sykes. After many years of physical and emotional abuse, Delia refuses to subject herself to her husband’s malevolence anymore. Hurston illustrates the theme of good vs. evil through Delia and Sykes. Delia and Sykes Jones are two people on opposite ends of the moral spectrum. Delia represents good and virtue; Sykes, evil and vice.

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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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In the short story “Spunk” by Zora Neal Hurston, the theme throughout the story shows that people get what they deserve from beginning to end. A character Hurston uses in the short story to show people get what they deserve would be Joe Kanty. Throughout the story, the other characters Elijah Mosley and Walter Thomas describe Joe as if he is not a threat in any sort of way. As they see Joe’s wife Lena Kanty with another man by the name of Spunk Banks and knows he is not going to do anything about it. Elijah and Walter, then tend to tease Joe “Say, Joe, how’s everything up yo’ way?

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Aria Jackson Ms. Lavelle 4/21/23 The Harlem Renaissance was known at the time as the, “New Negro Movement.” From literature to music to art, this period emphasized the struggles and experiences of African-Americans as a whole. The Harlem Renaissance explored themes of economic social prosperity, the importance of community, the power of rebirth, and the value of self-expression, and the role of spirituality. Through the neighborhood gossiping about Janie, to not being able to go to the funeral, to her taking off her head rag, and to reminiscing her flashback to phoebe, Zora Neale Hurston departs from the harlem renaissance value of community and reflects the harlem renaissance value of self expression.

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In the introduction of Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of The All-American Meal by Eric Schlosser, he starts out by talking about talking about rural and urban land use. Schlosser first talks about the Cheyenne Mountains and how America has used it for an elite military base. Secretive, is the point that he was trying to get across when writing this very first part of his book. He used the Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station as an example of how American fast food restaurants conceal themselves into almost every street corner and block. There are fast food restaurant’s on everywhere and the fact that there are still being more built to this day.

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Body paragraph: “Sykes, what you throw dat whip on me like dat? You know it would skeer me — looks just like a snake, an’ you knows how skeered Ah is of snakes.” As you can see from paragraph four, the use of dialect is heavily used. As you're reading, reading the words and painting the picture of this scene in your head, the use of these word choices help it come to life. The

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As Sykes Jones stated, “Ah done tole you time and again to keep the white folks’ clothes outa dis house,” (site) exemplifying Delia has grown accustomed to remaining silent in the face of abuse. It is on this day after a particularly bad scare and added abuse by being mocked for that fear that her character shifts. Delia’s remarkable transformation as a character from a meek abuse victim to a stronger, independent yet gentle woman occurs whenever Sykes mocks her for her fear of snakes or when there is a scene involving the rattlesnake. At the beginning of “Sweat” by Zora Neale

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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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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.

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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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