ntroduction: Sweat is one of Zora Neale Hurston’s world-renowned short stories. As a famous American writer, Hurston is known for writing stories that depict real life as it was during the years when she wrote the stories. This story is about Delia Jones, an African American woman who has been in a strained marriage for fifteen years. The author uses her experiences to explain how oppression and physical abuse affected African American women of this period. In the end, Delia gets her revenge on her husband, Sykes for his mistreatment over the years. Discussion: From the beginning of the story, it is evident that Delia Jones is in a strained marriage and that her husband has no respect for her. The first encounter with this mistreatment is seen when he comes to the house late and scares her with a bullwhip, which looked like a snake. Sykes knows that Delia is afraid of snakes but goes on to frighten her with the whip, which looks like a snake. Sykes admits that he just wanted to scare her by saying, “Course I knowed! That’s how come Ah done it” (Hurston 26). He scared her intentionally and does not show any kind of remorse. When Delia attempts to …show more content…
The message that this story is trying to pass across is purely based on oppression, infidelity and physical abuse in marriage. The book is written for a wide audience mainly targeting those in abusive marriages. It also explores what could be the results of these actions especially for a long-term relationship like marriage. In this book, Sykes’ actions prove to be fatal. The snake that he brought to scare his wife bites and kills him, a fate that could have been prevented if he had been good to his wife. If their marriage had been better, Delia would have warned Sykes about the snake and he would not have died. In the end, Delia gets her revenge when Sykes dies from the poisonous