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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,
"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.
Throughout the history of mankind, there has always been a battle between good and evil in one form or another. Whether it be light and dark, God and Devil, virtue and vice, peace and war, love love hate, the two sides are always be at odds. Zora Neale Hurston was no stranger to this age-old conflict. Growing up as a black woman in the south in the early 1900’s, and the daughter of a preacher, she was familiar with both the hate and wickedness or unfailing righteousness that a person could possess (Boyd). In her short story, “Sweat,” Zora Neale Hurston explores the theme of good versus evil, the relationship the two forces share, and the inevitable defeat of wickedness through her main characters, point of view, and symbolism.
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.
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
After reading “Sweat” by Zora Neale Hurston, you’ll never think of snakes the same way ever again. In “Sweat”, a snake ends the suffering of a woman who’s too afraid to stand up for herself. Snakes are a symbol of a penis and sexual power. In the story, Hurston describes the snake as “long, round, limp, and black”(1), which are adjectives similar to describing a penis and in this story the snake represents sexual power. For example Sykes says to Delia “‘Taint no use uh you puttin’ on airs makin’ out lak you skeered uh dat snake’”(6).
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.
(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.
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.
Gender Roles in the Hurston's short story ”Sweat” Imagine having to work tirelessly every single day just for one's money to get taken away by the person who is supposed to protect and take care of them. This is what happens to Delia, in the short story “Sweat” by Zora Neale Hurston. In “Sweat”, Deila constantly works to support herself by washing clothes and Sykes, her abusive husband, spends his time on other women. Delia gets mistreated by her husband Sykes and physically and mentally abuses her.
An example of Delia defending her emotional being and everything she earned is when she yelled, “that ole snaggle-toothed black woman you runnin’ with ain’t comin’ heah to pile up on mah sweat and blood” (cite). Warning her adultering husband she has a materialistic possession she is unwilling to part with and telling him to leave with the mention of divorce. Delia actively reacts to the abuse when Bertha wants to move into Delia’s house. This one want plunges Delia’s life to further hell as Sykes actively tries to remove her from the house. When he gets a negative response, he starts trying to scare her to death by getting a
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.
Southern black women’s in the 19th century was essential to the family household. Black women during slavery, they were often seen as hard working psychical labor, sex object and INSERT. As Zora Neale Hurston’s (1891-1960) suggests, in her short story “Sweats”, she illustrate the crisis in Delia’s marriage that interfere within women religion, and being emotional stable. Hurston’s reference objects to symbolize the character development, the choice of wording and the setting can make an impact in Delia’s action. In the title “Sweats” is being use as Delia’s position as a black woman who works for white folks during slavery.
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.
Historical criticism strives to cognize a literary work by examining the social, cultural, and intellectual context that essentially includes the artist’s biography and milieu. Historical critics are more concerned with guiding readers through the use of identical connotation rather than analyzing the work’s literary significance. (Brizee and Tompkins). The journey of a historical reading begins with the assessment of how the meaning of a text has altered over time. In many cases, when the historical context of a text is not fully comprehended, the work literature cannot be accurately interpreted.
