Symbolism In Zora Neale Hurston's Sweat

While reading the short story, “Sweat” by Zora Neale Hurston, I began to notice a set of symbols and ideas that were constant and that connected most of the important events in the story. Hurston created the largest amount of symbolism, in my opinion, through the rattlesnake that created conflicts of evil many times in the story and set a role of overall morals of fear and the concept of karma along with a whole range of associations beyond its main purpose. Early on in the story Sykes is viewed as evil through the actions involved with abusing Delia and seeing his mistress Bertha constantly. Sykes is not only physically and verbally abusive, but he is openly having an affair with this uppity, brazen woman. Delia provides all the income for herself and Sykes through washing clothes for the white town folk, which Sykes verbally abuses her for doing and still expects money from her which he then for spends on Bertha. Amid all this, Delia is tough and is not bothered by much, but the one thing she is deathly afraid of is snakes and any

Keeping him around the house is just as dangerous as a venomous snake and she knows is a danger to her but there's little to nothing she can do. But with all this ‘venom’ for say being used upon Delia, like any snake a loss of venom can become a severe problem over time. In turn to this, the fate is twisted and the actual snake comes back and bites Sykes, literally and figuratively. But in many ways Sykes death isn't a bad thing, but in fact Delia is saved from an awful, abusive marriage and doesn't seem to saddened with his death. With this, Hurston seems to be warning that one's own evil will one day come back around to bite you, just like it did to Sykes. In the beginning the snake and the symbol it held was Sykes bestfriend, then in the end it's literally the reason he has a downfall and puts him to