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).
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.
Louise and Delia What do most women want in a marriage? Is it hatred and an unfaithful husband? No! Women expect to have a husband who loves and cares for them.
Overtime, the experiences become a learning process, especially for the protagonists Tim O’Brien, Irene Redfield, and the narrator of Hate Poem. Emotions are major aspect of the two novels and poem, because everything revolves around the feelings of the characters. “She had a great longing to comfort him, to charm away his suffering and horror. But she was helpless, having so completely lost control of his mind and heart” (p.93). The difficulties of breaking from the emotions make each character shelter their fears and emotions.
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.
In the short story Sweat written by Zora Neale Hurston, the character Sykes is a cruel and unfaithful husband. Together these two traits create a troubled character. As the story opens he scares his wife Delia by throwing his big bull whip on her shoulders knowing that she may assume it is a snake. She reacts in terror and mentions that he knows she’s afraid, he then replies by saying "Course Ah knowed it! That's how come Ah done it."(Hurston).
New criticism is a literary theory that goes against the Historicism and Autobiography theory. This theory allows the reader to interpret the text that is given to them. It only focuses on the text instead of the author’s biography, the historical setting, or any outside sources. It also focuses on the elements in the text, such as characters, plot, setting, symbols, etc. It allows the reader to create their interpretation without any outside sources to influence their thoughts.
“Sweat” by Zora Neale Hurtson exemplifies the amount of disrespect and domestic abuse a woman can handle. It also demonstrated how some males view women in a distasteful and unsatisfied way. Gender and sexuality can initiate most of the specific tactics of domestic violence that can dehumanize an individual, especially women. Zora Neale Hurtson’s character, Delia Jones, demonstrates how women can transition from being inferior to becoming superior in a domestic relationship. The story opened with Delia washing clothes for white people on Sunday, and Sykes verbally abused her for dishonoring God because she was washing clothes that belong to white people on the Sabbath day.
In the heart-breaking short story “Sweat”, written by Zora Neale Hurston, follows the story of a fragile African American woman fighting for happiness. Delia was a hard working wife who always puts everyone else’s needs first before her own. Within her marriage her husband, Sykes, starting abusing her, physically, mentally and emotionally. Delia refuses to let Sykes take away her dignity, morals, and values.
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.
The author uses a list of her ordinary life events and moments to express that hatred feels are more about love during mundane events. The ironic tone of Julie Sheehan’s “Hate Poem” reveals that love and hate are closely related. The theme of this poem is, “The relationship between hate and love.” Through out the poem, readers may wonder what is the object or who is the person that author hates so much.
In her story “Sweat'', through her use of symbolism, imagery, and irony Hurston underscores the idea that relationships can not flourish without equality among one another. One example of how she used symbolism to portray the theme is when the snake bites Sykes. In her story “Sweat '', Delia is married to a mentally and physically abusive man named Sykes. As Sykes is dying in their house, Hurston uses the Jordan River to give the reader an idea of what Delia is feeling: “She knew the cold river was creeping up and up to extinguish that eye which must know by now that she knew” (7). This is the final sentence in the story, and it leaves the reader with the symbol of the cold river, which represents the death of Sykes as well as Delia’s relationship
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.
William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is a story known for being a tragedy and an incredible love story. However, is love more powerful than hate or is it the other way around in this story? Despite the violence and brutality of the book, you can find that love outweighs and is more powerful than hate in certain situations. Many examples can be found in the story and are not just with Romeo and Juliet together. Not surprisingly, Romeo and Juliet are the strongest example that love overpowers hate in the story.
When Bayardo brought Angela back home, he was instantly on her mind. Soon enough Angela started to write Bayardo “weekly love letter(s) for over half a lifetime” (Chapter 4, page 94). As Angela was writing the letters she realized that “love and hate are reciprocal passions.” (Chapter 4, page 92). This figurative language describes how Angela loved Bayardo but she also hated that she felt this way and had to chase after his love.
