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Analysis on sweat by zora neale hurston
Analysis on sweat by zora neale hurston
Analysis on sweat by zora neale hurston
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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,
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).
The first scene of Hurston’s short story sweat depicts a routined representation of an abusive relationship, through the interactions of main characters Delia Jones and Sykes Jones. The exemplified relationship identifies all aspects regarding abuse, particularly verbal, physical, as well as the lasting effects of psychological abuse.
"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.
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.
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.
Addiction is a complicated and challenging condition that affects millions of people around the world. The consequences of drug addiction can be devastating for individuals and for society. Addiction can cause numerous health issues, and changes to personal life with friends and family. The play “Sweat” by Lynn Nottage highlights addiction, her characters Tracey and Brucie both face addiction after traumatic experiences. The play “Sweat” calls attention to the challenges that people and families dealing with addiction face.
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.
At the end of the story Deila eventually stood up to Sykes and took control of her own life back. “Sweat" by Zora Neale Hurston” is set in a small town in Central Florida. The central idea of the short story is Deila’s struggle to have control
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
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.
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.
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
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.
