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Zora Neale Hurston's Sweat

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The short story Sweat by Zora Neale Hurston was written in 1926 and is one of her most well-known short stories. An anomaly among the many short stories read in the course thus far, I was pleased to read a piece of women’s literature that focused on the experience of being black and a woman. This point of view gives a fresh look into the lives of an often sidelined group of women and I really enjoyed reading and analyzing a story that was written by a black women about a black women, which incorporated some of my favorite themes such as marriage and religion. Additionally, it was a short story that stayed with me even after having finished reading it because of its unique storyline and satisfying ending. Quite a few of the stories I’ve read …show more content…

As stated before, Sykes is abusive and takes pride in hurting Delia. Furthermore, he brings a poisonous snake home in order to frighten her. Sykes uses the snake to fulfill his desire to control Delia through any way possible. By bringing the snake home, he gains the upper hand in the household and feels masculine, which is perhaps something he doesn’t often feels he has to prove to himself, due to the fact that he doesn’t work or contribute to the household in any way. The snake is evil, much like Sykes and creates havoc in the household. In the end, the evil snake is the thing that ends up killing Sykes, much to the shock of the readers. My interpretation was that the snake was used as a symbol of the evilness of Sykes and how in the end, it came back to literally bite him, which resulted in his demise. In conclusion, Sweat by Zora Neale Hurston what I consider to be the greatest work of short fiction I’ve read so far. I praise it for bringing up issues that black women specifically had to bear in that time period, such as working day and day out to survive and serve upper-class white folks in society. Furthermore, it raises interesting debate questions such as if it was right to let Sykes die. In addition, I love it for its symbols and the fact that despite it not being how I expected, the protagonist Delia will be able to thrive and continue her life without the poisonous snake that is Sykes

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In the short story ‘Sweat’, Zora Neale Hurston uses characterization and foreshadowing to demonstrates that actions performed for temporary pleasure result in permanent consequence. Hurston demonstrates this through Sykes’ actions toward Delia throughout the story. One instance of Sykes’ actions is in his affair with Bertha. Sykes treats Bertha with more respect and love than he has shown Delia thus far. He brings Bertha to the town store and boasts to her saying, “Everything b’longs tuh me an’ you sho’ kin have it” (4).

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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.

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There are many hidden messages Zora Neale Hurston’s short story, “Sweat.” Delia, the main character, is mistreated by her husband, Sykes. He abuses her and cheats on her; meanwhile she is working many hours doing hard labor to pay for the house. It becomes very clear that one theme of the story is about abusive marriages. Often, the meaning of some events are overlooked, but play a crucial meaning to the story.

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In Hurston’s story Sweat some major themes were domestic violence and that fact that her husband was having an affair. This relates to the 21 century because recently there have been lots of cases of domestic violence. It’s not just in the African American community, it applies to all, it does apply to African Americans.

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He hates it when Delia takes the initiative because of all her hard work in providing for and being a washwoman. Delia is on the skinny side, which causes Skye to be abusive and cheat. Another way of him mentally abusing her is by getting a snake. He knows Delia is scared of being snaked, but instead of having his wife's best interest at heart, he buys a snake and leaves it with her. This snake haunts Delia, and she feels uncomfortable in her home when she tells him to remove

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I could tell that the story was going to be about some major conflict between Sykes and Delia. Tension increased when Hurston wrote that Delia “seized the iron skillet from the stove and struck a defensive pose” (67). Sykes was clearly a very bad husband and when I read, “Two months after the wedding, he had given her the first brutal beating” (67), I wondered why Delia had stayed with him for fifteen

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Sykes is an abusive husband and frequently harms Delia, and she tries to escape this abusive household. “Thoughts on the African American Novel” explores ideas on what shaped novels written by African

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The short story Sweat written by Zora Neale Hurston takes places in Florida in the 1920s about the marriage of a black couple named Delia Jones and Sykes and how she is trapped in this marriage and is constantly being abused by her husband and uses her fears to his advantage to effect their relationship. There are many themes throughout this short story but the main one that stood out was the strong feminism. Feminism is portrayed in Sweat by the main character Delia Jones which is the breadwinner in the relationship and works as a washwoman and is stuck in a toxic marriage and has to provide for her insecure husband Sykes. Just like how Delia is not privileged due to her race and her gender in Sweat, African American women are also by the same reasons, since slavery they have struggled individually and in groups to overcome the multiple injustices that they and their communities face. The term Black feminism was not a widely used term until the Black women 's movement in the 1970s.

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In "Sweat," the main character, Delia Jones, is portrayed as a strong-willed, hard-working washwoman who would wash clothes for white people. She worked tireless to provide for her family. Delia was married to Sykes, who would berate, beat and mentally abuse Delia, incessantly. For example, Sykes would walk into the room where Delia just folded clothing for the white people and find the whitest pile of clothes, stomp all over them and then kick them across the room, leaving her to clean up and restack them. Sykes was also openly living in infidelity with another woman, named Bertha.

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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.

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