Endured Then Earned Empowerment

632 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Sweat symbolism zora neale hurston

It has been a long time coming and women still are not where they, ideally, would like to be. In Zora Neale Hurston’s “Sweat,” the main character Delia is the picture of a strong woman. In the past hundred years this has been particularly evident. Since 1920, women have been able to exercise their right to vote. In 1966, the National Organization for Women was created, so that women can have a support system when they want to have a positive impact on the world. Women have been, still are, and will be, continuing to seek positions of authority. The theme the story is endurance and empowerment.
Throughout Hurston’s story, the main character Delia is the picture of empowerment. In the beginning Delia is a worn, hardworking, respectable, black woman. Delia points out that, “Mah sweat is done paid for this house….” She also makes sure to inform her husband, Sykes, that she is the one who provides for the two of them. This is evident when she says, “Mah tub of sudes is filled yo’ belly with vites more times than yo’ hands is filled it.” Hurston presents more information for the reader to learn more about Delia. She is a good and kind hearted woman who, “… brought love to the union….”
The character Sykes is not only different from Delia, but he is her foil. Their differences allow the reader to learn more about Delia. In contrast to Delia, Sykes’ only “… brought a longing for the flesh.” He only loved Delia for her body and now that she is older, he is cheating on her and beating her. The other lady does not have much going for her, especially when Delia describes her as, “that ole snaggle-toothed…woman….” Sykes is disrespecting Delia by cheating on her and also because he is abusing her. The way that they speak to each othe...

... middle of paper ...

... rough marriage that she survived. Sykes pain he caused on Delia literally came back and bit him, and it killed him. If you live a life causing pain, then it will come back to you. If you live a life like Delia working hard and helping others, in the end the rewards will show it. The best lesson to learn from “Sweat” is that life is what you make it.

Works Cited

"Zora Neale Hurston's Sweat: How Characterization Contributes to the Theme." Yahoo Contributor Network. Mountain Writer, 15 Oct. 2007. Web. 22 Feb. 2014.
Smith, Nicole. "Analysis and Summary of “Sweat” by Zora Neale Hurston." Article Myriad. Article Myriad, 6 Dec. 2011. Web. 20 Feb. 2014.
"History of NOW." History of NOW. National Organization for Women, n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2014.
Yuval-Davis, Nira. "Women, Ethnicity and Empowerment." Women, Ethnicity and Empowerment. SAGE Journals, n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2014.

Show More
Related

  • Delia Jones' Transformation in Sweat

    1259 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hurston, Zora Neale. "Sweat." Norton Anthology of Southern Literature. Ed. William L. Andrews. New York: Norton, 1998.

    Read More

  • Comparison Of Sweat And Woman Hollering Creek

    564 Words  | 2 Pages

    In “Sweat” by Zora Neale Hurston, the protagonist Delia is “double-colonized,” living in a society where African Americans are oppressed by whites, while her husband Sykes is also oppressing her. Delia is living in Florida in the early 20th century, when Jim Crow laws kept the black community segregated and oppressed. Delia washed clothes for the wealthier white community to make her living. She even had to work on Sunday night just to get all the washing done every week. Sykes tells Delia “Ah done tole you time and again to keep them white folks’ clothes outa dis house” (Hurston 137). He then goes on to call Delia a hypocrite for praying at church then coming home and doing laundry for white people, before stomping on the whitest pile of clothing. Hurston illustrates the hatred that manifests from racial oppression. Delia tells Sykes “Ah been married to you fur fifteen years, and Ah been takin’ in washin’ fur fifteen years. Sweat, sweat, sweat! Work and sweat, cry and sweat, pray and sweat!” (137). This epitomizes Delia’s existence; she works constantly,

    Read More

  • Essay On Delia Jones In Zora Neale Hurston's Sweat

    605 Words  | 2 Pages

    Delia was brutally beaten by her husband, Sykes on two months after they said, “I do”. “[Delia] had memories of [Sykes] numerous trips to Orlando with all of his wages when he had returned to her penniless even before the first year had passed” (Hurston 2-3). Through both of these events, Delia stood by Sykes, because of the vowels that she took on her wedding day. Delia refused to leave the house so that Sykes could move his mistress, Bertha into the house. “You aint paid for nothin’ on this place, and Ah’m gointer stay right heah till Ah’m toted out foot foremost” (Hurston 2). Delia is a strong and faithful woman that can put up with a lot of things, until it comes to her house that she has worked

    Read More

  • Similarities Between Sweat And The Yellow Wallpaper

    1256 Words  | 3 Pages

    The two works of literature nudging at the idea of women and their roles as domestic laborers were the works of Zora Neale Hurston in her short story “Sweat”, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story “The Yellow Wallpaper”. Whatever the setting may be, whether it is the 1920’s with a woman putting her blood, sweat and tears into her job to provide for herself and her husband, or the 1890’s where a new mother is forced to stay at home and not express herself to her full potential, women have been forced into these boxes of what is and is not acceptable to do as a woman working or living at home. “Sweat” and “The Yellow Wallpaper” draw attention to suppressing a woman’s freedom to work along with suppressing a woman’s freedom to act upon her

    Read More

  • Analysis Of How It Feels To Be Colored Me By Neale Hurston

    1781 Words  | 4 Pages

    Hurston, sitting on her porch imagines it to be a theatre as she narrates her perspective of the passing white people. She finds a thin line separating the spectator from the viewer. Exchanging stances at will and whim. Her front porch becomes a metaphor for a theater seat and the passers Despite the current scrutiny that her race faces she asserts to the reader that her race and color define her as a person and does not determine her identity.

    Read More

  • Delia and Syke

    616 Words  | 2 Pages

    Sykes, in the story, tormented Delia in many ways throughout the story. One incident was with the bull horn when he tried to scare Delia while she was sorting the white clothes. Sykes also kicked all the clothes she had sorted all over the floor. Through all the pain and torment she goes through with Sykes, she still goes to church on Sundays and prays and comes home to go back to working around the house. Sykes, on the other hand, who is completely opposite to Delia’s character, seems to oppose Delia in every word and action.

    Read More

  • Themes In Sweat By Zora Neale Hurston

    1620 Words  | 4 Pages

    The symbols that Hurston uses are necessary because it destroys the typical gender role stereotypes between men and women. This is necessary because there is such a difference between the portrayal of men and women, men often being superior to women. Hurston uses her symbol to show some equality between men and women, or at points women can also be superior to men. A symbol found in Hurston’s story, “Sweat,” that Hurston uses to destroy the gender stereotypes of men and women is the bed.

    Read More

  • Zora Neale Hurston’s short story Sweat

    1248 Words  | 3 Pages

    Zora Neale Hurston’s short story Sweat is a visceral reminder of the acute oppression and sexism women have always faced in American society. The protagonist of the story, Delia, is married to a cruel and angry man named Sykes. Through a depiction of their married life, this short story shows that despite patriarchal oppression, women have exercised their agency and resisted in a myriad of ways. The story begins with Delia, a working Black woman in Florida, who is a white woman. It is a warm spring day and she is sorting and soaking the clothing she washes for the white residents of her town.

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis: Combining Culture and Tradition

    1828 Words  | 4 Pages

    Zora Neale Hurston uses setting and tradition to further the reader’s understanding of African American culture and the characters in “The Gilded Six-Bits.” The setting in “The Gilded Six-Bits” is “a Negro yard around a Negro house in a Negro settlement...” (Hurston). By placing this story in an all-Negro settlement, Hurston emphasizes the importance of community and unity during a time of segregation and racial tension. This community, known as a “race colony,” was “one of the voluntarily segregated communities meant to empower its black citizens and prove to the surrounding white world that blacks were capable of self-government, independence, integrity, and indigenous forms of expression.” This aspect of the story gives the reader insight to the type of characters Missie May and Joe are. Because they live in an independent black community, it is obvious that they are self-respecting, hard working African Americans. Furthermore, the description of the happiness and hard work put into t...

    Read More

  • Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God

    700 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hurston does not concern herself with the actions of whites. Instead, she concerns herself with the self-perceptions and actions of blacks. Whites become almost irrelevant, certainly negative, but in no way absolute influences on her

    Read More

  • National Organization for Women

    2250 Words  | 5 Pages

    Lewis, Jone Johnson. "National Organization for Women - NOW." Women's History - Comprehensive Women's History Research Guide. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2011. .

    Read More

  • Symbolism in Their Eyes Were Watching God

    1106 Words  | 3 Pages

    1. c.Robert E. Hemenway, in his Zora Neale Hurston: A Literary Biography, University of Illinois Press, 1977, 371 p.

    Read More

  • Free College Essays - Setting in Their Eyes Were Watching God

    558 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hurston describes Eatonville not in a negative way, but more as a place that is not beneficial to an independent woman like Janie. Janie Starks, the wife of the mayor, is sentenced to spend her days as a worker in the town store, hair tied up, and silent. She must deal with money and figures without being able to enjoy the “lying sessions” on the porch, or attending such impressive town events like the “muleogy.” To the reader, Eatonville represents all that is repressive in life. Janie’s nature is restricted not by the town itself, but by her status in the town.

    Read More

  • Janie and the Pear Tree in Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

    906 Words  | 2 Pages

    Appiah, K.A. and Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. eds. Zora Neale Hurston: Critical Perspectives Past and Present. New York: Amistad Press, Inc., 1993.

    Read More

  • Relating the Title to the Novel and Novelist in "Their Eyes Were Watching God"

    707 Words  | 2 Pages

    Perhaps God was not an everyday part of her people's lives, but when there was a problem with love or nature that was impacting their lives, God was certainly a significant and appropriate part of their lives. This title and the novel reflect one woman's journey to discover life and love while realizing God's presence through it all and immortalizes the way many people in Hurston's time must have felt regarding God and nature.

    Read More

More about Endured Then Earned Empowerment

Open Document