Gender Roles In Sweat By Zora Neale Hurston

Society is constructed of people living together, were many ideas and stereotypical ideas are laid out. Based on the norms that were created, men and women try to act and perform the duties, where others who don’t seem different from that society. People’s ideas and concepts allow work and other activities to be placed into categories based on whether it is feminine or if it is masculine and only men can perform that task. Similarly, in the short story “Sweat” by Zora Neale Hurston the protagonist Delia Jones, is both masculine and feminine because of the roles she has taken as a worker and a wife in her marriage relationship explaining how a women can possess both qualities that traditional men and women have. In the workforce, Delia can be found to be both masculine and feminine even though she is just a wash women. When we as human beings tend to think of cleaning clothes or even doing laundry a female comes into our mind because that’s how we see a females responsibilities to be like. Delia is a hardworking women who works the whole day in soap, cleaning white peoples clothing trying to earn a living. As the author states, “The week was as full of work for Delia as all other weeks, and Saturday found her behind her

Delia is a powerful individual who works as a washwomen even though is a feminine quality but is masculine when it comes to being the breadwinner of the family. Delia’s life has taught her how to be a strong individual and how to face life despite all the obstacles that come her way. As a result, Delia is seen portraying both the stereotypical qualities of men and women showing how these roles placed by society is just a label that put people into categories even though someone like Delia can be