Narrative Strategy in Hurston's Sweat
The narrative strategy and point of view in Zora Neale Hurston's "Sweat" mold the reader's understanding of the story. They craft the personalities of both Delia and Sykes as well as developing their relationship. The choice of a third person omniscient narrator charges the story with more brutal honesty than would any other type of narration. The scene where the village men discuss Sykes and Delia holds relevance as a narrative tool and explores an alternative point of view to the narrator.
The narrator draws the character sketches of both Sykes and Delia. Hurston lets us see their thoughts that allow her to develop their personalities rapidly and thoroughly. In a story of roughly only seven and a half pages Hurston manages to create vivid and complex characters. Much of this can be credited to her choice of narration. Long passages of narration mixed with the dialogue design a relationship fed on pain:
" She lay awake, gazing upon the debris that cluttered their matrimonial trail. Not an image left standing along the way. Anything like flowers had long ago been drowned in the salty stream that had been pressed from her heart. Her tears, her sweat, her blood" (1675).
Since the thoughts of Sykes and Delia are so different, a series of contrasts develops their relationship and personalities. Hurston's choice of narrator lends believability to the entire story and makes Delia's plight more extreme. If Delia were the one telling the story things would be quite different. The reader would not give her version of the story the same credibility he gives that of an outside narrator. It also makes the reader more sympathetic for Delia. A combination of what Delia feels and what Sykes does to her leads the reader to feel sympathetically towards her. This can be clearly seen with the addition of Bertha--the other woman in Sykes life. "Too late now to hope for love, even if it were not Bertha it would be someone else " (1675). What happens to her seems truthful and real which directs the reader's expected reaction to the story.
The scene where the men of the town discuss Delia and Sykes rounds the view of the characters. In this passage perhaps the most significant lines in the story can be found: "There's plenty men dat takes a wife lak dey do a joint uh sugarcane.
In the novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God”, by Zora Neale Hurston there were many contrasting places that were used to represent opposed forces or ideas that are central to the meaning of this work.
Through external conflict exhibited by three significant occasions with the antagonist and husband, Sykes Jones, Zora Neale Hurston takes her leading character, Delia Jones, through an internal change from a submissive character to an aggressive and defensive character in her short story, "Sweat." When the story opens, one finds Delia Jones on a Sunday evening washing clothes, as was her profession, and humming a tune, wondering where her husband had gone with her horse and carriage. Little did she know that within the week she would stand against her abusive husband and watch him die of the situation he would create.
Nicholas Sparks once wrote, “ You can’t live your life for other people. You have to do what’s right for you, even if it hurts some people you love.” In other words, a person must live life in his favor because it’s his own happiness that truly matters. In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Hurston uses many devices to illustrate that if one wants to truly achieve inner happiness he must live life for himself and no one else.
“It was a large, beautiful room, rich and picturesque in the soft, dim light which the maid had turned low. She went and stood at an open window and looked out upon the deep tangle of the garden below. All the mystery and witchery of the night seemed to have gathered there amid the perfumes and the dusky and tortuous outlines of flowers and foliage. She was seeking herself and finding herself in just such sweet half-darkness which met her moods. But the voices were not soothing that came to her from the darkness and the sky above and the stars. They jeered and sounded mourning notes without promise, devoid even of hope. She turned back into the room and began to walk to and fro, down its whole length, without stopping, without resting. She carried in her hands a thin handkerchief, which she tore into ribbons, rolled into a ball, and flung from her. Once she stopped, and taking off her wedding ring, flung it upon the carpet. When she saw it lying there she stamped her heel upon it, striving to crush it. But her small boot heel did not make an indenture, not a mark upon the glittering circlet.
'You sho' is one aggravatin' nigger woman!'; this is only one example of the abuse in Zora Neale Hurston's short story, 'Sweat'. Spousal abuse is a very common issue in today's society. Hurston represents this form of abuse through the way the husband talks to his wife and the way he treats her.
One of the key components of literature is the usage of elements, these elements of literature provides readers underlying themes that authors put into their story. Without these elements of literature, the author would have no way to convey their true messages into their works. In Zora Neale Hurston’s story “Sweat”, Hurston uses many elements of literature to convey the seriousness and true relationship of couples that have a history of domestic violence. However, a specific element of literature that Hurston uses are symbols which give readers a clearer understanding of domestic abuse and most importantly, the characteristics of the victim and perpetrator of an abusive relationship. The symbols that Hurston uses in her story are what fortifies her plot and characters in “Sweat”. 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 through her symbol to show some equality between men and women or at points women can also be superior against men.
Zora Neale Hurston's "Sweat" embodies some aspects that are found in Walker's and Marshall's essays. Delia, the main character, has an identity that is found through her hard work and spirituality. She also finds her freedom and independence in her home.
Zora Neale Hurston’s short story “Sweat” is about a woman, Delia who is physically and emotionally abused by her husband, Sykes, whose actions she struggles to overcome towards her. Through all the abuse, Delia takes pride in her hard work and her religion. In this story, Hurston uses religions and moral symbolism that controls the character’s actions throughout the plot.
“Early on, the narrative establishes that Sykes both physically and mentally torments Delia. Scolding him for scaring her by sliding across her knee a bullwhip that she thinks is a snake, Delia say...
Of Zora Neale Hurston's novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Alice Walker says "it speaks to me as no novel, past or present, has ever done." Though 45 years separate Their Eyes Were Watching God and The Color Purple, the two novels embody many similar concerns and methods. Hurston and Walker write of the experience of uneducated rural southern black women. They find a wisdom that can transform our communal relations and our spiritual lives. As Celie in The Color Purple says, referring to God: "If he ever listened to poor colored women the world would be a different place, I can tell you."
Counting and Skimming: Why do you think Delphine wanted to read the paper so bad? Do you think the articles will affect her later thinking?
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.
In Hurston 's short story “Sweat”, the theme is expressed in many ways throughout the story, though most prominently by way of domestic violence and ungratefulness shown
Langley, Lester D. The United States and the Caribbean in the Twentieth Century; The University of Georgia Press (Athens, 1982).
"Sweat" by Zora Neale Hurston is filled with symbolism ranging from images that are easily captured to things that require a little bit more insight. Religion has apparently played a major role in Hurston's life, readily seen in "Sweat" with the references to a snake and Gethsemane. Symbolism plays a big part of this story and after analyzing these, they give the story a deeper meaning and can enlighten the reader as to the full meaning of "Sweat".