“Sweat” by Zora Neale Hurston, is a very powerful story about a young woman named Delia overcoming her harsh and abusive husband Sykes. Throughout the story Delia displays the attributes of what it means to be a real Christian. I believe that her faith and hard work throughout this story is the reason that she overcame her hardships in her relationship. It seems that at many times in the story Delia is getting pushed around and abused but always keeps her head up and maintains a good attitude. In the short story, the theme of faith is rewarded through Delia’s faith in god, the interplay of light/dark, and the death of her husband Sykes. In “Sweat”, Delia’s whole life she has been suffering and dealing with the wrong doings and abusiveness of her Husband Sykes. Sykes is financially dependent on Delia. He is constantly cheating, …show more content…
pushing her around, and gambling even on Sundays when Delia is attending church. She is constantly living out the principles of what it means to be a true Christian through love, tolerance, humility and many more. It seems that Sykes does everything under the sun to make every minute of Delia’s life as miserable as possible. Because of the period of time, Delia is stuck in her situation because she is a black woman. At one point in the story she gets so fed up she claimed she was going to “call the white folks”. The interplay of the symbol “light and dark” also plays a very big role in this short story.
In the beginning of the story, Delia is separating the white and darker clothes and was soon interrupted by Sykes as he steps on the laundry with his dirty shoes and slings the clothes throughout the room. After that, he tells Delia not to ever bring white people clothing inside the house again. “Ah don't keer if you neer git through. Ahyhow, Ah done promised Gawd and a couple of other men. Ah ain't gointer have it in mah house. Don't gimme no lipneither, else Ah'll throw em' [the white people's clothes] out and put mah fist up side yo' head to boot.”(Page 3). It is obvious in this story the Sykes is the evil character that defies god and the Christian morals. Towards the end of the story Sykes brings a snake in the house to scare and potentially kill Delia. Sykes bringing the snake in represented a dark and evil act. Delia responded to the act by taking all the matches and going to the garden to get away from the snake and Sykes. The matches that Delia brought to the garden symbolized God’s light to escape from Sykes snake and the
darkness. Ultimately faith is rewarded to Delia from Sykes death in the darkness while Delia was in her garden with the sun rising.
Their Eyes Were Watching God is written by Zora Neale Hurston in the year of 1937. In the novel, the main character is Janie Crawford. Janie has been treated differently by others during her life because of how she was raised and the choices she has made throughout her life. The community is quick to judge her actions and listen to any gossip about Janie in the town. Janie is known to be “classed off” from other members in her community in various ways. “Classed off” means to be separate or isolated from other people.
It’s no wonder that “[t]he hurricane scene in Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, is a famous one and [that] other writers have used it in an effort to signify on Hurston” (Mills, “Hurston”). The final, climactic portion of this scene acts as the central metaphor of the novel and illustrates the pivotal interactions that Janie, the protagonist, has with her Nanny and each of her three husbands. In each relationship, Janie tries to “’go tuh God, and…find out about livin’ fuh [herself]’” (192). She does this by approaching each surrogate parental figure as one would go to God, the Father; she offers her faith and obedience to them and receives their definitions of love and protection in return. When they threaten to annihilate and hush her with these definitions, however, she uses her voice and fights to save her dream and her life. Hurston shows how Janie’s parental figures transform into metaphorical hurricanes, how a literal hurricane transforms into a metaphorical representation of Janie’s parental figures, and how Janie survives all five hurricanes.
Delia is a hard-working woman who is very obedient and faithful to her husband, Sykes. Through harsh words, he cuts her down about her work of washing white folks clothes and her looks saying that he 'hates skinny woman';. Delia's appearance resembles her hard work, with 'knuckly hands'; from using the washboard. Delia has put many hard- earned tears, blood, and sweat into her house while supporting Sykes' habits and taking all the abuse he could dish out. On many occasions Sykes has cut down Delia and her kind nature, even to her religious beliefs, accusing her of being a 'hipocrite'; because she worked on the Sabbath day.
Ethnic group is a settled mannerism for many people during their lives. Both Zora Neale Hurston, author of “How It Feels to Be Colored Me; and Brent Staples, author of “Just Walk On By: A Black Man Ponders His Power to Alter Public Space,” realize that their life will be influenced when they are black; however, they take it in pace and don’t reside on it. They grew up in different places which make their form differently; however, in the end, It does not matter to them as they both find ways to match the different sexes and still have productivity in their lives.. Hurston was raised in Eatonville, Florida, a quiet black town with only white passer-by from time-to-time, while Staples grew up in Chester, Pennsylvania, surrounded by gang activity from the beginning. Both Hurston and Staples share similar and contrasting views about the effect of the color of their
One of the most important things in life is finding one’s self. Although this may be difficult to achieve, it is necessary. In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, the protagonist, Janie, struggles with finding her true identity. This led to her round and multi-layered character. Janie has trouble finding herself due to other characters depriving her from the opportunities she has; she allows other characters to take advantage of her. Although Janie has a very independent personality in the novel, she is dependent on others to make important decisions for her.
Summary: how it feels to be colored me In ‘How it feels to be colored me’ Neale Hurston opens up to her pride and identity as an African-American. Hurston uses a wide variety of imagery, diction using figurative language freely with metaphors. Her tone is bordering controversial using local lingo. Hurston begins the essay in her birth town: Eatonville, Florida; an exclusively Negro town where whites were a rarity, only occasionally passing by as a tourist.
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. Through all the abuse, Delia takes pride in her hard work and her religion. In this story, Hurston uses religion and moral symbolism that controls the character’s actions throughout the plot. Delia is a hard working woman who uses her faith in God to guide and protect her from her husband’s physical and emotional abuse. She, as a protagonist, is physically weak but yet spiritually strong.
Sykes and Delia Jones have been married for fifteen dreadful years. He is nothing more than a disgraceful selfish husband. Although Delia states “She had brought love to the union and he had brought a longing after the flesh” (Hurston) Sykes resents her. In the short story Sweat written by Zora Neale Hurston, the character Sykes is a cruel and unfaithful husband. Together these two traits create a troubled character.
Zora Neale Hurston’s “Sweat” is a distressing tale of human struggle as it relates to women. The story commences with a hardworking black washwoman named Delia contently and peacefully folds laundry in her quiet home. Her placidity doesn’t last long when her abusive husband, Sykes, emerges just in time to put her back in her ill-treated place. Delia has been taken by this abuse for some fifteen years. She has lived with relentless beatings, adultery, even six-foot long venomous snakes put in places she requires to get to. Her husband’s vindictive acts of torment and the way he has selfishly utilized her can only be defined as malignant. In the end of this leaves the hardworking woman no choice but to make the most arduous decision of her life. That is, to either stand up for herself and let her husband expire or to continue to serve as a victim. "Sweat,” reflects the plight of women during the 1920s through 30s, as the African American culture was undergoing a shift in domestic dynamics. In times of slavery, women generally led African American families and assumed the role as the adherent of the family, taking up domestic responsibilities. On the other hand, the males, slaves at the time, were emasculated by their obligations and treatment by white masters. Emancipation and Reconstruction brought change to these dynamics as African American men commenced working at paying jobs and women were abandoned at home. African American women were assimilated only on the most superficial of calibers into a subcategory of human existence defined by gender-predicated discrimination. (Chambliss) In accordance to this story, Delia was the bread victor fortifying herself and Sykes. Zora Neale Hurston’s 1926 “Sweat” demonstrates the vigor as wel...
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 literature, the significant themes of a story can sometimes be developed within dramatic death scenes. With that being said, Zora Neale Hurston 's presents an unappreciated housewife and her high-class husband 's sinful ways which ultimately lead to the husband 's unplanned death, in her short story “Sweat”. The concluding death scene can best be described as illustrating the theme as “what goes around comes around”. Sykes was abusive and tried plotting his wife, Delia 's, death by using a rattlesnake, but his plan backfired and it was Sykes that was killed in the end.
Zora Neale Hurston is undoubtedly a product of the Harlem Renaissance as well as one of its most extraordinary writers. Zora Neale Hurston was born in Nostasulga, Alabama on January 7th 1891, then moved to Eatonville, Florida which was the first black township to be incorporated in the United States. Zora’s childhood was far from perfect. Her mother died when she was only thirteen. Her father was infidel. She dropped out of school and was bouncing to relatives houses here and there. Zora clashed repeatedly with her new stepmom and eventually moved out. Regardless of the struggles and problems she faced during her life, she is still a prolific and creative writer. In her story “Sweat” one can see how bold she is. She has used the language of Ebonics, her experience, analogy, allusions, symbols, stereotypes, pathetic fallacy, introversion and poetic justice.
4 Why does Delia remain passive through all the turmoil in her life? She knows that physically she is no match for Sykes. She thwarts his attempts to draw her into confrontations by remaining indifferent to his abuse. It states in the beginning of the story that she gave up on love when Sykes started cheating on her. Without love Delia needs to focus her energy on other things to make her life worthwhile.
"Zora Neale Hurston is Born." history.com. A&E Television Networks, 7 Jan. 2016. Web. 12 Jan.
Another easily recognized symbol in this story is that of the snake. "Sykes, what you throw dat whip on me like dat? You know it would skeer me - looks just like a snake, an' you knows how skeered Ah is of snakes" (Hurston 678). The snake is the main symbol in this story, it ties it together because it is mentioned at the beginning of the story and at the end. Sykes decides to bring a snake into their home, "Look in de box dere Delia, Ah done brung yuh somethin'.Syke! Syke, mah Gawd! You tak...