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Domestic violence is a serious issue in our community that cannot be tolerated. Although domestic violence should be reported, women do not want to expose their partners because of the fear that it would destroy their family. As a result, they give the abusers the opportunity to take control over them just to keep their relationship same as before. The story, “Sweat,” by Zora Neale Hurston took place during 1930, where Hurston represents African American women’s lives of that time. During the time, men used to mistreat women and women faced inequality. The story is about a couple who are Delia and Sykes. Hurston shows many parts of abuse in the story through use of symbols that represent the complexity of abuse that there are many different …show more content…
layers. First of all, she uses snake and bullwhip to represent women’s fear that women are weak in such situations and cannot escape their abuser. Secondly, she mentions messy clothes in the story to represent that men control over women by mistreating them. Lastly, she uses the bed as a symbol where men abuse their partners physically and mentally. Hurston’s intention for using these symbols in the story is to reveal that this is not just a fictional story, this is something that happens in real life and we should pay attention to domestic violence because of its complexity which has many different layers. Hurston implies that Sykes manages to domesticate his wife by intimidating her and as she has a phobia of snake. In the story, when Sykes brings a snake to scare Delia, she tells him that she is afraid and asks him if he does not know that her most fear is snakes, but he replied, “Course Ah knowed it! That’s how come Ah done it” (Hurston 732). In this statement, Hurston represents a guy using his wife’s weak side to get control over her. From this statement, it is clear to see that Sykes knows about her fear and he uses the strategy to intimidate her so that she will always be afraid to go against him. At the end of the story, Sykes leaves home after he brings a snake to kill his wife but when he comes back, Hurston mentions, “Delia descended without fear now, and crouched beneath the low bedroom window” (Hurston 739). This excerption indicates that the writer uses the symbol of snake very effectively that at a point, Delia starts depending on Sykes because she believes that only Sykes could save her from the snake. In this case, she is surrendering herself to her husband by herself and the reason for surrendering is her weakness. Hurston shows the reader that women loose their strength to get rid of their abusers in such situations because they always depend on their abusers to save themselves from the danger. Hurston mentions Sykes’ mess with clothes to symbolize that even if women work for their family, they tend to get controlled by their lovers. In the text, Sykes orders his wife to do the things he wants her to do. In the article, Sykes mentions, “Next time, Ah’m gointer kick ‘em outdoors” (Hurston 732). According to this excerpt, the writer shows the reader that Sykes is threatening his wife for bringing white folks’ clothes in the house and he clearly tells her that if she brings white folks’ clothes again, he will throw them away. It is clear to see in the excerpt that Hurston represents the masculinity of the husband. Furthermore, Hurston shows the masculinity by mentioning, “He stepped roughly upon the whitest pile of things, kicking them helter-skelter as he crossed the room” (Hurston 732). This excerpt is an instance of men with aggressive behavior towards their partners. Although Hurston shows that Sykes does not abuse his wife physically in this statement, he abuses her mentally by messing with her clothes. Writer implies that the reason for stepping and kicking her clothes is to make her scare and convince her to think that if he can kick her clothes, he can verbally torture her as well. Hurston also mentions, “But she walked calmly around him and commenced to re-sort the things” (Hurston 732). Writer shows her readers that when men use their masculinity to control over women, women just accept it and never stand up to stop their husbands’ masculinity. This quote also supports the idea that women tend to get maintained by their husbands, even though women manages to earn money for the family. Although the marriage bed symbolizes comfort, sweet slumber in literature, Hurston uses the bed in her story to represent women’s sad reality at a place where they get abused verbally and emotionally by their husbands.
Hurston uses the bed as a symbol to represent the marriage that gets worse day by day. Hurston mentions, “She was young and soft then, but now she thought of her knotty, muscled limbs, her harsh knuckly hands, and drew herself up into an unhappy little ball in the middle of the big feather bed” (Hurston 734). In this excerpt, it is clear to see that the writer compares Delia’s physical condition of her young age and present time. When she was younger, her physical condition was soft but as Sykes started abusing her physically, her physical condition started changing and now her body is in a difficult condition. All the truth of the story was revealed in the bed. The bed represents the sad reality of Delia’s life in the story because this is the place where Sykes abuses his wife verbally. Hurston also pens, “Gimme some kivah heah, an’ git yo’ damn foots over on yo’ own side!” (Hurston 733). This excerption shows how careless Sykes is about his wife because he treats her like an object. Although, he does not torture his wife physically in this excerption, his behavior hurts her emotionally because of the space that is created between a husband and a wife. The write mentions, “She went to sleep and slept until he announced his presence in bed by kicking her feet and rudely snatching the covers away” (Hurston 733). According to this statement, Hurston is showing Sykes’ masculinity and his abusive behavior that he uses towards his wife to domesticate her. Furthermore, Hurston indicates that it is a woman’s bitter reality is when her husband is around her on the bed to keep abusing her physically and mentally by creating a relation gap between
both. In addition, the writer uses bullwhip as substitute symbol in the story to represent an oppressive figure, Sykes, who uses to intimidate his wife based on her weakness. In the beginning of the story, Sykes scares Delia with his bullwhip. In the text, it says, “It softened her knees and dried her mouth so that it was a full minute before she could cry out or move. Then she saw that it was the big bull whip her husband liked to carry when he drove” (Hurston 732). The reaction of Delia in this excerpt is because of bullwhip which Sykes uses to make her think that it is a snake. Hurston uses this symbol to show her reader a different way that Sykes uses to intimidate Delia. Hurston also writes, “She lifted her eyes to the door and saw him standing there bent over with laughter at her fright” (Hurston 732). This quote certainly shows that Hurston is revealing that abusers make fun of their partners’ weakness. In this quote, even though Sykes knows that his wife is afraid of snake, he keeps using bullwhip as a substitute of snake to surround his wife with scares. Abusers do not use only one method to make their partners scare, but also use as many as they can so that they can create a fear for their partners to escape their abusers. Last but certainly not least, by using these symbols in this fictional story, Hurston reveals the bitter reality of a relationship where the abuser uses violence to cause fear and domesticate the other person. There are many women in our society who experience this sort of abusive behavior from their lovers who abuse them both mentally and verbally. Abusers threat their partners to make them feel scared so that they do not raise their voices against the abusers. It becomes very difficult for women to leave the abusers in such situations because it frequently feels as they are destroying their family by escaping from their lovers. In the story, Hurston supports this idea by showing the reader that even though Delia knows that Sykes would never stop abusing her, she still has hopes and tries to re-sort concepts with Sykes so that their relationship would not be destroyed. Their hopes and thoughts make them weak to rescue themselves from the abusers. By using the symbols, Hurston shows the different layer of abuse and informs that domestic violence is extremely important issue in real life that we should give importance and should not just overlook.
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
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.
Historically, the job of women in society is to care for the husband, the home, and the children. As a homemaker, it has been up to the woman to support the husband and care for the house; as a mother, the role was to care for the children and pass along cultural traditions and values to the children. These roles are no different in the African-American community, except for the fact that they are magnified to even larger proportions. The image of the mother in African-American culture is one of guidance, love, and wisdom; quite often the mother is the shaping and driving force of African-American children. This is reflected in the literature of the African-American as a special bond of love and loyalty to the mother figure. Just as the role of motherhood in African-American culture is magnified and elevated, so is the role of the wife. The literature reflects this by showing the African-American man struggling to make a living for himself and his family with his wife either being emotionally or physically submissive. Understanding the role of women in the African-American community starts by examining the roles of women in African-American literature. Because literature is a reflection of the community from which it comes, the portrayal of women in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) and James Baldwin's Go Tell it on the Mountain (1952) is consistent with the roles mentioned above.
As presented in many fictional text such as Kindred, Wild Seed and The Appropropriation of a Culture “control” or “power” can be deemed the underlying influence to the concept of oppression and unjust treatment of others due to their race or social status. These fictional texts graphically detail the experiences of African Americans and how they came together as a community when facing the inevitable both in slavery and during the Jim Crow era. There are many other texts that describe the improper regulation of control and what can happen when one race or group has too much. One novel entitled Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston tells the story of a wife who was sentenced to prison after shooting her husband in self-defense after he had contracted rabies and turned violent. Another novel entitled Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor details racism in America during the Great Depression (Goodreads) Despite the slavery era and modern day being two different periods of time, there are still some unresolved issues and situations in which revolve around the idea of racism and oppression. However, unlike back in the day African Americans are able to learn about their heritage and ancestors as well as receive an education so that they may acquired the knowledge necessary to diminish the destruction caused by oppression and dilute the poisonous effects of
It was so much neater than a number of bundles lying around.” (Hurston 731). This quote shows that Delia is the clothes that are in the hamper because it is neater than the other bundles. We see that neatness being disrupted from the mess when Sykes antagonizes Delia because of her work. Hurston, yet again, breaks another gender role stereotype and shows that Sykes, the “man” of the relationship, is immature and most likely provides nothing to their relationship.
Zora Neale Hurston’s short story “Sweat” is about the empowerment of Delia, the main character, as she tries to find herself and overcome her husband’s abusive strong hold. Throughout the story snakes are fervently discussed symbolizing evil and malevolence. Delia is petrified of snakes and her husband uses this to his advantage. Thus the snake in “Sweat” makes biblical references to The Garden of Eden and the Forbidden Fruit and the evil that can be so tempting. Just as Sykes uses the snake in “Sweat” to scare Delia and become powerful, in some way, Satan entered into the body of the serpent to tempt Adam and Eve.The serpent was the instrument the Devil used to do his bidding. At first Delia loathes the idea of even being in the same room
“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...
...ng point, ‘“Mah cup is done run ovah,”’ again, another metaphorical illustration of how tired she is of being physically mistreated and mentally abused by Sykes, thus, her rage is channeled towards protecting herself and the property she has assumed through her dedication as a washwoman. Hurston makes this ever so clear as Delia shouts at Sykes, ‘“Don't think Ah'm gointuh be run 'way fum mah house neither.”’ Sykes has been unfaithful to Delia for a while now and she has finally taken the final straw. Hurston empowers Delia, through writing, “Delia said this with no signs of fear and Sykes departed from the house, threatening her, but made not the slightest move to carry out any of them.” This is an important step for Delia towards independence. Delia is no longer afraid of Sykes, however she has one more fear to overcome before she is completely free of oppression.
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.
In Harriet Jacobs Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, the author subjects the reader to a dystopian slave narrative based on a true story of a woman’s struggle for self-identity, self-preservation and freedom. This non-fictional personal account chronicles the journey of Harriet Jacobs (1813-1897) life of servitude and degradation in the state of North Carolina to the shackle-free promise land of liberty in the North. The reoccurring theme throughout that I strive to exploit is how the women’s sphere, known as the Cult of True Womanhood (Domesticity), is a corrupt concept that is full of white bias and privilege that has been compromised by the harsh oppression of slavery’s racial barrier. Women and the female race are falling for man’s
Relationships force individuals to sacrifice some of their aspirations and ideals which leads to emotional wounds. Zora Neale Hurston uses an extended metaphor with symbolic images to expose the internal conflicts that arise from complications within relationships. Hurston constantly refers back to a vision of a blossoming tree to develop a symbol of Janie’s life, focusing on love. The author says: “The vision of Logan Killicks was desecrating the pear tree, . . .” (Hurston 83). This image is used to illustrate the power of a new relationship in Janie’s life. Her soon to be husband, Logan, will damage her tree. By including this metaphor, the author simplifies the abstract concept of love to an image that is seen in day to day life. As the reader follows Janie, he or she is able to understand her feelings through the symbol of the tree.
Sykes had a mistress named Bertha who he spoiled all the time, but the people in town always wondered why he never paid attention to Delia. Walter Thomas, one of the men from the store, said, “Ah 'd uh married huh mahself if he hadnter beat me to it.” (Hurston) All the men in town were jealous of Sykes because of Delia. But Sykes, on the other hand, didn 't see what he had right in front of him. The plotting of Delia 's death was all done by Sykes. He went out of his way to get a rattlesnake and place it in the clothes hamper with the lid on, hoping it would strike her while washing clothes. When Delia saw the snake, she scurried outside and hid in the barn until Sykes arrived home. Delia calmly stated, “Ah done de bes ' ah could. If things aint right, Gawd knows it aint mah fault.” (Hurston) After the freak accident of Sykes being struck by the rattlesnake and suffering a long and painful death, Delia, hearing all the screaming and moaning coming from inside her “broken” home, sat under a Chinaberry tree that was in the front yard. She felt a sense of relief after she heard Sykes crying for her help and her knowing that she could not do anything to help. Her fear of their relationship and of him that went on for 15 years, was finally over and she felt as if she achieved her
"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".
According to Statistics, “86% reported emotional and psychological abuse, 49% reported physical violence, and 35 % reported financial abuse.” So why does a person stay in an abusive relationship? A question so natural to ask, yet difficult to comprehend. Abuse does not see race, gender, or stature; yet, it happens every day especially in a close - knit relationship. Sometimes abuse can be so subtle that it slowly chips away a person’s identity and the person does not even realize that they are in an abusive relationship. In James Joyce’s, “Eveline” Eveline exhibits the classical signs of a victim to abuse. She lacks self-confidence due to her father’s verbal, emotional, and financial abuse.
Racial and sexual slurs cover every inch of the ground, while disturbing images of men and children ravish the walls beside it. There is no sense of security within this room; instead, guilt and terror capture the viewer, making them feel powerless and weak. Kruger’s installation was meant to evoke fear in men; it forces them to visualize gender inequalities and makes them directly face the horror that women experience. In this manner, Kruger connects these inequalities to violence and shows men the effect that an abusive male has on the female emotionally, mentally, and physically. Ultimately, Kruger’s work, as well as many other feminists’, challenged another concept of domestic violence: the continuation of a man’s power and use of violence in heteronormative constructions (Kosmala