Sweat tells a short story about a black, washerwoman, Delia that lives in Florida with her abusive husband, Sykes. Sykes is a very unkind man because he likes to physically and mentally abuse Delia. Delia was abused early into the marriage, but never seek to escape. Furthermore, Delia works really hard to earn money to support both Sykes and herself since he is unemployed. Yet, Sykes still have the audacity to resent Delia for cleaning “white folks” clothes in their home. He also uses her hard earned money on his mistress, Bertha. Sykes, as practical joker, knows that Delia has an intense fear of snakes and still brings it around to constantly scare her. Eventually, the people in the town started noticing their relationship and led Delia to the conclusion that she did not need Sykes in any way and no longer wants to be in a marriage with him. Coincidentally, Sykes was getting fed up with the marriage and decided to kill Delia by putting a poisoned rattlesnake in her washing clothes. Ironically, the rattlesnake ended up biting Sykes in the neck badly and it was evident that Delia did not make an attempt to help her husband because the hospitals were too far. So he laid there suffering and dying in pain while pleading for help. The story ends with her waiting for his time of death quietly under the chinaberry tree…
In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston exposes the story of the love life of Janie. The relationship between Janie and her third husband, Tea Cake, was above and beyond the most positive of the three relationships with men she had and summoned forth her best assets. The relationships she had with these three men permitted her to be subjected to her first true love, expand her knowledge of working and taking care of herself, and discover a new culture/society.…
In her essay Zora Neale Hurston uses elevated diction as well as manipulation of viewpoint to enrich the audience with her childhood experience. In the beginning of her essay the author starts off with a very detailed description of her house as she details the exact number of trees. By doing this the author is able to provide the author with a rather vivid description of her childhood home. She furthermore emphasizes the importance of the flowers as she states how expensive they are in New York in comparison to her small hometown.…
Grass withered, leaves browned, snakes went blind in shedding and men and dogs went mad”. The climate is the perfect setting to fit the title “Sweat”. It was written at a time when African American may have been free but still struggled with segregation and hate. Hurston demonstrates this by making Delia a washer women of white men’s clothes and at one point in the story Delia threatens Sykes by stating, “Ah'm goin' tuh de white folks bout you, mah young man, de very nex' time you lay yo' han's on me”. This shows readers that white people are thought to be superior and…
Jack Dee once said, “ I have a longing for ritual, something I could cling to, a routine to make me feel well and contented. I hoped that reading Bible commentaries and theological critiques would nudge me closer to some kind of absolute that I could hold up as a torch to light my way.” This quotation means that the yearning for reading a book such as the Bible is a good feeling. Reading the Bible helps one understand and learn more about the past, and have a better perspective in life. This quotation relates to the novel Fahrenheit 451 written by Ray Bradbury because it explains the importance books are towards society, and the meaning of life. The novel Fahrenheit 451 talks about American society where all types of books aren't allowed in…
It's always amazing how much pain one human being is able to endure, and Delia Jones in "Sweat" is no exception. She runs her own household, works full time, feeds and clothes her husband, and deals with his daily verbal, mental, and physical abuse. How could anyone keep on with their lives given such dire circumstances? For Delia, it's all thanks to G-O-D. Delia's faith is a big part of her life, and Hurston's story is ripe with allusions to religious symbols, themes, and metaphors. In fact, the story itself could be seen as one big testament to the power of faith, as Sykes' sins catch up with him in the end while Delia's devotion brings her to a better…
'The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that 95% of the victims of domestic violence are women, and they also estimate that a women is beating by their partner everyone 15 seconds in just the United States alone. ' [ (Domestic Peace) ]. Domestic violence is something that is very prevalent in today 's society. What makes it such an awful crime is that most people never really witness it because it happens behind the close doors of people 's homes. Also, what makes it worse is that most of these women, who are the victims to these crimes, don 't go and seek help, they just bottle up their emotions and angers and keep to themselves. In "Sweat" by Zora Neale Hurston, the main character, Delia, is a hard working wife in Florida who makes ends meat from her job cleaning other peoples clothes. She is a very good women but her husband, Sykes, is always trying to pick fights with her and harasses her with more methods than one. He treats her with no respect what so ever and even has a girlfriend that Delia knows about on the side. Sykes complains frequently about the size of Delia 's figure claiming that she is too skinny. One day Sykes captures a rattlesnake and places it in their home, which scares Delia, who is terrified of snakes, to death each time she sees or hears it. Then when arriving home one day she sees the snake has gone missing from its cage and she immediately leaves her house. Skyes comes home not too long later and Delia watches him and he gets bitten by the snake. Delia could have gone and tried to get help but instead she just watched him die there because she did not love him what so ever anymore. Hurston truly captures all the feelings and emotions felt by Delia throughout the story. Hurston also gives a different perspective of the characters in the book by looking in on local people in the towns conversations about Delia…
Money is the root of all things evil. When a person put money before their beliefs and values a lot of things can go wrong. Delia and Missie May are the two women Hurston wanted you to see what money do to two different type if people, one self-made and one depended on money given. Delia was the woman that had to work hard for everything she wanted and have. She is not a person who let money define her, whereas you have, Missie May, a housewife and her husband gives her everything she wanted and needed. It’s Funny how Hurston depicted two different kind of bad marriages. In “The Gilded Six-Bits” the wife cheats on the husband where as in “sweat” the husband cheats on the wife. In both stories, Hurston tested a Woman’s strengths and weakness…
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.…
In the story “Sweat”, i would defend Delia’s actions because she deserved to be treated better. Also, you should treat people how you want to be treated . You can only put up with someone for so long until you get fed up with them. I would defend Delia’s actions because, she deserved to be treated better. No woman should ever have to go through what she went through.…
I chose to elaborate on the theological points of Zora Neale Hurston “Sweats”. She uses theological references to create a parallel between the characters in sweat and biblical figures to expand the ethics issues present in the text. Through references to master or slave relationships and religious symbolism, Hurston also takes the struggle and triumph of feminism. Sweat is filled with symbols such as the Garden of Eden, snakes, white clothing and Satan. Delia carries the theme of faith through each challenge she faces.…
The first influence was Hurston's childhood town of Eatonville and its economic situation (Lillios 13). Hurston's town was ideal for a young African-American girl in the early nineteenth century, providing a safe haven from restrictions of race (Howard 16). The town also preserved its African-American culture and history due to its seclusion from Winter Park (Seidel 110-111). "Sweat" reveals much of Hurston's nostalgic memories, though it primarily focuses on Eatonville's economic dependence on the neighboring town of Winter Park. When Hurston was growing up many of Winter Park's inhabitants were white snow birds with money. Like Delia in "Sweat," African-American residents of Eatonville made daily pilgrimages across the rail road tracks to clean houses, tend gardens, cook meals and watch the children of Winter Park. Hurston took advantage of this situation by working as a maid, though she failed by refusing to behave humbly and fought off sexual advances by her employers (Howard…
Delia is heated because her husband decisively made the whip look like a snake. He does not care about her feelings and yells at her because she has white people’s clothing in their house something told her he doesn’t like. She was not bothered by him kicking the neat pile of clothes she had just fold. By this time he is assured and determined to fight with her. Suddenly, his wife is feed up with the foolishness, she yells about how hard she works and puts up with his mess then picks up an iron skillet from the stove as if she would strike him. He is stun by his wife’s actions, especially since she doesn’t let her anger show.…
Zora Neale Hurston was a phenomenal woman. At the height of her success she was known as the "Queen of the Harlem Renaissance." She came to overcome obstacles that were placed in front of her. Hurston rose from poverty to fame and lost it all at the time of her death. Zora had an unusual life; she was a child that was forced to grow up to fast. But despite Zora Neale Hurston's unsettled life, she managed to surmount every obstacle to become one of the most profound authors of the century.…
Not knowing things is sometimes an award, but it can also be a curse. The same idea is applied to the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury where the government often hides the truth from the people. They do this to keep everyone happy since they think if you do not know about something, you do not have to worry about it. Some people can accept this standard of living, but others feel as if they are missing something like the main character Guy Montag felt as he learned more about books. Montag developed throughout the story to overcome the statement Ignorance is Bliss by the help of many characters but mainly Beatty, Clarisse, and Faber.…