Delia Passage Analysis

This passage is a huge turning point both in this story and in Delia’s life. The audience is introduced to the characters and it becomes instantly obvious that Sykes doesn’t treat Delia right. She raises the iron skillet from the stove and holds it in the space between her and Sykes. He is knocked into a state of revelation along with the audience as “It cowed him and he did not strike her as he usually did.” Delia had enough of the matrimonial torture and has been pushed past the point of being able to deal with Sykes anymore. She reveals the presence of another woman in his life and disclaims that he will not bring her into the house that she has slaved over and earned. Once Sykes storms out, fleeing from the confrontation, Delia lays awake at night, weighed down from the realization of the terrible events that have transpired
Hurston chooses to portray the story in a third person omniscient point of view which allows for the feelings of both characters to be displayed. This is very important for this passage in particular because it shows just how dramatic this transformations and realizations are for both characters. In many moments within the story it is made easy to jump right into Delia’s mind and know how she is feeling. Hurston sets the story up in this way so that we can really feel for her in moments of deep thought like: “Too late now to hope for love, even if it were not Bertha it would be someone else”. Moments like this force the reader into her mind and into a state of pitying Delia’s life and willing her to be free from it. Hurston also drags the audience right into the thick of the character’s lives by using the heavy dialect that they would have been speaking in the 1900’s. This allows for the transportation into a different time and place to really feel like a witness to the