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.…
'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…
The most important person a girl looks up to and connects with is her mother. However, the girl may sometimes lack a mother figure, and may look to another: father, brother, sister, and if alive, grandmother. Janie Mae Crawford and Nanny share a complex relationship as her mother figure disappears and it is left to Nanny to nurture the protagonist, influencing many of her choices in the near future. Creator of character Nanny and Janie Mae Crawford, Zora Neale Hurston depicts the complexity of Nanny and Janie’s love in her novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. Hurston effectively describes the difficulty of the mother-daughter relationship between Nanny and Janie. Janie and Nanny’s bond is compassionate,…
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…
The imagery of opening doors is used by Hurston in order to display the chances, and options one has after escaping the room that had all those doors that would have led to many different paths much earlier. Tea Cake and Janie sit in the store drinking Coca-cola when Tea Cake offers to Janie if she wanted a passenger train or a battleship using the questions “Which one do you want? It all depends on you.” (101) The freedom of choice is finally in Janie’s hands as Tea Cake asks her “Which do you want?”. Hurston projected the emotion of contentment through the last quote “‘Tain’t dat Ah worries over Joe’s death, Pheoby. Ah jus’ loves dis freedom.”(93) then moving on to Janie making a choice on her own of her own free will, no longer controlled…
In post-Reconstruction society, women, especially women of color, were seen as subordinate, further perpetuated by a misogynic and patriarchal society. Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, eloquently captures this attitude by drawing a parallel between the treatment of black women and mules. Nanny, Janie’s grandmother, during a discord of marriage with Janie, stated that “de nigger women is du mule uh de world,” as a testament to her subdued perception on the subjects of marriage, race, and gender roles resulting from her background in slavery. The mule served as a symbol of abuse, and oppression, even though being a vital backbone to society, completing monotonous, and labor intensive work. Likewise, black women were treated with…
Death has now occurred, the journey to self-actualization can progress by having rebirth take place in outside environments. Janie’s second terrible husband, Jody, had just passed away in their bedroom. This allows her to meet Tea Cake, a novel man with the daring idea to move from Eatonville to the Everglades, a more progressive place. “So the very next morning Janie got ready to pick beans along with Tea Cake. There was a suppressed murmur when she picked up a basket and went to work. She was already getting to be a special case on the muck...Then Tea Cake would help get supper afterwards.” (PAGE).Through the imagery of Janie working in the field, a stereotypical male task, and Tea Cake cooking supper, a female dominated job, Janie and Tea Cake are able to become more…
In “Finding Haiti, Finding History in Zora Neale Hurtson’s Their Eyes Were Watching God” , Stuelke examines damaging affects of imperialism on the black population in Haiti and how it directly correlates with mistreatment and institutionalized regression of African Americans in the United States. This article is relevant to Their Eyes Are watching God because it portrays the dual control that the U.S government holds over both Haitians and African Americans, which Hurston depicts through the various encounters that , the main character, Janie faces. Historically, Haiti was an island conquered by the French that was used for the production of sugar cane , which of course involved slave labor. The slaves eventually gained their freedom when they…
nurture”, as well as God’s role in human everyday life and whether or not it is significant. From the text, we can see more than just the dialog printed on the page. These two are common southern folks in the 1960’s so, obviously they are not too smart or educated. The mangling of the English language makes that quite clear. However, the conviction and the matter-of-fact way they are talking and getting across their opinions, you can tell they truly are in belief of their stance and are very passionate about their ideas and arguments. This gives depth to two minor characters in a way that only Hurston can write, using the unique style she has carved out in the…
Wow! What wise insight you have provided with terrific textual evidence which points to the underlying biblical allusion I did not initially pick up on. To answer your second answer, my observations lead me to agree with the latter of the answers. Sykes exclaim, "Ah done tole you time and again to keep them white folk' clothes outa dis house" (Hurston 564). The context of the story puts Hurston's writing during a time of infamous oppression against the African American community. Therefor, Hurston evokes Jesus' act of washing of the sins of the world as she washes the clothes of those that gone against her. Like wise, while our sins are against Christ, he still served us by washing our eternal garments white like the clothes Delia prepares.…
Hurston Lorde and hooks all believe in social and economical equality. They believe that everyone is or should be equal. People in today’s society fight many different battles of discrimination, due to markers of difference. These three intellectuals give advice on how to raise future generations to become egocentric. In order to do this parents must raise their children with high self esteem. As they grow they will begin to explore differences with confidence and use their past to educate themselves and others.…
Being able to separate herself from the on goings of her surroundings ultimately allowed Hurston to mold her true self and live her life to its…
In my opinion chapter 36 reflects on the quest for racial equality because of the Harlem Renaissance's African American had a movement that expresses the African American struggle for equality and it also enhanced the image of race and culture. Zora Neale Hurston's and Langston Hughes was one of the most eloquent voices of the Harlem Renaissance as stated on page 448.Because of their poems, it encourages the African -American culture were able to express their feelings through poems, painting, music, and dancing and other forms of art.…
When one mentions a gentleman being able to see “Faith” one depicts a man of high religion. One who is considered pure and selfless. That is why it is considered a “gentleman” instead of “man”. Seeing also isn’t one of physical proportions, for it is not something you can ouch. More for something one can witness. Being religious and having a religion doesn’t make you faithful. Being a gentleman in faith is much more than one can clearly see. For the only one to see who has true faith is the one in which you want to be judged by...God. When one thinks of an emergency, one may imagine an image of an ambulance, someone in immense pain, someone whose life is at stake. Emergencies could also be simple such as a simple allergic reaction or even a…