Sweat by Zora Hurston

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Zora Neale Hurston’s short story "Sweat" takes place in the 1920s in a small African American community in southern Florida. The story takes a look at a woman dominated by her husband, a common issue for many wives in the south during this time. Delia Jones, the protagonist in the story, is a hard-working woman who has bought her own home and supported her husband for fifteen years by taking in the laundry of white folks from the next town over. Delia’s husband Sykes does not value her or the work she does to support the both of them. Sykes has abused his wife for fifteen years and takes no shame in parading around his fat mistress for all to see. Sykes wants to get rid of Delia and take everything she’s ever worked for. Delia, though scared of Sykes, has been pushed far enough. At the end of the story Sykes gets exactly what he deserves when his nasty plan for Delia backfires on himself, ironically becoming the victim of his own terrible prank. Hurston’s short story “Sweat,” depends significantly on her brilliant use of four literary elements: tone/style, character development, Point of view, and symbolism to reveal the themes of empowerment, faith, and justice. The story begins in a normal tone that prepares you for anything. It then switches to a different dialect of old African American culture, which gets the wheel turning and draws you into the story. For example it is in this quote- “Sykes, what you throw dat whip on me like dat?”-that the vernacular switches and the story starts in its intended direction with the focus on the characters‘ dialogue. While the dialogue may be difficult to read, it reveals many important aspects of the story including the time period, the rural southern setting, the culture and race of ... ... middle of paper ... ...r his wife. Throughout the story the reader sees Delia slowly but surely take steps to reach total empowerment and incidentally freedom from her snake of a husband. After years of inflicting torture and pain, Sykes finally gets what’s coming to him, or does he? "Sweat" portrays realistic consequences and situations throughout the text which guide the reader towards self-reflection and determining if it was moral for Delia to leave Sykes for dead. Either way the story comes full circle and justice is served as Delia waits in the sunlight finally free from her oppressor. Works Cited "Sweat Study Guide | BookRags.com." BookRags.com | Study Guides, Lesson Plans, Book Summaries and More. 2005. Web. 05 Apr. 2011. http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-sweat/. Gioia, Dana, and R.S. Gwynn. “Sweat” The Art of the Short Story. New York: Pearson Longman, 2006. Print.

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