Zora Neale Hurston wrote “Sweat” in 1926. During this time period, it was still a common practice to segregate whites from blacks and women were still not considered equals. Delia, the main character and protagonist of “Sweat”, was at a great disadvantage and represented many of the struggles that women faced during this time period. The one aspect that differed, however, was the fact that Delia was the sole provider for herself and Sykes. This was extremely uncommon during this time which could be a factor for why Sykes treated her with such disrespect. Men during this time wanted to feel the sense of superiority. Since Sykes lacked the masculinity of providing for his wife, he made up for it by boasting his confidence and abilities to another woman. Throughout the story, Sykes’s behavior and actions presents as the epitome of evil whereas Delia serves as a model of Christianity and nobility. While Delia is challenging the idealistic gender roles, Sykes is oppressing her and all that she stands for. Sykes’s degrading personality is apparent through his actions towards Delia, “He picked up the whip and glared down at her,” (Hurston). Despite how hard she works Delia is still punished by …show more content…
evil through the symbolization of the snake and the death of Sykes. For years, historically, a snake has symbolized revenge and sin, but this symbolization becomes even more apparent throughout the story when Sykes’s hatred for Delia is portrayed through his actions with the snake. The snake serves as an allusion for the Devil as compared to Sykes’s sinful actions. As Sykes reiterates, “Taint no use uh you puttin’ on airs makin’ out lak you skeered uh dat snake – he’s gointer stay right heah tell he die,” he is going to keep the snake, symbolizing the sin, around until it dies. Despite the fact that Delia is scared, Sykes continues to keep the snake as an inducement for Delia to leave him so that he no longer has to commit this
The objectification and submission of Delia by Uncle Nathan is demonstrated when Uncle Nathan’s misconceptions lead him to wonder why Delia isn’t married when she introduces herself as “Delia Sykes” (6). He later continues to say that he “wonder[s] why she [didn’t] [introduce] herself as Mrs. Sykes” while in that time the “girls didn’t do that” (6). This example of objectification and submission highlights how women are seen as property in which they must allow
In “Sweat” by Zora Neale Hurston, the protagonist Delia is “double-colonized,” living in a society where African Americans are oppressed by whites, while her husband Sykes is also oppressing her. Delia is living in Florida in the early 20th century, when Jim Crow laws kept the black community segregated and oppressed. Delia washed clothes for the wealthier white community to make her living. She even had to work on Sunday night just to get all the washing done every week. Sykes tells Delia “Ah done tole you time and again to keep them white folks’ clothes outa dis house” (Hurston 137). He then goes on to call Delia a hypocrite for praying at church then coming home and doing laundry for white people, before stomping on the whitest pile of clothing. Hurston illustrates the hatred that manifests from racial oppression. Delia tells Sykes “Ah been married to you fur fifteen years, and Ah been takin’ in washin’ fur fifteen years. Sweat, sweat, sweat! Work and sweat, cry and sweat, pray and sweat!” (137). This epitomizes Delia’s existence; she works constantly,
Zora Neale was an early 20th century American novelist, short story writer, folklorist, and anthropologist. In her best known novel Their eyes were watching God, Hurston integrated her own first-hand knowledge of African American oral culture into her characters dialogue and the novels descriptive passages. By combing folklore, folk language and traditional literary techniques; Hurston created a truly unique literary voice and viewpoint. Zora Neale Hurston's underlying theme of self-expression and search for one’s independence was truly revolutionary for its time. She explored marginal issues ahead of her time using the oral tradition to explore contentious debates. In this essay I will explore Hurston narrative in her depiction of biblical imagery, oppression of African women and her use of colloquial dialect.
There is symbolism present in this short story. In the beginning of the story, Hurston describes a whip as resembling a snake, “something long, round, limp and black fell upon her shoulders and slithered to the floor beside her. A great terror took hold of her” (705). When Delia sees the whip, she is frightened. Then, towards the end, she just sits there while her husband screams because of the snake biting him. As some people say, what goes around comes around. The snake also symbolizes evil at one point. One article states that there is some evil present in Delia. That evil does not show take over Delia because of her strong Christian faiths and beliefs (Hurd 2). Furthermore, the snake “represents a bosom serpent within Delia that forces her to acknowledge her ability
In Zora Neale Hurston’s “Their Eyes Were Watching God” and “Sweat,” Hurston uses the characters Janie Crawford and Delia Jones to symbolize African-American women as the mules of the world and their only alternative were through their words, in order to illustrate the conditions women suffered and the actions they had to take to maintain or establish their self-esteem.
2 Delia Jones is a Negro woman who washes clothes for the white folks in her community. [Topic sentence does not cover the paragraph -- the paragraph includes characterization of Sykes.] She is a very hard worker, and she takes great pride in her work. She has built the house that her [she] and Skyes [Sp] reside in, and she has planted all the trees around the premises. Delia also is a Christian, who attends service regularly on Sundays before she starts her laundry for the week. Skyes, [Sp] on the other hand, is a dominant black man who has control of the house. After years of abuse Delia is afraid to push his temper, she wouldn't dare kick him out, or she would get beaten. [CS - 1] She would rather live her life trying to avoid his rude comments, and keeping her mouth shut when he is around. Delia is a very fragile lady, with very slim and w...
This paper examines the drastic differences in literary themes and styles of Richard Wright and Zora Neale Hurston, two African--American writers from the early 1900's. The portrayals of African-American women by each author are contrasted based on specific examples from their two most prominent novels, Native Son by Wright, and Their Eyes Were Watching God by Hurston. With the intent to explain this divergence, the autobiographies of both authors (Black Boy and Dust Tracks on a Road) are also analyzed. Particular examples from the lives of each author are cited to demonstrate the contrasting lifestyles and experiences that created these disparities, drawing parallels between the authors’ lives and creative endeavors. It becomes apparent that Wright's traumatic experiences involving females and Hurston's identity as a strong, independent and successful Black artist contributed significantly to the ways in which they chose to depict African-American women and what goals they adhered to in reaching and touching a specific audience with the messages contained in their writing.
audience in on Sykes’ and Delia’s past. Sure, Hurston could have included a brief paragraph
Zora Neale Hurston’s short story “Sweat” is about a woman, Delia who is physically and emotionally abused by her husband, Sykes, whose actions she struggles to overcome towards her. Through all the abuse, Delia takes pride in her hard work and her religion. In this story, Hurston uses religions and moral symbolism that controls the character’s actions throughout the plot.
Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God is a novel illustrating the life of an African American woman that finds her voice through many trials and tribulations. At the heart of the story, Hurston portrays a protagonist who moves from a passive state to independence, from passive woman with no voice who is dominated by her husband to a woman who can think and act for herself. Hurston achieves the greater theme of Their Eyes Were Watching God, of self-expression and independence through her use of three basic southern literary elements: narrative structure, ¬¬¬¬¬allegory, and symbolism. A brief inspection of these three basic elements will reveal how Their Eyes Were Watching God achieves its inspiring effect.
To most people, the name Zora Neale Hurston is associated solely with Their Eyes Were Watching God, her most famous work. In some cases her name is synonymous with the Harlem Renaissance. However, very few people are informed about the aspects of Zora's life that influenced her writing of Their Eyes , nor do they know about how she arrived in New York to become one of the most famous Black female writers of her time. Robert Hemenway's Zora Neale Hurston: A Literary Biography and Valerie Boyd's Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston both seek to educate people about the life of this writer and to give the reader information about her other literary works. Both authors also draw from other sources to tell the story of Zora's life, including interviews with friends and colleagues and Zora's own words.
Within her article, A Society of One: Zora Neale Hurston, American Contrarian, Claudia R. Pierpont, a writer and journalist for The New Yorker, tells, analyzes, and gives foundation to Zora Neale Hurston’s backstory and works. Throughout her piece, as she gives her biography of Hurston, she deeply analyzes the significance of Richard Wright, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, as he accuses Hurston of “cynically perpetuating a minstrel tradition meant to make white audiences laugh”(Pierpont 3). By doing so, Wright challenges Hurston’s authority to speak for the “black race” as he claims that her works do not take a stance, rather she only writes to please the “white audience. ”As his critiques show to be oppressive, Pierpont reminds the reader the
"Wading through waist high weeds, Alice Walker stumbled upon a sunken rectangular patch of ground", under it lay the forgotten literary genius of the South: Zora Neale Hurston (Boyd 2). Zora Neale Hurston, was an African-American novelist, folklorist, and anthropologist during the 1920s in Harlem, New York. The 1920s, also known as The Harlem Renaissance, African-Americans were able to express and represent their culture in its entirety, which until then had been pushed aside by the Whites. During this era Hurston not only embraced her culture, but provided women with a model on how to effectively contribute to it themselves. She showed them what it was like to be a woman writer and speak up for what she believed in regardless of the racial
The main character in Zora Neale Hurston’s “Sweat” is a black woman who resides in the South that clutches on to her belief in God to help her get through the suffering that she endures from her abusive and adulterous husband, Sykes. “Sweat” is full of religious symbolism that demonstrates that Hurston was using the theme of good vs. evil in the short story.
In literature, the significant themes of a story can sometimes be developed within dramatic death scenes. With that being said, Zora Neale Hurston 's presents an unappreciated housewife and her high-class husband 's sinful ways which ultimately lead to the husband 's unplanned death, in her short story “Sweat”. The concluding death scene can best be described as illustrating the theme as “what goes around comes around”. Sykes was abusive and tried plotting his wife, Delia 's, death by using a rattlesnake, but his plan backfired and it was Sykes that was killed in the end.