Analysis Of Sweat By Zora Neale Hurston

Zora Neale Hurston is undoubtedly a product of the Harlem Renaissance as well as one of its most extraordinary writers. Zora Neale Hurston was born in Nostasulga, Alabama on January 7th 1891, then moved to Eatonville, Florida which was the first black township to be incorporated in the United States. Zora’s childhood was far from perfect. Her mother died when she was only thirteen. Her father was infidel. She dropped out of school and was bouncing to relatives houses here and there. Zora clashed repeatedly with her new stepmom and eventually moved out. Regardless of the struggles and problems she faced during her life, she is still a prolific and creative writer. In her story “Sweat” one can see how bold she is. She has used the language of Ebonics, her experience, analogy, allusions, symbols, stereotypes, pathetic fallacy, introversion and poetic justice.
She is talented because she is able to write for a broader audience with the Ebonics language, which depicts the image of the uneducated. It takes real talent for a person who’s well educated as she was to write in an uneducated language. She is able to use symbolism very effectively. She also uses allegory for God and Satan in conflict in “Sweat” where Delia seems to be the good Christian who’s strong willed and also has a lot of faith and Sykes who can be seen as bad with a dirty tongue. Zora uses other people in the story to paint a picture of the characters from their perspectives. The idea of introversion comes in as one would not have expected Delia to get mistreatment from another person from the same race or ethnicity the way Sykes did to her, physically and psychologically “as beatin’ is concerned ,yuh aint took near all dat you gointer take ef yuh stay ‘roun’ me…look at yuh stringey ole neck. You looks jes’ lak de devvul’s dollbaby yuh me” (1027) which is ironic for him to