Good Versus Evil In Sweat By Zora Neale Hurston

In Zora Neale Hurston’s short story “Sweat” the author not only focuses on portraying different gender roles but also focuses on the theme of good versus evil within the marriage of Sykes and Delia. Hurston portrays Delia as the good in the marriage and Sykes as the evil. The use of religious symbolism and imagery is the support that makes this theme so strong and influential. As the short story progresses you witness the transition of a clean, moral woman who overcomes evil.
Delia is an African American woman who looks to her faith in God as her strength to get through the abusive relationship from her husband, Sykes. Delia is a hardworking washwoman who is the rock and provider of the family. Through Delia’s humble actions and love for the church you can see that she is a spiritually disciplined woman. The husband, Sykes, however is anything but humble. His abusive, adultery, and selfish actions are exactly why he is portrayed as the evil character. You realize that the marriage, that ties these two, has been unraveled because they both walk down different moral paths in life. The author incorporates the description of this pure and spiritual character, Delia, in the very beginning by explaining Delia’s Sunday evening as “puts the white things to soak”. These white clothes are symbolic of Delia’s character in the sense of her virtue. The color white can be seen as a color of purity and even a symbol of revival, which you will see again in the story. “Something long, round, limp and black fell upon her shoulders and slithered to the floor beside her”, reflects the symbolic use of snakes as evil. Sykes use of snakes to scare Delia is another great representation of the immoral that lies inside of him. Hurston’s use of a snake...

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...cold river was creeping up and up to extinguish that eye.” Hurston does a great job linking this foreshadow detail in the middle of the story to the very last sentence of the ending. This proves that after Sykes death Delia will be able to start a new life and enter the Promised Land. The outcome of the battle of good versus evil and the overthrow of evil is particularly strong in the last two paragraphs. The author’s use of imagery is strong in these passages, in particular the image of dark being overcome by light. The quote, “the sun crept on up, and he called. Delia could not move–her legs were gone flabby. She never moved, he called, and the sun kept rising”, is symbolic because even in the darkness of his death the sun is still rising. This represents the victory of Delia overcoming evil. The sun is not only the image of a new day, but a new life for Delia.