Sweat

797 Words2 Pages

“Sometimes I wonder if men and women really suit each other. Perhaps they should live next door and just visit now and then.” This quote by Katharine Hepburn is what Delia and Skyes from the short story “Sweat” should have done. The marriage between the two, if one would dare to call it a marriage, is volatile and dangerous at best, which makes it perfect for Delia’s greatest fear to be a snake: a crafty, toxic, devilish creature. These characteristics snakes possess are the same Skyes does. Thus why, In Sweat, Delia's greatest fear was a snake because it embodied her husband.
One way the snake embodies Delia's husband, Skyes, is that they are both crafty. In Genesis 3, one of the first things said is that, “the serpent [is] more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made.” This is further proven when the serpent, or snake, deceives Eve into eating fruit from the tree (Genesis 4-7). Skyes shows how he is crafty when he uses his whip to scare Delia, who believed it was a snake (Hurston 3-5). This action is clever because Delia’s fear of snakes could kill her if Skyes scared her bad enough. This could be considered a crafty scheme because if Delia was dead, he could have the house like he wants to. Furthermore, his “whole manner hoping, praying for an argument” (Hurston 9) could be seen as crafty because if he enraged Delia enough, she might just leave the house and never return. Moreover, the arguments and confrontation that he provokes are not only crafty, but they are also toxic.
Skyes was also embodied by the snake because of how they are toxic. Snakes have venom in their fangs, meant to cause harm and death, while Skyes has venom in his words and fists. Delia has dealt with Skyes venomous emotional abuse for ...

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...the way he seems to enjoy causing pain and agitation onto his wife, Delia. Furthermore, the snake embodies Skyes because of its association to the devil. The devil steals, kills, hurts, and simply cause’s pain onto others as Skyes does on his wife. It is quite easy to see that author, Zora Neale Hurston, uses the snake more than just a terrifying animal that Delia does not favor.

Works Cited
"Genesis 3 (New International Version)." biblegateway.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2014. .
"John 10:10 (New International Version)." biblegateway.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2014. .
Kennedy, X. J., and Dana Gioia. "Sweat by Zora Neale Huurston." An introduction to fiction. 11th ed. Boston: Longman, 2010. 529-537. Print.

MLA formatting by BibMe.org.

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