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Sweat by Zora Neale Hurston
Zora Neale Hurston is a remarkable author who reflects her life in most of her novels, short stories, and her essays. She was a writer during the Harlem Renaissance, also known as “the new negro movement”, however; her writings were not given proper recognition at first because they were not of the “norm” for that time period. All of the authors during the Harlem Renaissance were expected to write about race with a political mind set. Hurston was tired of seeing the same writings just different authors so her literary works were very different and were meant to stand out (Trudell). Among all of her abstracts, Sweat was a story of determination and oppression, with religion and strength as the backbone of the story and seems to be one of the most captivating of all her works.
Hurston based her short story Sweat on two man characters, Delia Jones and Sykes Jones. Throughout the whole story Delia and Sykes both showed their determination. Delia was determined that she was not going to let Sykes get his way and break her down to the point that she was helpless and dependant upon him. She worked hard as a wash woman and was the sole money maker in the household. She grew more independent mentally as the story went on and the reader could tell this by the dialogue between Delia and Sykes and the description of Sykes reactions. For instance when they were arguing in the beginning of the story over Delia washing the clothes, it was said that, “she seized the iron skillet from the stove and struck a defensive pose, which act surprised him greatly coming from her. It cowed him and he did not strike her as he usually did” (Hurston). Hurston did this to show that over the f...
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• Hurston, Zora Neale. “Sweat”. http://www.geocities.com/cyber_explorer99/hurstonsweat.html
• Trudell, Scott. “Critical Essay on “Sweat”. “Short Stories for Students, Vol. 19, Gale, 2004. Literature Resource Center. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/LitRC?vrsn=3&OP=contains&locID=tall18692&srchtp=athr&ca=1&c=49&ste=16&stab=512&tab=2&tbst=arp&ai=U13004616&n=10&docNum=H1420056379&ST=zora+neale+hurston&bConts=16303
• Wagner-Martin, Linda. “Sweat: Overview”. “Reference Guide to Short Fiction, 1st ed., edited by Noelle Watson, St. James press, 1994”. Literature Resource Center. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/LitRC?vrsn=3&OP=contains&locID=tall18692&srchtp=athr&ca=1&c=16&ste=16&stab=512&tab=2&tbst=arp&ai=U13004616&n=10&docNum=H1420004188&ST=zora+neale+hurston&bConts=16303
Hurston, Zora Neale. "Sweat." Norton Anthology of Southern Literature. Ed. William L. Andrews. New York: Norton, 1998.
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.
6th ed. New York: St. James Press, 1996. Literature Resource Center. Web. 26 Jan. 2014.
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.
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.
Kempe, Margery. "From The Book of Margery Kempe." The Norton Anthology of Literature By Women. 2nd ed. Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1996. 18-24.
Meyer, Michael. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. 2189.
American Literature. 6th Edition. Vol. A. Ed. Nina Baym. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. 2003. 783-791
Hurston, Zora Neale. “How It Feels to Be Colored Me.” Writer’s Presence: A Pool of Readings. 5th ed. Ed. Robert Atawan and Donald McQuade. Boston:Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2006. 166-170. Print
The symbols that Hurston uses are necessary because it destroys the typical gender role stereotypes between men and women. This is necessary because there is such a difference between the portrayal of men and women, men often being superior to women. Hurston uses her symbol to show some equality between men and women, or at points women can also be superior to men. A symbol found in Hurston’s story, “Sweat,” that Hurston uses to destroy the gender stereotypes of men and women is the bed.
Zora Neale Hurston’s “Sweat” is a distressing tale of human struggle as it relates to women. The story commences with a hardworking black washwoman named Delia contently and peacefully folds laundry in her quiet home. Her placidity doesn’t last long when her abusive husband, Sykes, emerges just in time to put her back in her ill-treated place. Delia has been taken by this abuse for some fifteen years. She has lived with relentless beatings, adultery, even six-foot long venomous snakes put in places she requires to get to. Her husband’s vindictive acts of torment and the way he has selfishly utilized her can only be defined as malignant. In the end of this leaves the hardworking woman no choice but to make the most arduous decision of her life. That is, to either stand up for herself and let her husband expire or to continue to serve as a victim. "Sweat,” reflects the plight of women during the 1920s through 30s, as the African American culture was undergoing a shift in domestic dynamics. In times of slavery, women generally led African American families and assumed the role as the adherent of the family, taking up domestic responsibilities. On the other hand, the males, slaves at the time, were emasculated by their obligations and treatment by white masters. Emancipation and Reconstruction brought change to these dynamics as African American men commenced working at paying jobs and women were abandoned at home. African American women were assimilated only on the most superficial of calibers into a subcategory of human existence defined by gender-predicated discrimination. (Chambliss) In accordance to this story, Delia was the bread victor fortifying herself and Sykes. Zora Neale Hurston’s 1926 “Sweat” demonstrates the vigor as wel...
In Delia’s case she is a women with a job, but even with work she is still powerless to Sykes, her husband. As a woman her freedom is still robbed from her by men’s overpowering force, which in her case is Sykes’s abusive behavior towards her. It also shows that men in society disagree with women working at jobs, as shown through Sykes’s words, “Ah don’t keer if you never git through. Anyhow, ah done promised Gawd and a couple of other men, ah ain’t gonna have it in mah house. Don’t gimme no lip neither, else Ah’ll throw’em out and put my fist up side yo’ head to boot” (176-77). Sykes claims emphasize that men including God are in agreement with him that they too also do not approve of women performing work. Women who have work means that they have equal standing as men, which goes against society’s views. Also, Delia’s marriage represents the binding of mental and physical freedom to her husband, which she has endured with for many years.
1. c.Robert E. Hemenway, in his Zora Neale Hurston: A Literary Biography, University of Illinois Press, 1977, 371 p.
Zora Neale Hurston’s writing embodies the modernism themes of alienation and the reaffirmation of racial and social identity. She has a subjective style of writing in which comes from the inside of the character’s mind and heart, rather than from an external point of view. Hurston addresses the themes of race relations, discrimination, and racial and social identity. At a time when it is not considered beneficial to be “colored,” Hurston steps out of the norm and embraces her racial identity.
In Hurston 's short story “Sweat”, the theme is expressed in many ways throughout the story, though most prominently by way of domestic violence and ungratefulness shown