Sweat by Zora Neale Hurston Accurate Essays

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Sweat by Zora Neale Hurston

Sweat is one of Zora Neale Hurston’s world-renowned short stories. As a famous American writer, Hurston is known for writing stories that depict real life as it was during the years when she wrote the stories. This story is about Delia Jones, an African American woman who has been in a strained marriage for fifteen years. The author uses her experiences to explain how oppression and physical abuse affected African American women of this period. In the end, Delia gets her revenge on her husband, Sykes for his mistreatment over the years.

From the beginning of the story, it is evident that Delia Jones is in a strained marriage and that her husband has no respect for her. https://writemy-paperforme.com with this mistreatment is seen when he comes to the house late and scares her with a bullwhip, which looked like a snake. Sykes knows that Delia is afraid of snakes but goes on to frighten her with the whip, which looks like a snake. Sykes admits that he just wanted to scare her by saying, “Course I knowed! That’s how come Ah done it” (Hurston 26). He scared her intentionally and does not show any kind of remorse. When Delia attempts to question his actions, he walks away insulting her. From this action, it is evident that Delia needs some form of revenge against him in order to positively change his behavior.

Secondly, Sykes does not respect Delia’s work and goes on to do things that show this disrespect. When he first enters the house, Delia has sorted all the laundry according to colors in order to make the washing easier for her. However, Sykes comes and kicks the piles together, mixing the clothes all over again. This is a sign of disrespect to Delia and her work. He even goes ahead to step on the white clothes making it harder for Delia to finish the washing on time. Additionally, Sykes does not care if she does her work on time or not. He says, “Ah don’t keer if you never git through” (Hurston 27). He is not concerned at all, about how hard his wife works to keep their family in order. Delia tries to explain that her sweat has been feeding their family for fifteen years but he doers not listen to what she has to say. The first sign of her revenge can be seen when she “seized the iron skillet from the stove and struck a defensive pose” (Hurston 27). Although she is too weak to engage in a physical fight with Sykes, Delia shows that she can stand for herself and he goes away.

Delia’s real revenge comes when Sykes decides to bring a rattlesnake into the house. It is an unexpected turn of events since he knows that she is unreservedly scared of snakes. At first, he teases her by saying that he brought her a gift, which to Delia is impossible. When Delia asks him to take away the snake, Sykes says that it will stay in the house until it dies. He even goes ahead to put it in the kitchen where Delia does most of her work. However, this action is not only used to scare Delia but Sykes wants her to leave the house so that he can live with Bertha, the mistress. This can be seen when he says, “Dat’s a nice snake and anybody doan lak ‘im kin jes’ hit de grit” (Hurston 32). This explains why Sykes is so insistent on having the snake in the house. Nonetheless, Delia continues living in the house while avoiding the place where the snake is kept. Sykes even goes ahead to put the snake in the basket where Delia puts her washing.

Upon realizing this, Delia runs outside and leaves the house and goes to sleep in the hay barn. When Sykes comes back and goes into the house, he cannot find a light since the matchbox is not in the usual place. This gives a chance for the snake to pounce on him biting him with its poisonous fangs. This is the ultimate revenge for Delia since the same snake that was meant to drive her away bites Sykes who claimed to be an expert at handling snakes. Eventually, the poison from the snake leads to Sykes death. At first, Sykes does not seem to know who killed him as he calls for Delia to help him. This shows that he stills thinks that Delia could not be responsible for his death. However, towards the end, he seems surprised to hear Delia in the stables. By the end of the story, he knows that it was Delia in the stables and that she did nothing to help him.

The ending of the story is of great significance to the plot development and enhancement of the major themes. In any story, the ending always gives the whole story its meaning since it is a culmination of all the action that took place. In this story, the author has explained how Sykes oppresses his wife and the ending comes because of Sykes behavior. In the story, Delia believes that a person usually is paid for their actions. She says, “Whatever goes over the Devil’s back, is got to come under his belly. Sometime or ruther, Sykes, like everybody else, is going to reap his sowing” (Hurston 28). This is a prediction of what will happen later in the book. Delia does not try to seek help from the doctors on Orlando or from the Chinaberry tree. Additionally, Delia pities him but does not want to help him. The end is important in showing that Delia finally got revenge for what Sykes had done to her.

Zora Neale Hurston’s uses this story as a stage for exploring the plight of African American women in marriage. The message that this story is trying to pass across is purely based on oppression, infidelity and physical abuse in marriage. The book is written for a wide audience mainly targeting those in abusive marriages. It also explores what could be the results of these actions especially for a long-term relationship like marriage. In this book, Sykes’ actions prove to be fatal. The snake that he brought to scare his wife bites and kills him, a fate that could have been prevented if he had been good to his wife. If their marriage had been better, Delia would have warned Sykes about the snake and he would not have died. In the end, Delia gets her revenge when Sykes dies from the poisonous bite.