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Sweat

             In the short story Sweat by Zora Neale Hurston, the audience is met with the troubled African-American couple living in the south. She writes from a third person perspective using both omniscient point of view and dialect from the characters themselves. This middle aged couple is trying to come to grips with there dysfunctional relationship. Delia is the over worked washwomen that has little time to find sanity in her marriage. Sykes is the double timing over possessive male who brings the majority of the conflict to the story. The story takes place in the early to middle 1900's when blacks weren't really acknowledged as human beings by the white society. Sykes is a rather dull character that really doesn't like his wife Delia. Sykes choice to poison his abused unappreciated partner leads to his own demise. .
             From the start of the story we find out that Delia is a hard working women that works entirely too much. The description of her on the opening page causes the reader to sympathize for her and really not enjoy the presence of Sykes. "Just then something long, round, limp and black fell upon her shoulders and slithered to the floor beside her. A great terror took hold of her. . . . Then she saw it was the big bull whip her husband liked to carry when he drove."(Pg.568 Hurston) This really puts a bad feeling into the eyes of the reader. To understand why someone would want to harm or scare a loved one creates conflict. Delia wasn't doing anything to receive this abusive behavior from her husband and yet he did it out of hatred.
             As the story continues we find out from the town's people another yet another perspective of the relationship. Sykes was once scared of losing Delia and the two were happy lovers. The comparison of the two lover to stock of sugar can is rather true for this couple. "There's plenty men dat takes a wife lak dey do a joint a sugar-cane. It's round, juicy an" sweet when dey get it.


Essays Related to Sweat

1. Sweat by Zora Neale Hurston

... capture some of the descriptions Hurston uses, however some require more insight though in the end the readers are able to analyze. "Sweat" portrays the hardship that Delia Jones was subjected to from her husband Sykes of 15 years. After surviving years of her husband's physical ... and protect her from her husband's physical and emotional abuse. The most obvious symbol of the story is Delia's sweat. Throughout the story readers were better able to understand the full meaning of "Sweat". Readers are able to understand her pain they are also able to understand her fear of Sykes because of...

  • Word Count: 291
  • Approx Pages: 1
  • Grade Level: High School

2. Sweat

... that are easily captured to things that require a little bit more insight. Religion has apparently played a major role in Hurston's life, readily seen in "Sweat" with the references to a snake and Gethsemane. Symbolism plays a big part of this story and after analyzing these, they give the story a deeper meaning ... gone too fur. Ah been married to you fur fifteen years, and Ah been takin' in washin' fur fifteen years. Sweat, sweat, sweat Work and sweat, cry and sweat, pray and sweat" (Hurston 679). The "Sweat" is the product of Delia's hard work supporting them. It stands for her work ...

  • Word Count: 936
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

3. Sweat

... Neale Hurston Women Overcoming Domestic Violence Zora Neale Hurston's "Sweat" is a short story about the struggles and hardships in the life of an African American woman living in the south. The short story talked about the treatment of women in ... too poor to get a divorce or even runaway from their husbands. Husbands of these times supported the family and were the only ones who had a job in the family. In "Sweat" Delia was the supporter of the family she worked every day supporting herself and Sykes. This was not very common in these times. Most women stayed home and watched the .....

  • Word Count: 561
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: High School

4. Delia Jones in Sweat

... life ever, full of endless manual labor, physical exhaustion, abuse and tears. The title of "Sweat" in this story, it seems very straightforward meaning in Delia's lives, the word of sweat has been implied in connotation and denotation way. Delia worked as washerwomen; she lived in southern society, ... Sykes, he didn't help Delia. He hated her job instead helping her, because she was doing the laundry for white people.  Delia's marriage was "Sweat", meaning not pleasant, she had a problem with her husband Sykes. Delia had been mistreated by Sykes, he did something wasn't appropriate t...

  • Word Count: 566
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

5. Blood, Sweat, and Tears

... through which the audience can interpret the author's literary aims. Zora Neale Hurston clearly depicts the societal dilemma concerning racial and gender conflict in the South in her short story, "Sweat."" Through a crystal-clear depiction of Southern life in the twentieth century, strongly suggestive vocabulary, and the pure illustration of the divide between the races, Hurston gives the audience a captivating taste ... of segregation. "Sweat- begins in the home of Delia Jones, an African American who works as a washwoman for white families. Her husband, Sykes, is a very devious and im...

  • Word Count: 963
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

6. "Sweat"

... to defend herself from her husband as he cowed in fear of being hit. This new approach from Delia, involving a new intimidation, shows how her unnecessary sweat and hard work had gotten to be too much. The act of seizing a skillet from the stove to protect herself symbolizes how in essence, Delia is ... up the first morning of the story, she is woken up by Sykes who has momentarily ruined her Eden by kicking her feet. In many instances throughout Sweat, Sykes represents the Devil breaking into and trying to destroy Delia's Eden. When delving deep into this story, one is able to discover s...

  • Word Count: 2134
  • Approx Pages: 9
  • Grade Level: High School

7. Summary of The Indian Sweat

... the men shout "Mitayuke oyasin!" which means "All my relations!" and the leader says it is time for a break. This ceremony as described is an adaptation of the Plains Indians" sweat lodge or what the Sioux call the inipi ceremony. There are many different reasons why people do these ceremonies. The Sioux use the ... everyone shouts "Mitayuke oyasin!" at the same time. There is usually never any prompting and it always occurs at just the right moment. Although there is never any prompting a good sweat leader will get his company involved and immersed in the rhythm that everyone will know...

  • Word Count: 478
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

8. Cheerleader Sweat Too!

... easy as it looks. There's much more to cheerleading than cheering for football or basketball players while they sweat and shoot baskets or make touchdowns. Cheerleaders sweat too, I can remember the first year I started cheering. That year, I think all the girls on my team had sweat coming down all season long. It all goes back to 1997, when I was in the 7th grade ... to continue cheerleading for three more years after that. Cheering is tough and it takes a lot mentally and physically to be a cheerleader. It's hard being a cheerleader, not only ball players sweat but cheerleaders sweat ...

  • Word Count: 1645
  • Approx Pages: 7
  • Grade Level: High School

9. Animal Symbolism - "Sweat" and "Revelation"

... link to the symbol in a deeper way than one may first think. Two short stories that use animals to symbolize a part of the story include "Sweat" by Zora Neale Hurston, and "Revelation" by Flannery O"Connor. "Sweat" has many symbols, including the snake in which Sykes torments and attempts to murder his wife Delia. Sykes and the snake are similar in many ways ... put to death if found to be guilty of eating any type of pork. Mrs. Turpin believes she is a religious person, however, she raises hogs to slaughter and eat. Both "Sweat" and "Revelation" uses an animal to portray a person or id...

  • Word Count: 1041
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

10. chuchill blood,sweat, tears

Thorne C. Sirbak February 5, 2003 Section 002 "Blood, Toil, Tears, and Sweat" Winston Churchill I. Introduction A. Attention-grabber: 1. Everyone knows who Winston Churchill is, and most of you have probably heard of some of his speeches. Can I get a show of hands of who ... has heard of either one of these speeches; "Iron Curtain" and "Finest Hour"? Ok, now can I get a show of hands of who has heard of his, "Blood, Toil, Tears, and Sweat" speech? Thank you, but what you may not realize is, if he didn't act as quickly as what he did when he became Prime Minister and by giving this speech ... ...

  • Word Count: 2107
  • Approx Pages: 8
  • Grade Level: High School

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