Name: Lakisha Minnis Instructor: Mr. Compton English 2202-001 Date: April. 24, 2017 Sweat Zora Neale Hurston is a prolific writer famed for numerous award winning plays, novels and short stories. In this paper, I will be elaborating on a character from the novel Sweat. Her novel Sweat was first published in 1926. Sweat is a novel that tells a story about the good, evil, and domestic abusive husband. This essay will critically evaluate the fictional character named Sykes. It will analyze Sykes Jones individual qualities with a focus on at least more than three traits. The traits I will speak on is, abuse, laziness, and disrespect. Sykes Jones is a protagonist’s husband, and abusive man who psychologically and physically tortures his wife. He gains pleasure by …show more content…
He has the nerve to insult her hardworking demeanor yet he cannot bring himself to perform the tasks. He has been out of work for more than three months yet he does not seem to be in a hurry to get another one. “Mah sweat is done paid for this house and Ah reckon Ah kin keep sweatin ' in it.” (Sweat 1035) Delia complains that she the one in charge of finances, Sykes takes credit for it all. Delia constantly reminds Sykes that for the past fifteen years, she is the one who has been in charge of food among other basic necessities. Sykes being the disrespectful man that he is, does not respect the fact that his wife works very hard to offer food. He does not appreciate that she does other people laundry so that he can be comfortable. Furthermore, he uses the money the Delia earns to make sure that his mistress Bertha is satisfied. Delia slaves out at work to make money, but Sykes bullies her so that she can spend the money with the woman who happens to be new in town. “Bertha had been in town three months now. Sykes was paying her room rent at Della Lewis’—the only house in town that have taken her in" (Sweat
Lyddie must go to Cutler’s Tavern to work in the kitchen; meanwhile Charlie must go to Barker’s mill to work. Lyddie is treated like a slave there, where she has to work
In Zora Neale Hurston’s short story “Sweat” and her essay “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” the African American social group is being represented in many ways. The texts have similar ways that African Americans are represented for the time period. The African Americans or “colored people” are represented in an aspect that comes from the author's point of view. The African Americans are represented as being unbothered, growing up in a closed community, playing the game with whites, and optimistic.
The amount of torment one human can endure is amazing, and Delia Jones in Zora Neale Hurston’s “Sweat” isn’t exempt. She manages to hold together a home, work full-time, clothe and feed her extremely abusive husband. The question lingers; how can one continue to live in this kind of situation. It seems that for Delia, God plays a big part in her life, and Zora has appropriately left behind contextual references, symbols and representations in “Sweat”. Faith is a major theme utilized in the short story, while Sykes’ timely end rewards Delia for her priest-like patience.
The short story Sweat by Zora Neale Hurston was written in 1926 and is one of her most well-known short stories. An anomaly among the many short stories read in the course thus far, I was pleased to read a piece of women’s literature that focused on the experience of being black and a woman. This point of view gives a fresh look into the lives of an often sidelined group of women and I really enjoyed reading and analyzing a story that was written by a black women about a black women, which incorporated some of my favorite themes such as marriage and religion. Additionally, it was a short story that stayed with me even after having finished reading it because of its unique storyline and satisfying ending. Quite a few of the stories I’ve read
People come into our lives for different reasons. Some leave a positive impact, while others bring negativity. Readers and critics alike have treasured Zora Neale Hurston’s 20th century novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, for generations particularly for its complex portrayal of the different main characters. The people a person meet and the experiences that person many go through in their lifetime can alter a person significantly. Through the tyrannical words of Joe Starks and the inconsiderate actions of Nanny, Janie in the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God is negatively influenced as her actions and thoughts alter her life.
In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, we follow our protagonist, Janie, through a journey of self-discovery. We watch Janie from when she was a child to her adulthood, slowly watching her ideals change while other dreams of hers unfortunately die. This is shown when Jane first formulates her idea of love, marriage, and intimacy by comparing it to a pear tree; erotic, beautiful, and full of life. After Janie gets married to her first spouse, Logan Killicks, she doesn’t see her love fantasy happening, but she waits because her Nanny tells her that love comes after marriage. Janie, thinking that Nanny is wise beyond her years, decides to wait.
During this rough time period, segregation was common and prohibition was recently introduced. Along with this, many other social and political issues played a role in Hurston's "Sweat." Consequently, a historical background of the early twentieth century would be ideal in order for the reader to better comprehend and appreciate the work thoroughly. In this story, Hurston writes about Delia and Syke's work lives. In the early 1900's, approximately sixty percent of African American woman and about twenty percent of men were employed (Mclaughlin).During this time period, men felt that they were vastly superior over women.
In conclusion, Delia’s qualities significantly shifted from staying quiet and letting Sykes abuse her to making her pain be the motivation to become more confident that she had ever been and stand up for herself. The more she was abused, the braver she became, and also became more aware of her well-being. Delia Jones is a strong woman who lived through the pain that was caused by Sykes and used that same pain as the motivation to become superior to him, gain all of her confidence back, and her life back as
While reading the short story, “Sweat” by Zora Neale Hurston, I began to notice a set of symbols and ideas that were constant and that connected most of the important events in the story. Hurston created the largest amount of symbolism, in my opinion, through the rattlesnake that created conflicts of evil many times in the story and set a role of overall morals of fear and the concept of karma along with a whole range of associations beyond its main purpose. Early on in the story Sykes is viewed as evil through the actions involved with abusing Delia and seeing his mistress Bertha constantly. Sykes is not only physically and verbally abusive, but he is openly having an affair with this uppity, brazen woman. Delia provides all the income for herself and Sykes through washing clothes for the white town folk, which Sykes verbally abuses her for doing and still expects money from her which he then for spends on Bertha.
In "Sweat," the main character, Delia Jones, is portrayed as a strong-willed, hard-working washwoman who would wash clothes for white people. She worked tireless to provide for her family. Delia was married to Sykes, who would berate, beat and mentally abuse Delia, incessantly. For example, Sykes would walk into the room where Delia just folded clothing for the white people and find the whitest pile of clothes, stomp all over them and then kick them across the room, leaving her to clean up and restack them. Sykes was also openly living in infidelity with another woman, named Bertha.
In Katherine Paterson’s novel, “Lyddie”, the main character must survive and make decisions that will affect her and how she lives. Lyddie was a thirteen year old girl, and her father had left the family. While Lyddie’s mother and younger siblings had gone to their aunt’s home for the winter, Lyddie and her brother Charlie decide stay to take care of it. However, during Spring, both Lyddie and Charlie were demanded to go to work to pay off their family's debts. Lyddie is taken to a tavern of which she meets Triphena ( the cook ) and Mrs. Cutler.
He unintentionally came across them, so he quietly put them back in their original spot. But, instead of retaliating against her in public and embarrassing her, he decided to buy prostitutes whenever he went out of town. This vengeful mindset expresses how their lack of communication has led him to be cruel towards her and patronize other
While reading, it becomes evident that Delia is a good person. Not only is she good, but she holds strong to her religion. She is always putting others needs before her own. Delia does not only work to support herself, but works to support her husband and his mistress. “’Mah tub of suds is filled yo’ belly with vittles more times than yo’ hands is filled it’”
I could tell that the story was going to be about some major conflict between Sykes and Delia. Tension increased when Hurston wrote that Delia “seized the iron skillet from the stove and struck a defensive pose” (67). Sykes was clearly a very bad husband and when I read, “Two months after the wedding, he had given her the first brutal beating” (67), I wondered why Delia had stayed with him for fifteen
Ah been married to you fur fifteen years, and Ah been takin’ in washin’ for fifteen years. Sweat, sweat, sweat! Work and sweat, cry and sweat, pray and sweat!”(Hurston 2,17). The Sweat is the result of Delia 's diligent work, and without it there is no support system. It also stands for her hard-working attitude and how she has attempted to influence her work as best as she can, it is a vital piece of her life.