Sweat Hurston Character Analysis

The first scene of Hurston’s short story sweat depicts a routined representation of an abusive relationship, through the interactions of main characters Delia Jones and Sykes Jones. The exemplified relationship identifies all aspects regarding abuse, particularly verbal, physical, as well as the lasting effects of psychological abuse.

Janie’s first dream was dead, so she became a woman.” This realization made by Janie supports one of the biggest themes in this novel, which is that the concept of innocence and womanhood can’t exist at the same time. Because Janie finally lets go of her “childish fantasy”, her innocence is lost and she is now a woman. The theme of lost innocence in exchange for womanhood is also prevalent in Hurston’s story Sweat. This idea is one of the reasons that Sykes and Delia’s relationship begins to fall apart when we meet them.

Working at the factory provides Lyddie with a great deal of money, more than she has ever got before. If Lyddie had not gone to the factory she would have no money left. Before Lyddie worked at the factory she had a different job. She was a house maid and got paid little to no income at all, then when she went to the factory all of that changed. “ The pay reflected her proficiency, she was making almost $2.50 a week…” ( page 86 ). Lyddie was very poor when she was a maid due to no earnings therefore she needed the money. When she went to the factory her wages went up tremendously compared to what they used to be. In another case Lyddie

“Class” by Sherman Alexie is a story about a man, Edgar Joseph, on a journey to self-identification. While on this journey he experiences many different tribulations and encounters a multitude of women. The encounters with these women will reveal to the reader his selfless, barbaric, and lost personality. However, the experiences he had with women of his own descent provided a transformative experience that shows what he is looking for and what he truly values.

What do most women want in a marriage? Is it hatred and an unfaithful husband? No! Women expect to have a husband who loves and cares for them. Someone who will cherish them for all eternity. In a close examination of the way Louise Mallard, the protagonist of “The Story of an Hour”, and Delia, the protagonist of “Sweat”, react to their encounters with their marriages demonstrates that authors Kate Chopin and Zora Neale Hurston both use short stories to tell similar stories about the difficulties of their emotional states in their marriages.

“Spunk,” by Zora Neale Hurston, is a short story about a man who appears masculine and fearless claiming another man’s wife, but the tables turn by the end of the story. The short story begins with Spunk, the main character, walking off with Lena Kanty. Joe, Lena’s husband, knows about the affair, but is too timid to confront Spunk. Hurston uses regional dialect, allusion, and dramatic irony as language devices along with a serious tone to tell a story about karma.

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.

I think the point of the story Lyddie is to show just how hard it was for young women to get by back then. In Lyddie's story, she has to go endure many hardships such as losing her farm, having poor working conditions, and having to walk and walk to become a factory girl. The place she stayed at was an small inn. The in was very overcrowded with 2 women sharing a bed. This could potentially be harmful to the girls if for example there was a fire they would not all be able to make it out alive. In this essay, I will be talking about all the hardships that Lyddie had to push through and how bad their lives were back then.

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. The author Zora Neale Hurston conveys the message that people closest to a person’s heart can often hide their true

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. Throughout all of this, Delia "had brought love to the union and he had brought a longing after the flesh" (Hurston). Consequently, these circumstances precipitated Delia 's strength. In fact, one day, Delia "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). Deep down in her soul, she knew that "whatever goes over the Devil’s back, is got

Joseph’s Campbell’s The Hero With a Thousand Faces is a valuable novel for college students because it allows the reader to apply common elements in mythic adventures that easily connect and explain the journey of the protagonist. In Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God, offers an excellent example of The Hero’s Journey. The book follows Janie Mae Crawford on her adventure in finding herself. The adventure is described within three main steps that make up The Hero’s Journey; the departure, the initiation, and the return. Through these steps, we follow Janie as she leaves her known world and travels into the unknown world.

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. Moreover, Lyddie returns from a secret trip, and in result, she is told that she has been fired. Lyddie ( at this time ) is now adventuring off to become a factory girl being told she could make a

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. As a consequence, men did not want to see women working or earning more than them. In the story, although Syke did not work and he lived through Delia's wage, he did not approve of Delia financially supporting the both of them. The racism experienced by African American's was a large factor in the inspiration for most of Hurston's writings. The majority of jobs held by African American women were domestic based jobs for white people. Similar to Syke, this fact upset many husbands (Seidel). Syke displays his hatred towards Delia's career by stomping over the clothes she is washing. He directly demonstrates his discontentedness that he has with the white race and Delia's job: "Ah done tole you time and again to keep them white folks' clothes outa dis house” (Hurston). Without having proper historical

Before I began reading, I tried guessing what the story was about. Only knowing that the title was “Sweat”, I thought the story might be about sports or hard labor. Then I opened up the story and the first thing I noticed was that the author’s name was Zora Hurston. I only found out that the author was female once I saw “her” in the section below describing her life and writing career. I found out other important things such as she lived in Florida, she wrote during the Harlem Renaissance (1920s), she died impoverished, and her work was eventually found by the women’s movement. Taking all of this into account, especially the women’s movement part and the fact that she was a woman as well, I made a more accurate guess that the story would be

African American author, folklorist, anthropologist, and Harlem Renaissance figure, her works and contributions to the world of literature acknowledge her as one of the great writers of our American history. Zora Neale Hurston, born in Notasulga, Alabama on January 7, 1891 to former slaves John and Lucy Potts Hurston, was the fifth child and second girl out of eight children. Her birth records have never been found, so the singular year of her birth has long been a dispute (Bloom 7). In the family bible, according to Hurston’s biographers, her name is recorded as Zora Neal Lee Hurston; at some point an “e” was added to Neal and “Lee” was dropped (King 1). In 1893, Lucy, along with Hurston and her siblings, moved to an