The Protagonist In Zora Neale Hurston's Sweat
How does the antagonist in Sweat criticize the women equality movement of the 1920s?
The United States’ culture and political views changed dramatically in 1920s. This era was often called the “Roaring Twenties” because the enthusiastic and easy-going pop culture. Zora Neale Hurston was a popular African-American author during this and the Harlem Renaissance era. Her short story, Sweat, was first published in 1926, to demonstrate the realistic conflict between a self-employed washwoman wife and an unemployed husband. Sweat uses the antagonist, Sykes Jones, to degrade and manipulate his independent wife until she reached her breaking point.
As the time changed, so did the American woman. Stephen Sharot, author of “The ‘New Woman’, Star Personas,
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In the beginning of their relationship, Delia was characterized as being “young” and “soft”. After fifteen years of being abuse, she finally began standing up for herself. In the turning point of the story, Delia told Sykes “…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). In this quote, Delia is at her boiling point and is having a mental meltdown and she is also fed up with Sykes promiscuous ways. This quote proves that the process of Delia defending herself is improving and that she is not the “young” and “soft” woman she was fifteen years …show more content…
The night after the “turn point” argument, when Sykes returned he threatened that “Ah oughter mash you in yo’ mouf fuh drawing dat skillet on me.” (Hurston, 3). There were plenty of physical altercations during their relationship and the length of the story. The story starts off with Sykes emotionally abusing Delia. He calls her a hypocrite because she is working on the Sabbath day. The mental abuse happens when Sykes brings home the rattlesnake. Sykes knows that has huge case of ophidiophobia, fear of snakes. Knowing her fear, Sykes traumatized Delia with the snake, abusing her mental state. All of the abuse caused by Sykes leads to Delia being very
What Is The Central Idea Of Sweat By Zora Neale Hurston
704 Words | 3 PagesIn 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.
Sweat By Zora Neale Hurtson Summary
981 Words | 4 Pages“Sweat” by Zora Neale Hurtson exemplifies the amount of disrespect and domestic abuse a woman can handle. It also demonstrated how some males view women in a distasteful and unsatisfied way. Gender and sexuality can initiate most of the specific tactics of domestic violence that can dehumanize an individual, especially women. Zora Neale Hurtson’s character, Delia Jones, demonstrates how women can transition from being inferior to becoming superior in a domestic relationship. The story opened with Delia washing clothes for white people on Sunday, and Sykes verbally abused her for dishonoring God because she was washing clothes that belong to white people on the Sabbath day.
Analysis Of Sweat By Zora Neale Hurston
820 Words | 4 PagesFor the first time Sykes backs down. This is the beginning of the end for their relationship. Hurston lays the foundation for a story of good versus evil. Fifteen years is a long time for anyone to be mistreated and taken for granted. Poor Delia once being a lovely young woman, soft and feminine, over her fifteen years of marriage, she had worked until she had nothing soft left about her.
Critical Analysis Of Sweat By Zora Neale Hurston
1187 Words | 5 PagesHistorical criticism strives to cognize a literary work by examining the social, cultural, and intellectual context that essentially includes the artist’s biography and milieu. Historical critics are more concerned with guiding readers through the use of identical connotation rather than analyzing the work’s literary significance. (Brizee and Tompkins). The journey of a historical reading begins with the assessment of how the meaning of a text has altered over time. In many cases, when the historical context of a text is not fully comprehended, the work literature cannot be accurately interpreted.
Analysis Of The Hero With A Thousand Faces By Zora Neale Hurston
1156 Words | 5 PagesJoseph’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.
Character Analysis Of Delia Jones In Hurston's Sweat
387 Words | 2 PagesIn "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.
Social Boundaries In The Great Gatsby
2034 Words | 9 PagesBreaking Social Boundaries The era of the 1920s was a pinnacle time in American History and the literature that was produced from this era showcases the social change happening. This was the time of social upheaval where the people were challenging social boundaries. The values that had been sought after in the period before this were becoming less and else prevalent in the new society. There are many viewpoints of this time period so the literature of this time was very diverse and many works showed the changing cultures.
Psychological Abuse In Sweat By Hurston
47 Words | 1 PagesThe 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.
How Did Women Change In The 1920's
775 Words | 4 PagesThe Roaring Twenties, characterized as a progressive era toward changes and advances, it was a start for freedom and independence for women. Women gained political power by gaining the right to vote. They changed their traditional way to be, way to act and dress to gain respect, and the liberty of independence. Society had different ways of ideals and the ways women were willing to do were disapproved of, and it was wrong for lots of different people, including women from the older generation. In the 1920’s women went through a lot of changes that made them a free spirit, changes that made them what they are now and having the liberty of being independent.
Comparing Story Of An Hour And Sweat By Zora Neale Hurston
1184 Words | 5 PagesFrom that point on Delia was a changed women. One night Delia even had the courage to tell Sykes, “’Ah hates you, Sykes’” (Hurston 535). This came as such a surprise to him that he had trouble trying to come up with something harsh to say back to her. Delia was a changing women and Sykes could not handle it.
Shoes Of Women In The 1920s Essay
816 Words | 4 PagesIn the 1920s women succeeded well but not without some struggles. Along the way with 19th amendment being so hard for them gaining the right to vote, women’s roles seeing that there not good enough for other than housework and the fashion or style movement with being able not to express yourself the way you should. The 19th Amendment better known as the women’s suffrage era 1920 of the united states
Sweat Hurston Character Analysis
1101 Words | 5 PagesDelia 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.
Mental Illness And Women In Hamlet
1040 Words | 5 PagesIt is often thought that the most accurate reference for the ideology of a time period lies in the literature produced at the time, rather than the factual history. However, Elaine Showalter argues that the most significant tell of an era’s views on mental illness and women is the time’s most famous adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, or, more specifically, the representation of the character Ophelia in the performance. The play itself revolves around Hamlet, who in his own internal struggle mistreats the young woman he had been courting, Ophelia. At one point, Hamlet accidentally murders Ophelia’s father, Polonius, and in the wake of this horrible event, Ophelia becomes mad and eventually commits suicide. Showalter discusses the different
Feminism In Zora Neale Hurston's Sweat
713 Words | 3 PagesThe short story Sweat written by Zora Neale Hurston takes places in Florida in the 1920s about the marriage of a black couple named Delia Jones and Sykes and how she is trapped in this marriage and is constantly being abused by her husband and uses her fears to his advantage to effect their relationship. There are many themes throughout this short story but the main one that stood out was the strong feminism. Feminism is portrayed in Sweat by the main character Delia Jones which is the breadwinner in the relationship and works as a washwoman and is stuck in a toxic marriage and has to provide for her insecure husband Sykes. Just like how Delia is not privileged due to her race and her gender in Sweat, African American women are also by the same reasons, since slavery they have struggled individually and in groups to overcome the multiple injustices that they and their communities face. The term Black feminism was not a widely used term until the Black women 's movement in the 1970s.
Theme Of Irony In Barn Burning
448 Words | 2 PagesInitially, Sykes releases a rattlesnake, into the home of both him and Delia with the intentions of it killing her. Though, it does not. Sykes returns to the home, and Delia is nowhere to be found, so he assumed the job had been done and proceed into the house. This is where the irony comes into play, Sykes ends of being the victim of the rattler rather than Delia. Delia’s main conflict, with her abusive husband was solved when the trap he set for her failed, and he become the victim of the
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