Essay on Delia's Marriage in Hurston's Sweat

The character, Delia Jones, in Sweat and the narrator in The Yellow Wallpaper are personalities that are significantly persuaded by what their societies considered to be acceptable roles and behaviors for married women. However, throughout both works, both personalities opposed these norms to overcome the obstacles in their respective lives. Delia in Sweat was a washwoman, which made her the sole financial provider of her household. Her husband, Sykes, did not work at all and also challenged the era’s social standards by carelessly spending Delia’s hard earned money. Delia wanted to wash her clothes when she came back from church on Sunday. Although it was

The other men in the town seem to disrespect Sykes and even suggest that he should die. While Delia started to deliver the clean laundry in town one day, the men talked about how Delia is too good for Sykes and that she deserves better, They also despise Sykes for running around with an ugly and fat woman, ultimately cheating on his hardworking wife. Finally, one man says, “Syke Jones ain’t wuth de shot an’ powder hit would tek tuh kill ‘em. Not to huh he ain’t” (357) while another man adds, “…an’ we oughter kill ‘im” (358). It seems like Hurston portrays this hostility to reiterate to the reader that Sykes will fall victim to a well deserved death.

Sykes personality is totally different than Delia’s. Sykes Jones is physically and emotionally cruel to Delia. He is immoral and unfaithful; furthermore he takes the money that is earned from Delia's tough labor and squanders it away on his mistress, Bertha. Whereas Sykes may be strong in body, he does not have any belief in God. Sykes in a sense can be compared to the devil because like the devil he drained Delia of her beauty, joy and happiness that she once possessed. This point is brought up in the story when Joe Clarke and the village men are talking about Delia and Sykes ” …But dey squeeze an’ grind an’ wring every drop uh pleasure dat’s in ‘em out” (443). According to Davis Masson, who wrote, Essays Biographical and Critical “All sadness and melancholy come from the devil” (86). Once their marriage starts to fall apart, Sykes uses Delia’s anxiety of snakes against her. Andre’ Ménez, who wrote The Subtle Beast, states, “Being sometimes poisonous, hidden in the shadows; slowly and mutely guiding, snakes have often been deemed powerful and shifty, evil creatures whose major aim was to frustrate the natural and proper development of life” (9).

people’s clothes demonstrates her strength and determination. Delia is a dynamic character as shown early in the story with this quote: “She seized the iron skillet from the stove and struck a defensive pose, which act surprised him greatly, coming from her.” Sykes’ dumbfounded reaction to Delia’s defensive action allows the reader to assume that this

Delia is a hard working woman who uses her faith in God to guide and protect her from her husband’s physical and emotional abuse. She, as a protagonist, is physically weak but yet spiritually strong. Sykes, in the story, tormented Delia in many ways throughout the story. One incident was with the bull horn when he tried to scare Delia while she was sorting

Not only does he drain her financially, but he has also abused her mentally and emotionally for the most of their marriage. Delia reminds Sykes that all she does is "Sweat, sweat, sweat! Work and Sweat, cry and sweat, pray and sweat!" from the fifteen years she has been washing laundry and laments (Hurston 278). However, despite all the cruelty that is happening, the author still portrays her persona with great compassion. Delia has enormous love, but soon discovers that she has the capacity to hate as much as she loves which has developed from her long-suffering life with Sykes. The author creates Delia based off her own life of being a Christian woman, therefore, in the story "Sykes is clearly wrong throughout the story, and Delia is right in living out the principles of Christian love, tolerance, and humility" (Banks). The importance of this quote is that it puts Delia's character into perspective and reveals why the way she is. The author's beliefs and practices are demonstrated through Delia and explain her actions in the story.

The story Sweat by Zora Neale Hurston tells the story of Delia who overcame her abusive husband, Sykes through her development of becoming a strong woman. The development of Delia’s character throughout the story relates to Zora Neale Hurston’s life of growing up into a strong, empowered woman. Delia and Zora were both verbally and physically abused which made them afraid and timid. Zora made her characters talk in a dialect that she grew up listening to which was uncommon to do in literature. Delia and Zora both had to provide for themselves by putting in the effort remain stable and happy. They also stood up for what they believed in which started their development into strong women. Delia had to let her husband die in order to gain independence, while Zora had to move away from home in order to be successful in her future which developed them both develop into independent women. They became stronger because of these things which empowered them to take back control of their lives. The snake is a symbol in the story that represents the evil that was overcome by the good. This story can now be better analyzed when looking at the life of Delia which connects to Zora Neale Hurston’s life.

In reading the story it is easy to see that Sykes becomes somewhat jealous of Delia. At first, he did all that he could to win Delia’s heart and keep it. As said by Walter Thomas, one of the minor characters in the story, “he useter be so skeered uh losin’ huh, she could make him do some parts of a husband’s duty” (Hurston 4). Yet somehow, Sykes falls out of love with Delia early in their marriage and that’s when his oppression over her began. He not only wears her down by beating her and ultimately changing her appearance, he also abuses her mentally. He resented not only the fact that Delia was the only one of the two that was financially stable within the household, but he mostly resented her job and the reality that she was comfortable with washing clothes for the “white folks”. Time and time again he tried everything in his power to make sure she didn’t finish her days work as a wash woman. For example he shows his disgust with her job when he comes home in the beginning of the story an sees his wife working, “he stepped roughly upon the whitest pile of things, kicking them helter-skelter as he crossed the room” (Hurston). He blatantly disrespects her and sends the message that no matter what he

Delia was a hard-working woman, who was the sole provider for both her and her unemployed husband Sykes, and was also forced to work to pay for Sykes mistress, Bertha, who lived over

On the next Saturday Delia was riding through town delivering and picking up clothes as usual as a few of the local townsmen share their insight into the Jones' home. After concluding that Sykes and his "stray woman," Bertha, should be severely disciplined for their actions, they push money forth to share a watermelon. At that moment, Sykes and Bertha arrive, and a silence falls on the porch and the melon is put away. Delia drives by as Sykes is "ordering magnificently for Bertha," but Sykes has no reason to hide his infidelity, for it "pleased him for Delia to see." As the two leave the store, Sykes reminds Bertha "this was his town and she could have it if she wanted it." The men on the porch resume their melon feast at Sykes and Bertha's departure, and they continue their expression of low opinion of Sykes.

I think that Delia was putting up with Sykes because maybe she felt like she did not have much of a choice. From reading the short story, we learn that this story is based on a much older and different time period. During that time women did not have much of a say on a lot of matters. We read how the neighbors knew that Sykes was hurting Delia, but yet they choose not to do anything about it. People back then were very traditional so maybe they felt like they should not get in the middle of husband and wife. It was not common for husband and wife to get divorced or separated, so maybe Delia felt like she had to endorse the pain since she already married him and there is nothing more she can do. I also believe that Delia stayed with Sykes because

Social class and marriage are two aspects which the society has always held dear. The society categorizes social class with what one earns. The people who earn more in the society are considered powerful, and to some extent, they are respected more than others. On the other side, the people who are not financially mighty are seen as the weak in the society. A marriage is considered a stage in life which people should pass. Though the divorce rate is increasing day by day, the larger percentage of the society believes that marriage is important and people should get married for recreation and companionship. Some communities believe so much in marriages, and they consider them holy (Hurston, 3). However, marriages have their fair share of challenges. The problems of marriages did not start a few years ago, but they have been there for many years. What happens is that people are different and handle challenges differently. Today, a marriage partner would rather walk out of marriage rather than persevere and deal with the marriage issue. A few decades ago, people rarely walked out of marriages, and some of them even lived in abusive marriages. "Sweat" is a shorts story by Zola Neale Hurston which focuses more on social class and how challenging marriages can be.

In “Sweat” adoration and hatred continuously go back and forth and Delia even “attempted friendliness, but she was repulsed each time” (1092). The despair and isolation Delia felt in the end of the story, perhaps even more than the straightforward and steadily building anger, is what caused her to allow him to die in the end.

Delia shows the dedication in her job unlike her husband, he shows the opposite trait of her. In the text, Hurston describes Delia’s movement, “she squatted on the kitchen floor beside the great pile of clothes, sorting them into small heaps according to color, and humming a song in a mournful but wondering through it all where Sykes, her husband, had gone with her horse and buckboard” (pg.421). This was the normality for women who took the role as an outside planation worker while men were usually screwing around. Although, she had two job which is to make sure the clothes are well clean and pick up the clothes where Sykes would throw in the ground. This is an example of how Delia strength was shown in her character as a household and paying the house. Hurston symbolized the laundry basket to represent her time in the domestic work where she pushes forward to continue to be stronger. Not only did the author use this to symbol to represent Delia’s work but it was also use at the end of the story to remind her level of hardship.

Delia decides to defend herself from her husband’s cruelty, this happens not once but twice. The first time is when Sykes steps on Delia’s white laundry that she needs to finish for her work. Moreover Sykes threatens to beat her, but Delia’s usual “meekness” started to slip away at that moment, she was finally done with his antics. She grabbed an iron skillet ready for a fight and challenged “Naw you won’t […] You aint paid for nothin' on this place, and Ah'm gointer stay right heah till Ah'm toted out foot foremost.”(Hurston 2). The second time was when Sykes told her he was keeping the snake. She maintained her composure, stood her ground and spoke her mind, “Ah hates you, Sykes” (Hurston 6). In addition to stating her hatred toward him