Invisible Power That Drives the Universe

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ENG-200-005 31 October 2014 Invisible Power that Balances the Universe Although, everyone’s life takes a different path, we are all somehow interconnected. Nobody can escape it; the invisible power exists naturally in society and it balances the universe. The invisible power, otherwise known as karma, can be good or bad depending upon the actions in someone’s life. In other words, an individual can create their happiness or their misery, but only that person can control their own karma. There are many examples of this principle: Zora Hurston’s 1926 short story “Sweat,” Guy Maupassant’s 1884 short story “Mother Savage,” and Ralph Ellison’s 1997 short story “A Party Down at the Square.” These works of literature demonstrate that whatever you do will eventually come back to you, whether it be good or bad. “Sweat” is a story about Delia Jones, a black washwoman who seeks revenge on her husband Sykes for the way he has treated her for the past fifteen years. The reader immediately acquires examples of Sykes’s mistreatment toward Delia (Hurston, 137-138). He was rudely awakened when Delia defensively struck him with a skillet after he had dirtied, and scattered a pile of clean clothes that she had just washed. This is the first illustration of cause and effect, displayed by Hurston in this short story. The house and most everything else was paid for by the hard-earned wages of Delia, thus the title sweat. Not only was he living off of her wages, but was also caught in the act of paying for other women’s groceries as if it were his money. In an attempt to run Delia out of the house Sykes brought home, what he called a present for Delia. As she opened the box and she was overcome with fear: “Syke! Syke, mah Gawd! You take dat rattlesnake ‘way from heah! You gottuh. Oh, Jesus, have mussy” (Hurston 142)! He refused to get rid of the rattlesnake. He knew that Delia was
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