Sweat By Zora Neale Hurston Analysis

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The Analysis: In the short story “Sweat,” Zora Neal Hurston explores the freedom Delia Jones reaches as she can finally be released from the tyrannical Sykes, Delia’s husband. I find this passage interesting because helping out Sykes in his last gasping breaths doesn’t even get a second thought in Delia’s mind. This passage highlights Hurston’s belief in karma and what goes around comes around. I will illustrate how this passage develops __. Though Delia was once in love with Sykes she now feels mostly hatred towards him. In this passage from Zora Neal Hurston’s short story, Sweat, Delia’s husband, Sykes, has been bitten by the snake and is begging for mercy. Instead of helping him, Delia just stands there and watches her husband die. Early on Delia tells Sykes that he will reap what he has sewn and indeed Sykes does end having to reap what he has sewn. In other words she is talking about karma and what goes around comes around. As Delia see’s “him on his hands and knees as soon as she reached the door” (105), this is taking all the strength and power Sykes thought he had and puts Delia in control. For once Sykes is being portrayed as vulnerable and helpless, as he has made Delia to be throughout her whole life spent with him. Sykes only being able to “creep” an inch or two…show more content…
Sykes got what he had coming to him. After tormenting Delia with the snake and his secret hope for it to accidentally get out and bite her turns around on him. This story is a parallel to the story of Adam and Eve at the garden of Eden. Sykes is Adam and Delia is Eve. When at the tree in the biblical story Eve is eating all the fruits and gaining knowledge and when Delia is standing at the chinaberry tree at the end of the story she also is gaining

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