Sweat by Zora Neale Hurston is a short story about an African-American woman living miserably because of her time consuming work and her abusive husband. The main protagonist, Delia, washes clothes of the whites and is the one supporting the family.
Her husband, Sykes, despite relying on her for financial support, ridicules her most of the time. Perhaps, the main and most obvious theme in Sweat is the theme of oppression because in the story, not only is racial discrimination apparent due to work (or the lack of it) attributed to the blacks, but also because of the “inner” sexist oppression within the household of Delia and Sykes.
Racial-Economic Oppression
Delia is first described in the opening paragraphs, doing her work as a washwoman on a Sabbath day (Sunday) at a late hour: “It was eleven o’clock, of a Spring night in Florida. It was a Sunday. Any other night, Delia Jones would have been in bed for two hours by this time” (Hurston 1). This indicates that she was required, or rather, it is a must for her to work, even on Sundays because of her demanding work.
A regular, non-oppressed person would not have such a demanding work that would prompt him or her to work on a Sunday. Though her work technically does not start till Monday, the fact that she is starting work early because of the amount of time required for the work the following morning means that she is working unjustly.
No white person during the setting of the story would not have the kind of work that Delia does because it was considered a slave’s job during that time.
Her husband Sykes suffers from this oppression as well. However, he does not seem to have a job or at least a better job than Delia, as she seems to be the breadwinner in the family, which is evident in the lines where she exclaims, “Mah tub if suds is filled yo’belly with vittles more times than yo; hands is filled it, Mah sweat is done paid for this house and Ah reckon Ah kin keep on sweatin’ in it.” (Hurston 2). Thus, the oppression moves into gender discrimination from racial-economic depression.
Women Oppression
As if Delia was not having trouble enough from the oppression attributed to the blacks, her own husband adds to the problem—Sykes maltreats Delia verbally and physically. In the opening scene, Sykes teases Delia with a snake-like whip, knowing that she is terrified with snakes. Near the end, he even brought home a real rattlesnake, all because he wanted to scare the heck out of Delia.
During the argument on the whip incident, Delia retaliates by taking a defensive pose that startles Sykes. “She seized the iron skillet from the stove and struck a defensive pose… It cowed him and he did not strike her as he usually did” (Hurston 2).
This line suggests that Sykes usually beats Delia whenever she tries to fight back. Sykes also torments Delia by flaunting his affair with his mistress Bertha in front of her. This utter show of disrespect only shows Sykes’ oppressive attitude towards women—that he treats them like material things, not minding their feelings (Barnes).
An analogy by Clarke, one of the townsmen, to a sugar cane best describes how Sykes views women: “When dey’s satisfied dat dey is wrung dry, dey treats ‘em jes lak dey do a cane chew” (Hurston 4).
Conclusion
Sweat by Zora Neale Hurston encompasses a variety of themes, most important in all of them is the theme of oppression. Through her work, Hurston was able to show that oppression can exist not only between blacks and whites but also within the black communities themselves through the oppression of women.
Works Cited
Barnes, Daniel C. “A Troubled Mind A Twisted Soul.” Helium. 2009. Helium, Inc. 16 March
2009 <http://www.helium.com/items/1195873-literary-analysis-of-sweat>.
Hurston, Zora Neale. “Sweat.” Title of Book. Ed. First Name Last Name. Location:
Publisher, Year of Publication.
