Zora Neale Hurston, a 20th century writer, paints a bleak and grim image with the short story “Sweat,” a story about a couple in a challenging relationship. The story begins by introducing the hardships of the main characters. There is no specific indication of what time period this story takes place in. It is reasonable to suggest the story was meant take place in the 1920’s. It mentions lighting of lamps often, the use of a pony as a mode of transportation, and the use of matches to light a lamp. The author distinguishes third person narrative structures to help parse through some of the more difficult to read dialogue. The dialogue matches the environment and setting with its deep southern drawl, slang and all.
The story tells in anti-fairy tale, where the damsel in distress manages to free herself in this very real life situation. An overworked, underappreciated, and unhappy wife escapes a verbally, and domestically abusive relationship. The townsfolk could see the writing on the wall and even consider helping the protagonist. Her husband, the antagonist, is repugnant with his words and actions throughout the story. He simply does not care about her. It is not for lack of trying on the part of the wife that the marriage makes a disastrous crescendo that results in the death of the husband.
Delia Jones is a skinny, tired and hard-working black woman. Once the apple of her husband, Sykes Jones’ eye, her husband has completely abandoned his gentlemanly chivalrous demeanor, and regularly engages in bad behavior. He teases his wife by making her flinch and committing pranks on her that in actuality put fear in her. All the while he treats his mistress, Bertha, very well. He buys her things in plain view of his wife, another example of his awful treatment toward Delia. Delia is the bread winner it would seem. Sykes makes money but never brings it home or contributes to the relationship.
Bertha is described as heavy set in stark contrast to Delia who is very skinny. Sykes gravitates to her in an almost statesmen like way. He tries to convince Bertha that he is the man of the town. The other men do notice his actions and do not mince their chin-wagging about the two. “Aw, she’s fat, thass how come. He’s allus been crazy ‘bout fat women,” (773). Bertha is Sykes’ mistress.
Sykes did manage to wed Delia, who was a sight in her youth. Walter Thomas, one of the townsmen confesses in front of the other men on how he was once infatuated with Delia before she got married to Sykes. Joe Clarke is the local vendor. A lot of the story takes place in his shop as this is where the townsmen gather to gossip and buy watermelon. This is also the setting that Sykes is characterized in a myriad ways as a womanizer, a domestic abuser, and arrogant.
Elijah Mosley begins gossiping about Sykes’ domestic abuse. “Elijah Moseley began to bait Joe Clarke” (773). Stories about how Syke learned how to drive an automobile from a white woman surface, and about a time Sykes tried to seduce the wife of Jim Merchant one of townsmen. All the townsmen have had it with Sykes. At one point Old Man Anderson even suggests killing Sykes over the pattern of his actions, to the nod and approval of the other townsmen.
It is a spring night in Florida. In the beginning of the story Delia is preparing to go to church. Sykes pranks his wife by throwing a whip near her. “Sykes, what you throw dat whip on me like dat? You know it would skeer me—looks just like a snake, an’ you knows how skeered Ah is of snakes,” says Delia (770).
Time-shifts as the narrator sets the stage for a hot summer day, “near the end of July” (772) and the townsmen share accounts about Sykes. The third arch introduces Bertha’s story line which takes places from July to August. The townsmen become more vocal as they notice the interactions of Sykes and Bertha. They defend Delia, and give her credit for putting up with Sykes misbehavior. There is a certain level of seriousness when the idea of killing him is broached but nobody acts on it.
It is also in the third and final arch that the story takes an ironic twist. Delia is afraid of snakes, Sykes expresses extreme contempt for his wife when he brings home a fanged poisonous rattle snake. He wants to show he is a man, and how dominate he is. Other townsmen are surprised by this, but Sykes scoffs at Walter Thomas, “’Naw, Walt, y’all jes’ don’t understand dese diamon’ black lak Ah do,’ said Sykes in a Superior tone of voice” (775).
“The village agreed with Walter, but the snake stayed on,” (775). The story builds anticipation as the relationship between Sykes and Delia fractures more over the snake in the house. Their relationship boils over when Delia issues the ultimatum to Sykes to either get rid of the snake or leave. The argument that ensues includes mudslinging and passionate hatred for one another. The relationship is over and it is clear they there is no fixing it this time. Delia knows about Sykes mistress, deducing there must be another woman based on how many matches he has on his person. There would have been no shortage of matches from lighting lamps lived in one home instead of two. Instinctively Delia already knew her husband was unfaithful.
Sykes leaves the home, and Delia is immediately happier. She is still overworked and struggling. She works out an arrangement with the church to attend service without her husband. One day she returns home after a church service, singing church songs. While folding laundry she finds the snake in the hamper. Frantically she leaves the home and falls asleep on a nearby haystack. Sykes shows up later, presumably after a few days with his mistress. It is dark and cannot find the ones in the house. It’s too dark. Sykes is completely vulnerable to an attack from the snake he once wrangled. He pleads for help, but he’s pleas fall on deaf ears. Delia’s knight in shining armor rattles in the night in shining scales.
This is a grim story of a good wife who, despite every hardship, tries to hold on to her merriage. She’s a hard working, church going woman who put up with everything. She reached the tipping point when her husband crossed a line. No longer afraid, she tells him to leave. Karma kills her husband. If he was not unfaithful he may have had matches and could have seen the snake. If he had clubbed the snake like all the townsfolk suggested, there would have been no snake. The snake was the hero in this anti-fairy tale, the serpent in the midst.
Work Cited
- Hurston, Zora N. “Sweat.” Literature: The Human Experience. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2019. Print.