The Feministic Themes in Zora Neale Hurston's "Sweat"
The historical, and cultural experiences presented in the short story, Sweat are characterized by feminism and feministic ideas. At the time of the short story, most African American entertainers praised the black culture and diversity. An American writer known as Zora Neal Hurston authors the short story, Sweat, and publishes it in the year 1926 for the first time. Zora Neale in Sweat writes a story of Delia, a washerwoman, and her unemployed husband, Sykes. Although Delia works as a washerwoman in Central Florida, her husband resents the facts that she washes clothes for the whites. Sykes and Delia have been in marriage for about fifteen years. However, the wife has persevered different forms of abuse from the husband. While Delia works hard to sustain the family, the husband beats her, and takes her salary to spend on leisure activities. Neale therefore, uses Sweat to underscore domestic abuse, and the struggles of women in society. In so doing, he portrays one, woman character Delia, in an abusive marriage with her jobless, reckless husband, Sykes. Neale explores the different issues that black families encounter in life. Delia the main character faces different conflicts in marriage, as Sykes uses verbal abuse to intimidate her. Besides, Sykes wants to dominate the marriage although his wife is the primary financial provider. In most instances, he ignores Delia in making crucial decisions in their home. At the end of the story, Delia is freed from her abusive husband to live an independent and happy life without him. The cultural beliefs and the historical attitude in the African American society oppress women compelling them to be physical laborers who worked for the white people.
Racial Discrimination of the Black
Firstly, Delia faces discrimination against her race and gender. From the Sweat, Neale portrays a feeble female character, Delia who slaves for the white people in order to make a living. Contrary, her husband brutalizes and frustrates her due to his racist attitude towards the whites. Sykes feels, the wife should not work for the white people, a notion that engages them into constant domestic violence, as the wife is left with no option but to toil since she is the family breadwinner. Delia, who is a washerwoman, does the work of cleaning houses and clothes for the white people. She is an African American woman, who encounters several instances of racial segregation in the society. Apart from the husband’s racist opinion that enforces her into family conflicts, she also has to endure racial segregation from the whites whom she works amidst.
The entire narrative is comprised of African Americans and has no reference for the whites. Delia is underprivileged by race and gender. Although Sykes is an African American, he is dominant in the marriage relationship based on his gender, and male superiority in the society. One of the contemporary issues in the narrative is racial segregation against African Americans. DuBois, the author of The Souls of Black Folks, argues that, “African Americans experience different forms of racial discrimination that affects their wellbeing” (Du Bois 67). The author reveals that one of the significant problems against blacks is the issue of racism. In the case of Delia, it is clear that the whites oppress the African Americans. Just in a similar way that Delia is underprivileged by race and gender, African American women encounter different forms of under privileges in the society. Hurston discloses that racial oppression and segregation were prevalent issues in the society that affected mostly the African Americans.
Another form of Discrimination is Sexism
Women in the society were deprived of the same prospects as those that the men got. Delia for example, works for long hours. Besides, she is the breadwinner in the family yet, Sykes, her husband, is unemployed but takes her income. Sykes spends Delia’s hard-earned money on his mistress based on his gender as a man. In most cases, the wife suffers from verbal and other forms of abuse from her violent husband. Sykes contemplates of killing his wife so that he may have an affair with his mistress. Lupton (50) observes that, “Having come to hate his skinny industrious wife, Sykes brings home a rattlesnake to scare her.” Sykes absolutely feels the power to dominate and control his wife based on his gender as a man. On the contrary, Delia has to persevere in the abusive marriage based on the existing male superiority in the society. Lupton points out that Sykes cheats on his wife and even spends Delia’s hard-earned money on his mistress (54). The entire story is based on the different forms of oppression that women encounter. Sykes is the dominant figure and a portrait of sexist masculinity. However, the author reveals that despite patriarchal oppression, women exercise their agency in myriad ways. Delia ignores Sykes’ plead for help after he is bitten by a rattlesnake. According to Lupton (50), “In the last scene, Delia lies in the grass, a witness to the accident but unable to help her husband, her body willed immobile by the force of her hatred.” She illustrates the agency of women in the face of oppression and their resistance of social and economic implications. It is apparent that Delia and her husband are two individuals on opposite end of religious spectrum but bound together in their marriage.
Domestic Violence
An abusive marriage arises where the man feels inferior and insecure and ends up reacting to gain sexuality recognition. The marriage between Delia and Sykes in the short story is violent since Sykes started thrashing his wife in the second month of their marriage. Later, the husband attempts to kill the wife using a rattlesnake. While Sykes is superior in the society, Delia suffers from an inferiority complex as a woman. Men dominate in society while women have to condone the extensive gender segregation in society. The couple has different perceptions of race, which often results in different instances of conflict. Delia is inferior and works for the whites. She encounters various forms of abuse from the husband. She finds herself in a patriarchal society that intimidates women and strongly privileges men. According to Du Bois (54), “The society stereotypes women, which denies them the autonomy to achieve their life desires.” In the case of Delia, she is financially independent but still powerless to the husband. Sykes has to express his influence through intimidating and betraying the wife because he is not the financial provider in the family. The society members perceive women as inferior while men are the dominant figures in the society. Hurston reveals that the hardworking Delia has to tolerate living with morally bankrupt, abusive, and lazy husband. Hurston reveals prevalence of gender inequalities in the society and feminism practices that affects women negatively.
Conclusion
In overall, Delia’s portrayal in the Sweat reveals the typical cultural experience of most women especially within the American history. The society was patriarchal and oppressed women so that they lacked independence. Besides, Neale develops her theme of patriarchy using racism, a major problem at the time of her short story. The cultural attitude that the female gender was entitled to in the African American culture includes racial discrimination, sexism, and abusive marriages. Delia suffers from different forms of abuse, as a woman in society. It is apparent that Sykes has no respect for his wife, Delia. The wife endures a life of fear and helplessness until the death of Sykes as the dominant figure in the narrative. Moreover, she has no influence in their marriage as a wife. It is confirmed that black women were seen as inferior, and they could not enjoy the same privileges as the men or the whites. The historical and cultural representation of black women therefore, confirms the oppressive society they lived through and the consequences of such oppressions they had to endure. Nevertheless, the success of Delia and the ruin of Sykes at the end of the short story instill a sense of hopefulness in women, if at all such society as of Delia may be present today.
Works Cited
Du Bois, William Edward Burghardt, and Brent Hayes Edwards. The Souls of Black Folk (Oxford World's Classics). Oxford, 1903.
Lupton, Mary Jane. "Zora Neale Hurston and the Survival of the Female." The Southern Literary Journal (1982): 45-54.
