"Sweat"

Book Review # 116037

English > Analysis
Literature > American

"Sweat"

An analysis of the exploitation of Delia from a feminist view in "Sweat" by Zora Neale Hurston.

2,141 words () | 5 sources | APA | 2009 United States

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how "Sweat" by Zora Neale Hurston was written at a time when Blacks were unequal in every way; they were considered second-class citizens. In particular, the paper looks at how what is so profound about Zora Neale Hurston's book is that she is able to show us another side of inequality - the inequality in marriage. She wrote this at a time when blacks and whites were not equals, but the chains around the protagonist Delia are because of her husband. The paper examines how Delia does her part in society as a hard-working, faithful, God-fearing woman and how it is her husband's exploitation of her that keeps her down and how the feminism in "Sweat" is an underlying current that is carried along by the courageous heroine Delia.

From the Paper:

"Delia's oppression is one that many black females have had to deal with: Delia works for white women, cleaning their clothes. The book's title carries obvious irony; while Delia cleans women's clothes, making them fresh and white, her own clothes are stained with sweat and blood. Hurston hi-lites here the inherent inequality present not only in the structure of slavery in the past, but the mentality of the white employers and Delia, a mentality seemingly mimiced by her own husband. "Sweat" exposes not only the exploitation of blacks and the lower-class people who must sweat for the rich, but the story is about gender exploitation and how Sykes exploits Delia, benefiting from her sweat. The story is an inexorable condemnation of the economic and personal humiliation of marriage in a society that is both racist and sexist."

Sample of Sources Used:

Bloom, Harold. (1987). Zora Neale Hurston's: "Their eyes were watching God". New York: Chelsea House.
Campbell, Josie P. (2001). Student companion to Zora Neale Hurston (Student companion to classic writers.
Gale Resources. (2008). "Black history: Zora Neale Hurston". Retrieved from the Web Site: http://www.gale.cengage.com/free_resources/bhm/bio/hurston_z.htm on November 15, 2008.
Hurston, Zora Neale. "Sweat." The Norton Anthology of African American Literature. Eds. Henry Louis Gates et al. New York: W.W. Norton Co, 2004. 1022-30.
Morrison, Toni. (2004). Beloved. New York: Vintage International.