The short story, "Sweat", was written by Zora Neale Hurtson in 1926. At this time in South America, there was a place of racial division. It was written in a time when women were treated unequal, especially in their marriages. When you read the story, even though the matter of race is not prevalent in the story, it is prevalent in the minds of the characters. The two main characters are Delia and Sykes. In the beginning of the story, Delia is doing work not only for herself, but the entire community. She does the laundry for the white people in her community. Sykes is very unsympathetic to Delia's needs and he refuses to work. The couple has been married for fifteen years, and Delia has been pushed too far by an unfulfilling life of never-ending work and abuse. Sykes wanted Delia to leave, because if she left him, the house would be his. However, she was bound and determined not to leave him. In his attempts to get rid of Delia, Sykes puts a rattlesnake on the front door step of their home. He hopes this will scare her off, or kill her. He even goes and has an affair with another woman, but nothing will make Delia leave. What is so good about this story is that there is an ironic twist. Sykes wants to kill his wife, but in his own attempts he kills himself. The sun has set, and it is dark outside. Delia is afraid of the snake, so she goes outside to get away from it. She listens in the garage as her husband enters the house. Sykes comes in and thinks he hears the snake under the stove, so he jumps onto the bed where he think he will be safe and avoid the snake. However, he was wrong. The snake was on the bed, and it bit him. Delia in the end gets the revenge because he knew she was there.
             I absolutely love this story. One reason is because of the fact it was written when women, didn't have any say so. I think Hurston's story reveals the disturbing role of women at a time
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