Sweat Gender Quotes

Right off the bat, we're introduced to Delia's strong work ethic; it appears to be central to her identity. As the story continues, we come to learn that she works just as hard—or harder—than all the men in her hometown, and most definitely shows up her no-good husband. We like her already.

Ugh. Here, Sykes is laughing at Delia for being scared of his bullwhip. This is a classic case of bullying, something he likes to do quite often to his wife to exert control and continue to take advantage of her. From the moment we meet him, we can see Sykes is a disrespectful, pitiful man who uses his might to intimidate Delia.

Insults are all this guy seems to be able to offer. Is it Delia's fault she was born a woman? No. Is it Sykes's fault that he treats her poorly? Yes. All she's trying to do is work and all he's trying to do is cause problems. We think Sykes is just intimidated by his wife's impressive ability to provide for the two of them. We never said he was a good guy.

What's wrong with this scene? Delia's working and Sykes's destroying. Hurston is showing a big divide between the sexes in "Sweat"—the men make messes and women are left to clean them up, literally.

Normally, we're all about peace and love, but we can't help getting emotional at this act of defiance by Delia. She's had it once and for all and defends herself with a weapon, tired of being threatened by Sykes and tired of him sneaking around with Bertha. She's also using a skillet—a symbol of domesticity—to make her threat. It's like she's grabbing her femininity by the handle and wielding it like a sword; It's a very empowering scene.

First Sykes calls Delia an aggravating woman, and now he's insulting her for being skinny. Maybe he doesn't like skinny women because it's a sign of overwork and it reminds him that he's lazy? Or maybe he's just an evil man desperate to hurt his wife however he can.

Amen, Joe Clarke. Here, he uses this beautiful metaphor to describe how some guys treat their women worse than a piece of sugar cane—they objectify them, use them, and spit them out when they're done. Still, despite his wise insight, when Sykes appears, Joe's mouth stays shut. If he sees so many men mistreating their women, why doesn't he say something?

This is how Sykes responds to Delia when she asks him to take the snake out of her house. Here he shows how much of a macho man he is, telling Delia that the only thing he has to do is die. Ah, if only he knew what he had coming his way…

Delia realizes that Bertha has been in her house while in the kitchen. It's a woman's intuition—a feeling she has that she just knows is true—and it makes her extremely mad. We don't blame her, either. It's bad enough to cheat, but it's just straight wrong to bring the lover into the home.

In one of the final scenes of "Sweat" Delia hears her husband suffering and dying, and does nothing to help him. And the extra special touch here is that Hurston compares Sykes to a chimpanzee and a gorilla, something less than human—perfectly fitting to his character.