Symbolism In Sweat

Symbolism in Sweat Symbolism is a figure of speech that an author uses to create a certain attitude or emotion in literature. A symbol can be an object, person, situation, or word to represent something else. Zora Neale Hurston uses symbols in her works to show certain issues of being an African American during the Harlem Renaissance. Peter Powers explains the significance of religious beliefs, gender, and ethnicity into a “preeminence of American Protestantism…. nowhere was this upheaval felt more acutely—as both an opportunity and a cause for anxiety—than among African Americans” (Powers 229). Hurston uses symbolism in her story, “Sweat,” to show this “upheaval” of the African American culture. One symbol that Hurston uses in her story …show more content…
Sykes uses his bull whip to induce fear upon Delia. “Just then something long, round, limp, and black fell upon her shoulders and slithered to the floor beside her. A great terror took hold of her. It softened her knees and dried her mouth so that it was a full minute before she could cry out or move. Then she saw that it was the big bull whip her husband liked to carry when he drove” (Hurston 386). Sykes uses this power to manipulate the world around him to his liking. Gordon Thompson, a literary scholar, explains that people in literary works tend to “project their designs, fears, or desires upon inanimate objects or even other characters to transform the world into a new manipulable and manageable environment” (Thompson 742). Sykes knows that Delia is afraid of snakes, and he emotionally torments her for pleasure. “You knows how skeered Ah is of snakes” (Hurston 386). Sykes even shows his awareness of his power when he says, “Course Ah knowed it! That’s how come Ah done it,” (Hurston 387). Sykes shows that he has power and he uses his bull whip to induce the emotional abuse upon Delia. The symbolism of the whip is also interpreted as a lifeless version of the snake. The snake, being a very religious animal that is thought to embody one’s fear, is a fear of Delia’s. Sykes uses this fear to inflict emotional damage upon Delia. Hurston shows the emotion from Delia when she says, “Looka heah, Sykes, you done gone too fur,” (Hurston …show more content…
Her final stand symbolizes the “upheaval” of feminism during the Harlem Renaissance. She cannot deal with the snake Sykes brings home and tells Sykes, “Ah hates you tuh de same degree dat Ah usester love yuh” (Hurston 391). Many critics believe Hurston wanted to show that it was necessary for Delia to act at this moment in the story. Hurston wanted to explain that Delia needed to “recognize her feminine power” (Wall 8). However, Cheryl Wall disagrees saying, ““Delia is a devoutly religious woman faith helps her weather the storms of her marriage, while at the same time whose it imbues her with a meekness that makes her more vulnerable to her husband’s cruelty. Conversely, gains the strength to stand up to Sykes, she jeopardizes her spiritual peace” (Wall 8). Wall explains that she gives up some of her morality for her freedom, although what was worth it in the end. In conclusion, Zora Neale Hurston portrayed ideals of society during the Harlem Renaissance. Hurston uses symbolism of a snake to show the fear of men. She also uses the whip as a symbol of masculinity and power that men use against women. Feminism uprising was also contained within the symbolism of Delia’s stand against Sykes. “Hurston’s work announces the end of ‘masculinity’ as an exclusively male preserve, indeed, imagines an end to the masculine/feminine divide” (Powers 243). Hurston also relates to the religious beliefs of the Garden of Eden, Heaven, and God.