Sweat is a short story

Short story

A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...

 by the American writer Zora Neale Hurston

Zora Neale Hurston

Zora Neale Hurston was an American folklorist, anthropologist, and author during the time of the Harlem Renaissance...

, first published in 1926. The story revolves around a washerwoman and her unemployed, insecure husband.

Robert E. Hemenway, the Chancellor of University of Kansas

University of Kansas

The University of Kansas is a public research university and the largest university in the state of Kansas. KU campuses are located in Lawrence, Wichita, Overland Park, and Kansas City, Kansas with the main campus being located in Lawrence on Mount Oread, the highest point in Lawrence. The...

 and the author of a biography of Zora Neale Hurston, praised the Sweat as "a remarkable work, her best fiction of the period".

Summary

Delia is a washerwoman

Laundry

Laundry is a noun that refers to the act of washing clothing and linens, the place where that washing is done, and/or that which needs to be, is being, or has been laundered...

 who works long hours in a small Central Florida

Central Florida

Central Florida is a regional designation for the area surrounding Orlando in east central Florida, United States. The area represents the third largest population concentration in Florida, after the South Florida and Tampa Bay regions, respectively....

 village. Her husband Sykes does not work, yet he resents that Delia cleans "white folks'" clothes in their home. A practical joker, Sykes scares his wife of fifteen years by using her fear of snake

Snake

Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...

s. The marriage is an abusive one, ever since Sykes began beating Delia two months after marrying. Observers in the town remark how the once-beautiful Delia has lost her shine because of her abusive husband. That said, Delia has come to the conclusion that she does not need Sykes nor his abuse, particularly considering it is her wages that paid for their home.

Tired of Delia and seeking out freedom with his "portly" mistress Bertha, Sykes hatches a plan to poison

Poison

In the context of biology, poisons are substances that can cause disturbances to organisms, usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when a sufficient quantity is absorbed by an organism....

 Delia by planting a rattlesnake

Rattlesnake

Rattlesnakes are a group of venomous snakes of the genera Crotalus and Sistrurus of the subfamily Crotalinae . There are 32 known species of rattlesnake, with between 65-70 subspecies, all native to the Americas, ranging from southern Alberta and southern British Columbia in Canada to Central...

 in her washing clothes. In a bit of karmic

Karma

Karma in Indian religions is the concept of "action" or "deed", understood as that which causes the entire cycle of cause and effect originating in ancient India and treated in Hindu, Jain, Buddhist and Sikh philosophies....

 fate, however, it is Sykes who is poisoned by the rattlesnake, fatally, in the neck. In response, Delia sits meditatively below a chinaberry tree waiting for her husband to expire, and ignoring his pleas for aid.

Characters

Sykes

Sykes a stereotypical abusive husband. He physically and mentally abuses Delia, takes her income while failing to make his own, and has an affair on the side. Despite being out of work, for three months he has paid his mistress Bertha's rent. After he has "wrung every drop of pleasure" out of Delia, he plots to poison her with a rattlesnake, but the plan backfires after he is fatally bitten in the neck.

Delia

Delia is an abused wife and her jaded view of Sykes and his mistreatment of her grows as the story progresses. Delia comes to feel the same way about her marriage as Skyes: that the relationship has run its course. Delia portrays a woman from the Deep South

Deep South

The Deep South is a descriptive category of the cultural and geographic subregions in the American South. Historically, it is differentiated from the "Upper South" as being the states which were most dependent on plantation type agriculture during the pre-Civil War period...

 in the first half of the 20th Century who comes to discover freedom as independence from men.

Themes

Domestic abuse

Sykes abuses Delia physically by beating her, economically by taking her income, and emotionally by putting her down for her body type. The story investigates the psychological effects of an abusive relationship.

Karma

Karma

Karma in Indian religions is the concept of "action" or "deed", understood as that which causes the entire cycle of cause and effect originating in ancient India and treated in Hindu, Jain, Buddhist and Sikh philosophies....

 (or karmic fate)

Sykes brings negativity to his relationship with Delia, and when he tries to poison her with a rattlesnake, he instead is bitten and dies from its poison. Bad people always get their comeuppance is the lesson. Even though Delia pities Sykes as he dies, she ignores his pleas because his death represents justice.

The working life versus the trifling life

The story's title "Sweat" refers to all the physical labor that Delia performs, which contrasts with Sykes' life of leisure and entitlement. The story does not refer to any job or income for Sykes, but he does somehow pay his mistress Bertha's rent, and he and his mistress even go on "stomps" -- probably dates at a nightclub.

Symbols

Clothing

The clothing

Clothing

Clothing refers to any covering for the human body that is worn. The wearing of clothing is exclusively a human characteristic and is a feature of nearly all human societies...

 represents Delia's hard work. On Sunday nights, Delia uses her free time to get prepared before her work week, but Sykes unfolds and steps on the whitest pile, which symbolizes his lack of care for her, as well as his entitlement considering that he lives on Delia's wages.

Snakes

Delia has a phobia of snakes

Ophidiophobia

Ophidiophobia or ophiophobia is a particular type of specific phobia, the abnormal fear of snakes. Fear of snakes is sometimes called by a more general term, herpetophobia, fear of reptiles and/or amphibians...

, which Sykes uses to intimidate his wife. When Sykes uses a real rattlesnake in an attempt to poison her, he is actually bitten in the neck, making the snake a symbol for karma.

The chinaberry tree

After Sykes is bitten in the neck by the rattlesnake, Delia sits under a chinaberry tree while hearing the distant moaning and wailing of Sykes. This symbolizes her peace at letting Sykes pass on. The tree is also where Delia realizes she has achieved freedom.

Setting

The setting is in a small town in Central Florida near Orlando

Orlando

Orlando is a major city in the U.S. state of Florida.Orlando may also refer to-Places:* in Florida** Orlando, a major city** Greater Orlando, the 27th-largest metropolitan area in the United States...

. The events take place in the spring. Snakes actually are prevalent in the area.