Analysis on "Sweat" Kristel Encarnacion

Analysis on "Sweat" by: Kristel Encarnacion

 The short story "sweat" centers around a woman named Delia. Delia is a washerwoman and when we are introduced to her she is working late, as she usually does to get a head start on the weeks work.  Delia is pensive and wonders where her husband is because he happens to have her working equipment. As Delia wonders she suddenly feels something on her shoulders , thinking that it might be a snake she lets out a scream and soon realizes that its her crude husband standing over her with the bullwhip he uses to ride the horses. The way that he suddenly comes into the story and stands over her seems kind of symbolic to me, like he imposes himself on her. As I read on I realized that indeed he is oppressive towards her, Delia is angry that he made her think there was a snake, but before she can vent he yells at her about the white folk clothes that are in the house and reminds her that he does not  like seeing them there. One aggressive and inconsiderate thing that he does is kick the neat pile of clothes that she had folded. As we keep reading we see that Skye continues to verbally abuse his wife as if trying to provoke her.In a bit of rage Delia picks up the hot iron skillet as if ready to burn him with it and the narrator states "  It cowed him and he did not strike her as he usually did". That was our verification that indeed he was verbally and physically abusive towards her and that there was domestic violence in that house.

As we read on we find out that while Delia works hard ,goes to church and tries to keep their little house in order ,Skye is having an affair with a woman named Bertha.  He spends DELIA'S hard earned money on her. He is so cynical and despicable that when he comes home around dawn he steals the covers from her, in that scene Delia says to herself " Oh well whatever goes over the devils back,is got to come under his belly" . To me she is basically saying something about how things will eventually come back around to nip him in the butt, karma etc.  There is an instant in the story that caught my attention which is when we are told that Skyes beats up on Delia so much, that she has lost her good looks. It further supported my initial opinion of him being an abusive and oppressive being. One day Skyes comes home with a box and tells Delia to look inside and sees there is a rattlesnake, he refuses to get rid of it and even though he knows Delia hates it. Eventually we reach the night where Delia comes home only to find that the rattlesnake is missing and gets out in time. Instead of warning her husband she stand s from a distance waiting to see him go inside. Skyes ends up being bit by that same rattlesnake he refused to get rid of,  it seems that finally that rattle snake had put an end to all of Delia's suffering and pain, all the humiliations she endured for years and more. Although the story doesn't go into detail about why Delia doesn't warn her husband its pretty clear to me that she wanted her husband to die fr all he had done to her based on the reading. The snake also seems symbolic to me, the story starts of with Skye trying to scare his wife thinking there was a snake, and at the end the joke was on him. The snake is brought up in the story quite often.