Victim?

Delia in "Sweat" is unfortunately in a situation that is still common place today 86 years after the publication of Zora Hurston's short story, a wife in a loveless marriage of 15 years that's now become domestic abuse. With the majority of the story told through Delia's perspective, we're supposed to identify with her struggles and be sympathetic to her plight, which Hurston makes a good case for. While Sykes is indeed the morally bankrupt man that he's depicted as, I can't be as sympathetic for Delia as other readers have been for the fact that she has enabled his behavior and actions by staying with him for 15 years. Before people make the excuses that he has her living in "fear" or any other sort of state that women in psychologically abusive relationships experience, keep in mind that the story goes out of its way to establish that Sykes is almost always out, presumably with his mistress Bertha or other women we don't know of, only coming home to eat, sleep, and berate or demean Delia. In those instances that Sykes demeans her, Delia doesn't hesitate to air her grievances of Sykes' treatment of her, establishing that she's not afraid of him.

Furthermore, its mentioned that Sykes started his reign of abuse 2 months after their wedding, which should have set off red flags for Delia for how rapidly Sykes' facade of chivalry decayed into savagery. Which brings us to her enabling, why did she stayed with a husband who openly cheats on her, does nothing to contribute to the house, doesn't appear to be working, and doesn't treat her with any shred of respect? After Sykes first beats her down 2 months into the marriage, Delia decides to stay for an additional 14 years and 10 months, which is baffling considering that Delia is depicted as perceptive and intelligent. Delia is aware of how the locals rightfully perceive her relationship with Sykes, and possibly their hostility toward Sykes as established near the end when she threatens to go to tell the locals if Sykes attacks her.

The fact that they do not have children makes her decision to stay all the more baffling, the only explanation that makes sense is that if she stays long enough, he'll change, give up his ways, and other things of the sort. This logic is suggested somewhat by Clarke when he says that "There's no law on earth that can make a man decent if it ain't in him", which shows how Delia could be waiting for something that will never come. If this is indeed why she stayed with him, then the only good thing I can say about her is that she is sensible enough to leave the house when the rattlesnake was loose, for I have no sympathy for enablers.