LIVED DOMESTICITIES
Monday, October 1, 2012
sweat
In this story i can see that the character Delia and her husband are a very strange couple but in a sense they are normal because during this time period im sure many women went through the same things. But were just too afraid to speak out, just like how delia pretty much deals with the abuse for 15 years and more. I think the author ties the title to the story to the plot of the story because the relationship is what she sweats from. Basically she is always nervous and scared of her former husband, so she works so hard and he still treats her so bad she sweats from working hard and from dealing with her stressfull relationship that everyone critiques but no one will ever understand her or why she stays?
This story gives a great message to the readers. This couple
began their marriage happily but eventually they hate each other. Delia was a
very hard workingwomen that try her best in her marriage but her husband Skye
didn’t care about her because he wanted a different life. Skye did everything
to ruin the relationship he lie, cheat and hit hear and even thought Delia
didn’t do anything she knew that what it comes around goes around and one day
her husband was going to pay for what he has done to her. At the end he dies by
his own hands, he brought a snake to terrorize his wife and the snake bite him
and kill him. My question is do we believe that what we do in life can come to us?
Sweat
Reading this story was quite upsetting for me. How can a man of such guilt have no pity for Delia? In Line 16, "Looka heah, Sykes, you done gone too fur. Auh been married to you fur fifteen years, and Ah been takin' in wawshin' fur fifteen years. Sweat, sweat, sweat! Work and sweat, cry and sweat, pray and sweat!" (423). This showed that she finally had the guts to at least stand up for herself and speak of whats bothering her. I mean the woman works very well. Why doesnt she just leave him?
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.
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.
"Sweat" Response
Reading this story kind of disturbed me. I asked myself several questions. How does a man let himself become such a monster? Doesn't he feel any sense of shame or guilt? The only conclusion I could come up with is that he has some psychological disorder. As humans it is part of our nature to feel guilt, remorse and to rationalize between right or wrong. I don't feel that Syke goes through a process of guilt or rationalization. He certainly carries no morals. I also wonder what caused him to turn into this, because Delia says, " Ah hates you tuh de same degree dat ah uster love yuh." (342) Which expresses to me that at one point he wasnt a bad man and she fell in love with him. So I wonder ,what happened? I wonder why she stays with him, she makes her own money and could probably run away but she also fears him which could be a deciding factor. Delia, a usually rational and moral woman as showed in the story let her husband suffer without attempting to aid him. I presume that all the mental and physical abuse caused her to feel that he deserved what he got, it was natures way of justice and she needn't interfere. This reading although informative of their failed relationship, also left me with a ton of questions.
Reading this story kind of disturbed me. I asked myself several questions. How does a man let himself become such a monster? Doesn't he feel any sense of shame or guilt? The only conclusion I could come up with is that he has some psychological disorder. As humans it is part of our nature to feel guilt, remorse and to rationalize between right or wrong. I don't feel that Syke goes through a process of guilt or rationalization. He certainly carries no morals. I also wonder what caused him to turn into this, because Delia says, " Ah hates you tuh de same degree dat ah uster love yuh." (342) Which expresses to me that at one point he wasnt a bad man and she fell in love with him. So I wonder ,what happened? I wonder why she stays with him, she makes her own money and could probably run away but she also fears him which could be a deciding factor. Delia, a usually rational and moral woman as showed in the story let her husband suffer without attempting to aid him. I presume that all the mental and physical abuse caused her to feel that he deserved what he got, it was natures way of justice and she needn't interfere. This reading although informative of their failed relationship, also left me with a ton of questions.
Sweat, Edgar Diaz
Sykes is honestly a disgrace of a man. He is married to the main character Delia who is a hardworking and respectable woman. Delia does all the chores and is the person who makes the money. It is revealed that Sykes has gazed upon a new women named Bertha for quite some time and gets joy in letting his wife see since he does not care about her and always complains about " white people" clothes that Delia washes. One day she gets very sick of all his crap and decides to blow up all the anger and frustration she has towards Sykes since it has always just been built up and bottled. "It cowed him and he did not strike her as he usually did " clearly states that he is very abusive towards Delia and it was surprising to see her rebellious action towards him. After all the beatings he would give her the towns people would talk about how she was once beautiful and it should be a crime to have a no good man like Sykes around. The coward one day decides to bring a rattlesnake and get it to kill Delia but no matter how much he would want it to happen, it always failed. One day the snake was freed and as Sykes goes into the kitchen and accidentally knocks a pot lid off the snake comes from underneath the stove and delivers his just punishment while Sweet and harmless Delia watches him die slowly, trembling with fear as she had never heard nor seen Sykes the way she did. I honestly believe she could have done something to save him but then again he deserved punishment. What goes around comes around
"Sweat" Response
First I would like to say that I didn't like the authors writing techniques and that I had to read the dialogue twice each time because it was a little difficult to understand some of the things that were being said.
I liked the fact that Delia stood up for herself through out the book to Sykes. He beat her but she still felt she was better than him and still opened her mouth and told him off. Sykes beating Delia was more of an expected thought rather than a shocking one considering the time period this story took place. The separation between African Americans and whites was obviously still in effect.
When I go to the end of the story, I kind of liked the fact that the snake had attacked Sykes. He was such a nasty husband who cheated on Delia right in front of her eyes. I found it ironic how he was calling out for Delia when he was getting attacked by the snake he brought in the house to scare Delia. He definitely deserved that.
I liked the fact that Delia stood up for herself through out the book to Sykes. He beat her but she still felt she was better than him and still opened her mouth and told him off. Sykes beating Delia was more of an expected thought rather than a shocking one considering the time period this story took place. The separation between African Americans and whites was obviously still in effect.
When I go to the end of the story, I kind of liked the fact that the snake had attacked Sykes. He was such a nasty husband who cheated on Delia right in front of her eyes. I found it ironic how he was calling out for Delia when he was getting attacked by the snake he brought in the house to scare Delia. He definitely deserved that.
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