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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This 4 page paper discusses the religious symbolism in Zora Neale Hurston’s short story “Sweat.” Bibliography lists 3 sources.
Page Count:
4 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_HVHurSwt.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
laundry (cleanliness), and a strong spirit who has learned to bear adversity; that is, she is meek, in the sense of the meek inhering the earth. Her husband Sykes is
the opposite: he is associated with symbols of evil: the color black, the bull whip, and in particular the snake. The snake has been a symbol of evil for millennia,
and is usually associated with Satan. In the Bible, and in Milton, for instance, the Serpent is the tempter who lures Eve to her fall. In "Sweat," Delia even calls
the snake by the name Satan: "Whuts de mattah, ol satan, you aint kickin up yo racket?" (Hurston). Delia embodies goodness, in fact. She has been married to Sykes for
15 years, and she has supported him the entire time. He on the other hand embodies at least two of the seven deadly sins: he is lazy (sloth) and he
runs around with other women (lust). He is also prideful; he brags to his mistress that the town is his, to do with as he pleases (Hurston). The symbolism
conflating the bull whip and the snake is particularly effective. "The snake is an archetype figure; that is, it has similar connotations across cultures," and is always a figure of
evil (Champion). Delia is busy working, when she is frightened out of her wits: "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" (Hurston). The reader immediately thinks the same thing Delia does: that a snake has dropped onto her from the rafters of the cabin. But its not; its the
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