African American Fight for Civil Rights

In the early 1920’s there were so many conflicts going on in the United States of America. There was the segregation of races and the women fighting for their right to vote and equality which was led by the National Woman Suffrage Association. And as a Colored woman living in America the chain of events greatly influenced the way Zora Neale Hurston writes her stories. Zora Neale Hurston Writes about an African American Couple living in Florida, the story is called “Sweat”. The couple was Sykes and Delia Jones. In the story “Sweat” it tells you about Delia, a kindhearted, humble, and timid woman who works hard to provide for her and her husband.

Delia is the sole provider for her family, while Sykes on the other hand, has no job and is hated by the people of their town. Sykes is a very controlling and an aggressive man. He controls the household and the money that Delia earns from being a washer lady. In the story Sykes Plots on either Scaring Delia Away with a Rattle Snake or Let her die From the Venomous Bite it gives so he Could move in the house with his mistress. While Planting the snake inside the house ended up in a huge plot twist and Sykes ended up getting bitten by the venomous serpent and Delia Watching his husband suffer from his wounds while She stand under the chinaberry waiting for her husband to expire. In this Story Zora Neale Hurston writes about a character Delia who is facing challenges in terms of her abusive, controlling and cheating husband, which places her in a position of overcoming her toxic marriage.

The way Zora writes the story is very unique. She wrote the way African American spoke during that era, she wrote the story using the African American dialect during the era of the fight for civil rights. Her style of writing gives is a vivid image of how African American spoke in her story. This type of writing style helps illustrate the cultural background of these character that helps us identify the characters into details.

Zora Neale Hurston’s story seems to have a deeper meaning than it already is. Her stories exclaim how women are mistreated. The fictional character Delia represents the oppression of women and how they were degraded and treated lowly unlike how men were respected and acknowledged. They bore the burden of keeping their houses clean and were not able to find decent jobs. Delia is a hard-working woman who is being degraded by her husband. She represents the women who lived in fear. Sykes represents racism, hatred and masculinity or power of men. The patriarchal system ruled over women in the United States of America, so women could not voice out any opinion because their roles and opinions did not matter.

When reading the story, it tells you that Delia is being abused by Sykes. It reflects from the authors background, the struggles when she lived through the Depression in 1890. Living during that era was hard. It was hard to find Decent jobs especially for women, and for our author, Zora She was a woman of color she had to deal with both racism and gender in-equality. Delia is a hard-working washer woman who washes white folks’ clothes. Her husband Sykes abuses Delia physically, emotionally and mentally. he scares her, beats her, he degrades his wife so much hoping he brakes her spirit. But Delia, is a very humble and religious woman, Sykes mistreats his wife because of her job, washing white folk’s clothes. Sykes was racist towards the white’s folks he despised white people.

“Delia seized the iron skillet from the stove and struck a defensive pose” Delia finally stood her ground. based on the writer’s experience, she finally had the confidence to fight against what truly held her back. she finally had the confidence to express herself about her culture and experiences. Despite the “white” Americans overpowering and discriminating African Americans. The author, Zora Neale Hurston was an important contributor to the Harlem Renaissance, also known as the New Negro Movement, in which she protected the rights of the African Americans and was a renowned leader of the particular movement.

Writer Zora Neale Hurston, one of the famous authors during the Harlem Renaissance. Her Story sweat was one of her greatest works she published. The story she wrote was a powerful story, In the story it exclaims the racial issues, segregation and equality for woman. the story she wrote “Sweat” is a story of a couple who live in Florida Sykes and Delia Jones.

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