27 pages 54 minutes read

Zora Neale Hurston

Sweat

Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1926

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Themes

Work, Ownership of One’s Labor, and Independence

The central theme of “Sweat,” first indicated by the title and threaded throughout the narrative, is hard work. The story examines the value of work, what it means to own the products of one’s labor, and where the line falls between enough and too much—between honorable, honest work and overburdening, exploitative work.

The story sharply contrasts Delia’s consistent, diligent, and exhausting hard work with Sykes’s joblessness, freeloading, and spending. The work is physically demanding and has weathered her body, but Delia takes great pride in it. In the opening scene when Delia first defies Sykes, she does so by standing up for her work, demonstrating that it is also a source of strength. Delia’s work gives her a sense of purpose and it ensures her financial stability and independence, which in turn bolsters her voice and sense of autonomy.

Sykes’s ungrateful and freeloading behavior, however, is clearly depicted as exploitative. Despite early 20th-century ideas about the rights conferred by marriage, the story casts Sykes as having no right to take Delia’s things or even share them. His threats to end her business and turn her out of her own house form the peak of all his other abuses and thus serve as a tipping point in their balance of power.

Related Titles

By Zora Neale Hurston

Study Guide

logo

Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo"

Zora Neale Hurston

Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo"

Zora Neale Hurston

Study Guide

logo

Drenched in Light

Zora Neale Hurston

Drenched in Light

Zora Neale Hurston

Study Guide

logo

Dust Tracks on a Road

Zora Neale Hurston

Dust Tracks on a Road

Zora Neale Hurston

Plot Summary

logo

Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick

Zora Neale Hurston

Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick

Zora Neale Hurston

Study Guide

logo

How It Feels To Be Colored Me

Zora Neale Hurston

How It Feels To Be Colored Me

Zora Neale Hurston

Plot Summary

logo

Jonah's Gourd Vine

Zora Neale Hurston

Jonah's Gourd Vine

Zora Neale Hurston

Study Guide

logo

Moses, Man of the Mountain

Zora Neale Hurston

Moses, Man of the Mountain

Zora Neale Hurston

Plot Summary

logo

Mule Bone: A Comedy of Negro Life

Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston

Mule Bone: A Comedy of Negro Life

Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston

Study Guide

logo

Mules and Men

Zora Neale Hurston

Mules and Men

Zora Neale Hurston

Plot Summary

logo

Seraph on the Suwanee

Zora Neale Hurston

Seraph on the Suwanee

Zora Neale Hurston

Study Guide

logo

Spunk

Zora Neale Hurston

Spunk

Zora Neale Hurston

Study Guide

logo

Tell My Horse

Zora Neale Hurston

Tell My Horse: Voodoo and Life in Haiti and Jamaica

Zora Neale Hurston

Plot Summary

logo

The Eatonville Anthology

Zora Neale Hurston

The Eatonville Anthology

Zora Neale Hurston

Study Guide

logo

The Gilded Six-Bits

Zora Neale Hurston

The Gilded Six-Bits

Zora Neale Hurston

STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE

logo

Their Eyes Were Watching God

Zora Neale Hurston

Their Eyes Were Watching God

Zora Neale Hurston