Literary Analysis of “Sweat” and “Sonny’s Blues”

Sykes personality is totally different than Delia’s. Sykes Jones is physically and emotionally cruel to Delia. He is immoral and unfaithful; furthermore he takes the money that is earned from Delia's tough labor and squanders it away on his mistress, Bertha. Whereas Sykes may be strong in body, he does not have any belief in God. Sykes in a sense can be compared to the devil because like the devil he drained Delia of her beauty, joy and happiness that she once possessed. This point is brought up in the story when Joe Clarke and the village men are talking about Delia and Sykes ” …But dey squeeze an’ grind an’ wring every drop uh pleasure dat’s in ‘em out” (443). According to Davis Masson, who wrote, Essays Biographical and Critical “All sadness and melancholy come from the devil” (86). Once their marriage starts to fall apart, Sykes uses Delia’s anxiety of snakes against her. Andre’ Ménez, who wrote The Subtle Beast, states, “Being sometimes poisonous, hidden in the shadows; slowly and mutely guiding, snakes have often been deemed powerful and shifty, evil creatures whose major aim was to frustrate the natural and proper development of life” (9).

How Do Metaphor, Figurative Language, and Symbolic Imagery Contribute to Prose Fiction? [Name of the Writer] [Name of the Institute] Introduction

The bullwhip represents Sykes’s power over Delia. It’s an illusion to the main symbol in which Delia is most terrified of, the snake. “On a Sunday, as she washes, she is confronted by something that reminds her of the snake, which scares her. It is actually her husband’s whip” (Jones). In this part of the novel, Sykes places the whip on Delia’s shoulder to affirm his dominance. “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 1). This shows the effects of the whip on Delia and how powerless she

The story Sweat by Zora Neale Hurston tells the story of Delia who overcame her abusive husband, Sykes through her development of becoming a strong woman. The development of Delia’s character throughout the story relates to Zora Neale Hurston’s life of growing up into a strong, empowered woman. Delia and Zora were both verbally and physically abused which made them afraid and timid. Zora made her characters talk in a dialect that she grew up listening to which was uncommon to do in literature. Delia and Zora both had to provide for themselves by putting in the effort remain stable and happy. They also stood up for what they believed in which started their development into strong women. Delia had to let her husband die in order to gain independence, while Zora had to move away from home in order to be successful in her future which developed them both develop into independent women. They became stronger because of these things which empowered them to take back control of their lives. The snake is a symbol in the story that represents the evil that was overcome by the good. This story can now be better analyzed when looking at the life of Delia which connects to Zora Neale Hurston’s life.

Delia suffered from mental and physical abuse from her husband. Sykes had previously beaten Delia, “He done beat huh ‘nough tuh kill three women, let ‘lone change they looks.”(Hurston 280). The story starts with Delia in the kitchen sorting clothes when Sykes scares her with his whip. “You know it would skeer me – looks just like a snake, an’ you knows how skeered Ah is of snakes.”(Hurston 277). The whip is a symbol of evil and the masculine oppression the Delia has to deal with throughout the story. “She saw that Sykes had kicked all of the clothes together again, and now stood in her way truculently, his whole manner hoping, praying for an argument.”(Hurston 278). The white clothes that Delia is washing represent her pureness and Sykes kicking them and dirtying them up signifies his abusiveness towards Delia. Sykes lives his life to torment Delia, further showing his evilness. However, Delia’s strong religious believes keep her in the abusive adultery relationship, though she is looking for a way out.

Sleeping and eating in silence, Delia attempted friendliness but was repulsed each time. One day Delia comes home, to find Syke home before her. Her intial plan was to come in the house without speaking, but he was standing in th kitchen door. The only way for her to get by, was to either stoop under or ask to go by. Syke didn't allow her by, but insisted she look and see what he had brought her home. Inside a soap box, she begins to look, stumbles and once she saw what was inside the soap box yells'' Syke! Syke, mah Gawd! You take that rattlesnake 'way from heah! Ah put up widcher, you done beat me an Ah took dat, but you done kilt all mah insides bringin' dat varmint heah" (Hurston 283).

At the beginning of the story, Delia Jones appeared to be a meek, obedient, and defenseless wife; however, Delia was the provider for the household. Delia, “was a washwoman, and Monday morning meant a great deal to her” (Hurston 73). While her husband is a deadbeat and, “had gone with her horse and buckboard” (Hurston 73). Sykes Jones appears to be an authoritative male; telling Delia what she can and cannot do. For example, “Ah done tole you time and again to keep them white folks’ clothes outa dis house” (Hurston 74). After this, Sykes kicked the neat piles of clothes all over the house. He is ungrateful for his wife being the breadwinner. We find out later, that Delia’s husband is abusive and cheating on her. I think that the bullwhip signifies Sykes. In the story, Delia thought the bullwhip was a snake. Delia is terrified of snakes, and Sykes knows that; yet he still throws the bullwhip at her. Thus, I think Delia believing it was a snake signifies how terribly Sykes treats her. How Sykes is abusive, both verbally and physically. Sykes carries it whenever he goes riding, so it may symbolize the power he thinks he has.

As we examined the essay “Sonny’s Blues” and “The Rich Brother” that may not have a great deal in common, but with more analysis in to the stories it becomes clear that they are similar but still have their own uniqueness. The stories are “The rich brother” which was written by Tobias Wolff is known for short stories or memoir and “Sonny’s Blues” which was written by James Baldwin also an American writer best known for its eloquence or rhetorical force in his writing. Both writers a best known for their famous writing than span for decades.

[Poor topic sentence: if this paragraph is about symbolism, the word "symbol" (or "symbolism") should appear in the topic sentence.] One day when Skyes came home with Delia's horse and wagon, he threw his whip at her. Delia thought that it was a snake at first, and she was quite frightened. The whip is definitely a sign of dominance, and control. [Good point] This scene takes place at the beginning of the story; therefore we get a better understanding of the dominant figure right away. Another symbol in the story is the laundry that Delia does. Skyes has yelled at her several times to stop washing the white folk's laundry, but she continues to do so. This could be a way for Delia to get back at Skyes for all the misery that she has gone through. Delia also starts on the laundry Sunday's

SONNY’S BLUES Mykel Gordon ENC 1102 7/11/2016   People face trying times throughout their life. They are presented with obstacles to overcome, and when faced with these obstructions, they look for something to assist them in overcoming. Unfortunately, overcoming them is not the goal for some. They would rather find something to relieve the problem, instead of something to remove the problem. In the city of Harlem, there are not too many positive outlets to relieve one of their stress.

Same World Different People “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin is about how one brother disagrees with his younger brother’s dream of becoming a jazz musician, while heroin is drowning the streets of Harlem. Sonny is abusing heroin until one day he is caught and put in jail from which he then changes his life by getting to meet his older brother when he is released. In James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” he exemplifies characterization, setting, and conflict throughout his story as Sonny goes from being a failure to becoming successful. Baldwin uses characterization to show when Sonny began heroin and what he wants to do in his future, as the narrator in the story says in his mind about Sonny “I was sure that the first time Sonny had ever had horse, he couldn’t have been much older than these boys were now” (Baldwin 27).

In the story Sweat Delia is a very religious woman who believes god will handle anything possible and this why Delia is able to deal with her Sykes evil jokes. Sykes knows Delia is terrified of snakes and he knows even a toy snake will have her jumping out of her skin like a cricket. Delia believed the snakes were considered evil and poison. "Sykes, what you throw dat whip on me like dat? You know it would skeer me – looks just like a snake, an' you knows how skeered Ah is of snakes" "Course Ah knowed it! That's how come Ah done it". This showed Sykes had no sympathy for Delia's scare of snakes and he gets a kick out of her being scared.

Delia has just come from church and began her work, then Sykes throws a bull whip on Delia to scare her. The whip is thought to be a snake at first glance, and Delia is terrified of snakes. Hurston uses foreshadowing here, for an event that will occur later in the story. The bull whip is also used to symbolize Sykes’ penis. “Just then something long, round, limp and black...”

“Sonny’s Blues” was a compelling story from a nameless brother’s perspective. Sonny was a drug addict who was booked in the beginning of the story. The brother was analyzing how it happened that his brother would be so distant and become addicted to heroin. He would mauled over his past and future. What makes this story even more compelling is how relatable the characters and story are to the Author.

The literature field is full of works that are nothing short of great. Many popular writers, such as Shakespeare and Charles Dickens, have authored stunning classical plays and novels, which have been read around the word. This makes choosing one’s work over all the others’ even the more difficult when there comes to the time of literature evaluation and comparison. However, in the midst of all those great literature works, there are some great standing out articles due to their strong composition and meaningful life messages that the authors try to convey to the audiences. One of them is the short story “Sonny’s Blues”, written by James Baldwin in 1957. This story shows us the reality as well as the complexity of life matters, and an overall picture of all the subcategories also really shows us the reason why it should be remained as a part of the literary canon of the 21st Century.