Sweat By Zora Neale Hurston Analysis

The short story “Sweat” by Zora Neale Hurston tells a tale about Delia Jones and her husband Sykes. This tale tells of Delia’s troubles with Sykes and her ultimate independence from him. This story has prominent uses of many resources of language but the most prominent is the use of tone. The tone of this passage is created in a few different ways, and each adds to the overall emotionally charged tone. The use of language within this passage helps make the tone more authentic. The language helps with the characterization as well as the setting. Without this use of language the story would be less true to the character’s upbringing and background which would leave the reader feeling as though something was missing. Each difference between the characters’ use of language and proper english highlights the story and makes it feel more real. Without this use of language the story would feel more manufactured and, though this aspect of the tone isn’t huge, would completely change the overall feeling of the story.
This ironic tone is mainly because the reader expects something terrible to happen to Delia, especially when Sykes brings home the diamondback rattlesnake. Until the end, the reader expects something dreadful to happen to Delia, but when something happens to Sykes instead the irony is not lost. This use of irony helps to keep the story interesting, if it had been Delia who died the story would have been less interesting and more upsetting. The reader grows connected to Delia throughout the story and if she were to die it would feel almost unfair. However, because it is Sykes, who the reader has grown to despise, who dies, the story ends with a feeling of happiness, Delia is finally free of her terrible husband and is free to live her life. This ironic change helps to keep the tone extremely emotionally