A comparative analysis of characters: two women rediscovering love

A Comparative Analysis of Characters: Two Women Rediscovering Love
Most people don’t realize how similar they are to others. Specifically, two people in different short stories are going to be oblivious to one another. The character Delia, from author Zora Neale Hurston’s “Sweat” is remarkably like George Saunders’ character Callie in his short story “Puppy.” Though Saunders’ conjured up Callie more than seventy-five years after Hurston thought of Delia, the popular author incorporated some of the same ideas in his protagonist as the famous Harlem Renaissance author did in hers. Both Callie and Delia are hardworking wives, are victims of domestic abuse, and over the course of their respective short stories, learn something important about love.
Today, the stereotypical wife/mother is the kind that gets up extra early in the morning, drops the kids off at school, and comes home to do housework and bake cookies. However, in the world of “Sweat,” Delia is a childless, hardworking breadwinner for her abusive, alcoholic, adulterous husband, Sykes. She is a Southern “wash-woman,” a black clothes washer for middle and upper-class white people, a job which has been her sole source of income for 15 years, ever since she got married. Although she works laboriously day in and day out, as evidenced by her “work-worn knees” (Hurston, 4) Delia hardly ever sees any of the money she earns because Sykes spends all of it on his mistress, Bertha. Delia is aware of the adultery, a fact that her self-centered husband is “pleased for Delia to see” (Hurston, 3) Meanwhile, in “Puppy,” Callie is a dedicated mother of three. As with most mothers, keeping track of the kids is a laborious task in and of itself. One child in particular, Bo, has some kind of hyperactivity disorder and often runs off into the streets. So Callie, acting in his best interest, chains him to a tree to keep him safe because right now, “he just need[s] not to get killed” (Saunders, 3) It was simple acts like this that made the motherly Callie seem abusive, but in reality, she is the victim, not the offender. Callie was a victim of domestic violence, inflicted by her husband, Jimmy, indicated in “Puppy” by “sometimes when she got too smart-assed he would do this hard pinching thing on her arm while waltzing her around the bedroom” (Saunders, 4.) Despite being abused and seemingly underappreciated, Callie manages to stay grounded and family-oriented, always trying to do what is best for Jimmy and their kids. The story climaxes when Callie takes the family’s puppy, which they have failed to sell, out to the woods where it will surely starve to death. At first the reader may be surprised at Callie’s odd choice of action, but upon further contemplation, realizes that her motive is to spare Jimmy from having to kill it himself. Previously, Jimmy had to kill a litter of kittens which had caused him copious amounts of grief. However, one could argue that she does this to protect herself, from Jimmy’s rage, often the result of him doing unpleasant tasks. Her reward is a calm night lying in bed with him, because by getting rid of the puppy “she had not made his life harder by being a smart-ass” (Saunders, 4.) Like Callie, Hurston’s protagonist Delia is also a victim. She routinely accepts Sykes’ abuse, the most recent act of which involved him terrorizing her with a bull whip, which he manipulated to seem like one of her biggest fears- a snake, inflicting not only physical but also emotional distress. Obviously, a woman screaming “What you throw that 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” (Hurston, 1) is not the desired- or typical- thing to hear in response to her husband.
The most significant commonality between Delia and Callie is that each of their views of love is changed during the course of each story. The difference, in this comparison, is that the way in which the two views change is opposite. In Delia’s case, days after the snake incident, Sykes catches a real rattlesnake and stores it in the house to frighten his wife into leaving for good. What he doesn’t expect, but that Hurston foreshadows, is that the snake will later bite him, and his only hope of surviving is Delia, who refuses to help him. Denying him assistance is her way of breaking free from his grip, rising above her situation, and finally displaying her self-love and respect. Callie, on the other hand, accepts the task of abandoning the puppy in an effort to shield both her husband and children from the harsh realities of life. She learns that “love [is] liking someone how he was and doing things to help him get better” (Saunders, 7). And most of all, she learns that Bo, though hyperactive and unpredictable, loves his imperfect mother, and she loves him. Here, Saunders suggests that Callie is beginning to question her love for Jimmy, but deepens her understanding of love for her children.
It is worth noting that Hurston is far ahead of her time in her understanding of domestic abuse- a perpetual and psychologically damaging experience. However, it is not surprising that a modern day writer like George Saunders would write a short story that had a protagonist so similar to that of the Harlem Renaissances’ Zora Neale Hurston. His Callie and Hurston’s Delia each did their housewife duty- Delia tidied the home and Callie reared the children. Unfortunately, they are also each misused by their husbands, the men who are supposed to love them the most. Yet despite enduring repetitive abuse, each woman remains emotionally strong throughout and proves that they still have love- Delia finally loves herself enough to stand up to Sykes, and Callie loves her family enough to protect them. As many writers use love as a theme for their stories, in the end, it ultimately is all that really matters.

Works Cited
Hurston, Zora Neale. "Zora Neale Hurston 's "Sweat"" Hurston. Barbara L. Williams, nd. Web. 16 Mar. 2013.
Saunders, George. "Puppy." The New Yorker. Unknown, 28 May 2007. Web. 16 Mar. 2013.

in the 1920’s south, Delia’s life is commonplace among women.

Fast forward to the present-day and consider the connotations of the term “White trash.” The words “Southern,” “Mess,” “Idiot,” and “Alcoholic” probably come to mind. These perfectly describe Saunders’ protective character Callie.

Cited: Hurston, Zora Neale. "Zora Neale Hurston 's "Sweat"" Hurston. Barbara L. Williams, nd. Web. 16 Mar. 2013. Saunders, George. "Puppy." The New Yorker. Unknown, 28 May 2007. Web. 16 Mar. 2013. in the 1920’s south, Delia’s life is commonplace among women. Fast forward to the present-day and consider the connotations of the term “White trash.” The words “Southern,” “Mess,” “Idiot,” and “Alcoholic” probably come to mind. These perfectly describe Saunders’ protective character Callie.