Foreshadowing

After reading the beginning and how terrible Sykes treated Delia I began to think that something has to happen to Sykes for him to learn a lesson and once he brought home the rattlesnake in the box I knew that later on in the story at some point the snake was going to bite him and sure enough it happened. Once I picked up on the foreshadowing my reading sped up because I was soo excited to find out if Sykes was going to get what he had coming to him. The foreshadowing that the author used made the story more interesting and made me anxious to get to the end.

The analogy of sugar cane to domestic violence that Clarke made was a clever way of foreshadowing the end of the story. Just as sugar cane dries out after all the sugar juice is gone, Delia's sweetness towards Sykes had been beaten out through years of torment. Delia didn't want to help her husband in any way becuase it had never been returned. I loved the way Delia was vindicated at the end of the story, when her husband was the helpless one, being bit by the very snake he brought home to scare her with. Her husband was left to fend for himself, finally getting a justifyied taste of his own medicine.

Getting What You Deserve

Sykes “reaped what he sewed”. He pretended to be this great man and that everything he did was justified. He could beat his wife because she was skinny and he could spend her money because “it was his money too”. When he brought the snake home he just wanted to show off. Again gloating and saying that he was the best snake charmer. His whole life he planted lies and deceit and that’s what he got in the end when it literally came back and bit him. Delia had every right in not helping him and she had good justification. Like she said Orlando was too far and he might not even make it down the road so what's the point.

I see relationships like this all the time and sadly I was in one. Some men make up stories and go out with other women to make their life seem more exciting and worth something, when they realize that its not what the want they take it out on someone close to them, sometimes physically and sometimes mentally. Most of the time it takes some outside force to help get people out of abusive relationships. Delia at one point calls the snake Satan, when in the end it was her savior. It probably saved her life. Sometimes the things that can save us from bad situations look or sound scary.

Dialect

I think Hurston's portrayal of the characters using their local dialect serves two purposes:

The first helps the reader gain a greater knowledge as to the background, character, environment, and even circumstance of Delia and Sykes. It gives the story a much more authentic feel, which done right, is beneficial for the reader and helps one sympathize with the protagonist.

The second (and downside), is that it can give the story too authentic of a feel. By overly expanding and focusing on the dialect, Hurston is putting the reader in a position where it is possible to make assumptions and judgments that are not relevant to the story, but have the capacity to overshadow the story. I'm not saying the dialogue ruined the story for me, but I can see how it could for others.

For example, when Sykes says, "Gimme some kivah heah, an' git yo' damn foots over on yo' own side! Ah oughter mash you in yo' mouf fuh drawing dat skillet on me."

Very authentic, and it makes it clear that Sykes is kind of a dick. But I had to read it twice to really get a grasp on it. That can be a little annoying.

A Triumphant Indifference

The line,"A triumphant indifference," is used in the story to describe the emotion of Delia's reaction to Sykes kicking her rudely, stealing the covers, and threatening to "mash [her] in [her] mouf fuh drawing that skillet on [him]." Delia taking up the skillet, earlier in the story, in defense was something new and caused him not to, "strike her as he usually did." This exchange is where her triumph comes from, because it was the second time since the skillet that Sykes had delivered an empty threat. As far as the indifference Delia after so many years finally didn't care. She was still set on being a good woman, as we see throughout the story, but she was done trying to mend her marriage. She was triumphant over caring and triumphant over Sykes physically pushing her around.

This line can also be used to describe Delia's decision in the end. Pulling the skillet out on Sykes wasn't wrong, nor was doing her laundry inside. Sykes had cowed her with hollow threats concerning the skillet and again with the laundry by leaving the snake in her basket. She was triumphant in more ways than one. She now had her house, she could do her work in her house, and she never had to be mistreated by Sykes again. Not only did she know this, but Sykes knew it too. We can assume this because the narrator explains that Sykes one open eye, "could not fail to see the tubs." She was indifferent because she wasn't joyful about Sykes pain, but she wasn't sad either, she simply knew there was nothing she could do. Just as she finally discovered earlier there was nothing she could do about their marriage.

Karma

  I thought the end of the story was great. It ended just like a movie. This woman who has been suffering all her marriage is finally able to get the "revenge" she deserves. When people are as messed up as Sykes they deserve to get what is coming to them. Karma is a bitch. 

 Although it is quite ironic that the one thing that Delia hates the most in her life got revenge for her in the end. Her two worst enemies fought it out and the snake won.

 I don't blame Delia for hesitating to help Sykes. It would be really hard to run to his aid after experiencing pain for so many years. Im sure she went eventually, but she was in no rush.

"Sweat"

For Thursday, please make sure you have read "Sweat." We moved Hurston's story up on the revised schedule. Many of you did not know this, so rather than discuss the story tonight, we are going to discuss it on Thursday.

Before Thursday, though, I would like to hear your reactions to the story. Here are a couple of things you might write about, but feel free to write about other topics as well:

1. What does Hurston gain by writing the story in a local vernacular/dialect? What does she lose?

2. On page 714, paragraph 28, Delia shows "a triumphant indifference" to Sykes. How might this phrase be used to describe her choice at the end of the story?

3. On page 713, Delia says, "Sometime or ruther, Sykes, like everybody else, is gointer reap his sowing." Is this what happens at the end of the story? Does Sykes get what is coming to him, or is Delia in part to blame? How does she justify not helping him when he cries out to her?

Thanks. See you on Thursday.