Zora Neale Hurston’s “Sweat” entails the story of a hard working woman who is in an
abusive and unfaithful marriage. “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
describes a woman whose husband feels she is sick and confines her to an upstairs
bedroom. Both women in these stories let their husband dominate and influence their lives
immensely. Eventually, they are inflicted with an unbearable amount of oppression, to
which neither character can handle. From this great deal of pain, results in a tragic ending
in both stories.
In “Sweat”, Delia’s husband, Sykes, is the most dominating and influential force in her
life. Throughout the story, there are constant signs that hint to Sykes being an imposing
and oppressive figure (R. Hemenway, 1980). For example, in the exposition of the story,
Delia is washing a load of laundry, and Sykes comes behind her with his bull whip to
pretend it is a snake. Sykes knows that Delia does not like snakes, which indirectly
characterizes him as an off-putting and bullying character. Many times in the story, Sykes
is bound and determined to fight with Delia, trying to provoke her with his words. When
she gets tired of his verbal abuse, she screams about how hard she’s been working and
picks up an iron skillet from the stove as if to strike him. He is taken aback by his wife’s
actions. As the narrator states in “Sweat”, “It cowed him and he did not strike her as he
usually did” (Hurston 565). From this point, it is clear to the reader that he is physically
