Comparing revolt of mother and sweat: what ties the stories together?
The stories “revolt of mother” and “sweat” share fascinating stories where their characters Sarah and Delia Jones shared features of hard work and determination. However, they also undergo misogyny under the oppression of their husbands. Sarah and Delia hones end up standing up to their husbands where they fight the oppression.
In the revolt of mother, the relationship between Sarah and Adoniram is a reflection of strict gender roles which existed even during the forty-year marriage. In the story, Adoniram promises Sarah to build her a new house after they marry. He never makes it, but Adoniram chooses to build a new and a bigger barn. Further, Sarah eloquently expresses how disappointed she was of never getting a new house to Adoniram even though he never listens until he promises not to talk about it further (Yi et al., 2017). Adonirma ignores the wife because he feels she has nothing significant she can say, especially during conflicts.
In “Sweat” Delia and Sykes are married, but they have a strained relationship. This is because she was hardworking, but he was not. Even though her earnings helped in paying for the house, he speaks as though he has the power of giving orders.
Both Sarah and Delia go through issues of gender roles in marriages. Further, both have the same characteristic of being hardworking and have determination. For instance, Delia is said to be more diligent than her husband (Asmarani, 2018). On the other hand, they suffer from misogyny as their husbands oppress them.
Eventually, after 15 years, Delia loses all her hope in marriage after being mistreated by the as unfaithful husband; hence she stands up to the husband about the oppression (Jenkins, 2016). For Sarah in the revolt of a mother, she chooses to stand up to her husband and bring an end to the oppression.
In conclusion, in “Sweat” and “The revolt of mother” they illustrate inequality in the stereotyping of traditional marriage. The stories share the themes of hard work, determination and misogyny. Both stories she’d light on how women are oppressed in their marriages associated with gender roles. They show that regardless of how hardworking a female is, they will always be oppressed in marriage until they stand up to their husbands.
References
Jenkins, T. (2016). Writing Vodou into Literature: Exploring Diasporic Religious Symbols and Lore in Zora Neale Hurston’s “Sweat” and Jonah’s Gourd Vine. Journal of Africana Religions, 4(2), 215-224.
Asmarani, R. (2018). The Portrayal of a Black Woman” s Perseverance in Zora Neale Hurston” s Short Story Entitled Sweat. Language Circle: Journal of Language and Literature, 13(1).
Yi, Z. E. N. G. (2017). The Deconstruction of Gender Dichotomy: A Feminist Approach to The Revolt of “Mother”. DEStech Transactions on Social Science, Education and Human Science, (icesd).
Rragami, A. (2017). AN ANALYSIS OF THE IMAGE OF THE WOMAN IN “THE REVOLT OF THE MOTHER” AND “THE YELLOW WALLPAPER”. European Journal of Literature, Language and Linguistics Studies.