She squatted in the kitchen floor beside the great pile of clothes, sorting them into small heaps according to color, and humming a song in a mournful key, but wondering through it all where Sykes, her husband, had gone with her horse and buckboard.
This is one of the opening passages in "Sweat" and its various images are important in how they set the tone for the rest of the story. First of all, Delia is at work on a Sunday evening, even though it is the Christian Sabbath day of rest. This emphasizes how the circumstances of her life compel her to work without cease, even at times traditionally designated for rest. The first image that Hurston gives us of Delia only confirms this sense of endless toil: she is squatting next to the clothes that she launders, humming a mournful song that suggests the many things in life which she has to be pained by.
Syke Jones aint wuth de shot an' powder hit would tek tuh kill 'em. Not to huh he aint.
With this image, Moss expresses his opinion of Sykes' complete and utter worthlessness: he is not worth even the bullet and gunpowder that would be required to kill him. This quotation is one of the ways in which the story emphasizes Sykes' delinquency and abusiveness in contrast to Delia's long-suffering steadfastness and work ethic. However, the quotation also suggests a more complicated portrait of Sykes than we might otherwise take from the story. Merchant's qualification, "Not to huh he aint," suggests that Sykes is capable of being useful to other people, and indeed other women, such as Bertha.
Delia went clear to the rail without answering him. A triumphant indifference to all that he was or did.
This quotation comes from near the beginning of the story: it is the conclusion of the first episode between Delia and Sykes, after he returns home and she ignores him. However, it lays important groundwork and suggests the beginning of a rebellion on Delia's part. For many years she has suffered his abuse, seemingly without much pushback. However, in this scene she is "triumphant" in her "indifference" to him. Delia no longer cares for Sykes or their relationship. This sets the wheels in motion for Delia's more substantive, and indeed "triumphant," rebellion.
Too much knockin' will ruin any 'oman. He done beat huh 'nough tuh kill three women, let 'lone change they looks.
The principal resonance of this quotation is that it communicates both the extent of Sykes' abuse and of Delia's resilience. Elijah Moseley says that physical beatings will ruin the beauty of any woman, and Sykes has not only beat Delia enough to change her looks, he has beat her enough to kill three women. This image, even if it is hyperbole, suggests Delia to be a figure of essentially superhuman endurance, because she has survived what would kill three people.
He allus wuz uh ovahbearin' niggah, but since dat white 'oman from up north done teached 'im how to run a automobile, he done got too biggety to live—an' we oughter kill 'im.
Sykes is widely accused of arrogance, which seems to be a fair charge: he tells Bertha repeatedly that he owns the town and she can have anything in it, though this clearly is ridiculous. This line from Old Man Anderson suggests why. Apparently, Sykes was already overbearing, but he became "too biggety to live" after a white woman from the North taught him how to run an automobile. Sykes is now so unbearable that Old Man Anderson suggests killing him, to which the men grunt in approval.
There's plenty men dat takes a wife lak dey do a joint uh sugar-cane. It's round, juicy an' sweet when dey gits it. But dey squeeze an' grind, squeeze an' grind an' wring tell dey wring every drop uh pleasure dat's in 'em out. When dey's satisfied dat dey is wrung dry, dey treats 'em jes lak dey do a cane-chew. Dey thows 'em away. Dey knows whut dey is doin' while dey is at it, an' hates theirselves fuh it but they keeps on hangin' after huh tell she's empty. Den dey hates huh fuh bein' a cane-chew an' in de way.
This analogy from Joe Clarke is a very important passage in the story and suggests how with Delia and Sykes' relationship the story seeks to make a broader comment about the relationships between men and women. Many men, Clarke says, treat women as they would an expendable object like sugarcane. It is "round, juicy an' sweet" when they first get her. But they gradually wring and squeeze until "every drop uh pleasure" has been used up, and then they throw the woman away. It is only a patriarchal mindset that can even conceive of women as being used up, but another important insight is that the men hate what they are doing. Instead of causing them to stop, however, it simply causes them to be even more hateful.
Delia's work-worn knees crawled over the earth in Gethsemane and up the rocks of Calvary many, many times during these months. She avoided the villagers and meeting places in her efforts to be blind and deaf.
This quotation is the key line for understanding the way in which the story constructs Delia as a kind of Jesus-like figure. Much like Elijah Moseley's comment that Delia has survived what would kill three women, this line directly compares Delia to Jesus. In the Bible, the garden of Gethsemane is where Jesus prays the night before he is crucified, agonized by the knowledge that Judas will betray him and he will have to sacrifice himself for humanity. Calvary is the hill where Jesus is said to have been crucified, and up which he had to carry his own cross as it was nailed to his back.
Well, Ah done de bes' Ah could. If things aint right, Gawd knows taint mah fault.
This quotation gives important insight into Delia's journey over the course of the story. Delia was once meek and conciliatory. Even during the time of Bertha's presence in town, which is Sykes' greatest affront to Delia so far and a time of suffering for Delia, she attempts "two or three times" to be friendly to him, which he rebuffs. At this point, however, Delia has finally metamorphosed: she will not actively undermine Sykes, but if "things aint right," her line of thought seems to suggest, she will not interfere either. This is borne out when she chooses not to help him as he is dying.
"Oh, fuh de light! Ah thought he'd be too sick"—Sykes was muttering to himself when the whirr began again, closer, right underfoot this time.
This statement, seemingly, confirms that the presence of the snake in the laundry hamper in the bedroom was no accident: Sykes intended to have it kill Delia, likely so that he could finally have the house and move Bertha into it. Sykes is shocked that the snake is active, having assumed that it would be sick from eating Delia in the way it was sick from eating frogs, allowing Sykes to trap it.
A surge of pity too strong to support bore her away from that eye that must, could not, fail to see the tubs. He would see the lamp. Orlando with its doctors was too far.
In this moment, Delia makes the decision not to help Sykes as he is dying, a decision that is informed by the fact that not much can be done: medical attention is too far away to help him now. Instead, in this moment, Delia is fixated on the notion of what she could have done, represented by Sykes' single open eye. Delia knew that the snake was in the house and made no effort to stop Sykes from entering. Sykes himself assumed that by now Delia would be dead and the snake subdued from the effort of eating her. Her reflection on his open eye refers to how Sykes must see that the tubs were inside, as is the lamp, and know that Delia knew, but did not stop him. Delia must now reflect on this ending to her marriage, and how this action aligns with her closely held Christian beliefs.
