How We Feel Personal Power - Essay Example

How we feel Personal Power Introduction Human beings have different and varied opinions towards personal power. They have different views. Therefore artists such as Zora Neale Hurston has expressed her opinion in her book, ‘Sweat’ about how we feel personal power, and this resulted to the Afro-American writers debating about how the voice of the black has been represented in literature. Zora Neale Hurston and others did not take a keen look at the issue of race of people to determine the most intelligent people hence they opted to fight for the rights of the afro- American writers and to show the world that they too are important people. Their main source of inspiration became the folklores that the afro- Americans wrote. In her novel, Sweat, Huston became the first writer who looked at the most probable ways of undertaking free indirect speech. Huston has used a number of styles to bring out clearly how we feel personal power thus uses interjections to bring out the nature of the main character, who is the protagonist and the use of the voice of narration serves a purpose of triggering the feelings of Delia. For example "After that she was able to build a spiritual earthworks against her husband. His shells could no longer reach her. AMEN" (42). The use of exclamatory sentences and adverb reiteration brought out hope and at the same time brought about a tone of uncertainty. The narrative voice brings out the aspect of leaving aside the objective that the author wanted to put across and instead makes the readers to change their thinking line and start sympathizing with the protagonist, and nevertheless adopt the protagonist point of view. This is one of the aspect of writing that Huston uses to bring out her fiction in a very interesting way. Poetic way of communication is also another way that Huston uses to express the idea of how human beings feel about personal power. Huston uses the poetic use of language to show the speech of the Blacks in a metaphoric manner. For example Delia uses metaphor “But in the main, I feel like a brown bag of miscellany propped against a wall. Against a wall in company with other bags, white, red and yellow (2).” To define her position in terms of race. The use of metaphor and simile is the greatest contribution of the Black to the field of literature, this is according to the point of view of Huston. The narrator in ‘Sweat’ gives evidence to the fact that the Afro-Americans give interpretation to English instead of speaking it when talking about the marriage life of Delia. The narrator says that Delia lay wide awake in her bed, she did not see any image alongside their matrimonial path as she gazed at the debris flowers around. The tears, blood, and sweat had replaced all the sweet memories. The sweat had turned into salt as time lapsed (41). Huston uses women to express in her book also to bring out clearly how personal is felt by humanbeings. She begins her book ‘Sweat’ by Huston begins with the protagonist who is a washwoman by profession and she starts her work after church. Delia indulges in washing and sings her music in a very low tone. However, she starts wondering about her husband’s deals, and soon she feels something like a snake falling on her shoulder. Delia screams loudly and jumps over only to realize that it was her husband on his horse. In this novel, Delia and Syke help to bring out the issue concerning race according to the way they behave. This difference in perception causes trouble between married couples since they do not come into agreement. According to Delia, she acts well, she goes to church and washes the clothes for the white people. On the other hand, Sykes, her husband views her as very hypocritical. This aspect is shown where Syke purposefully made it look like a snake with the intension of surprising his wife, Delia. Syke is against Delia’s action of washing for the white their clothes, and actually decides to knock out all the clean pile that his wife had washed and as a result, the wife screams. Despite all these, Syke does not care about the feeling of his wife. The narrator says that it cowed the husband, but he did not strike her as he usually did (56).and she goes on to say “Perhaps her threat to go to the white folks had frightened Sykes! Perhaps he was sorry!"(49). Evidently, he had subjected her to physical abuse. Wholly, the work of Huston can be regarded as a work done by a feminist in action, to show the view women towards personal power.Though Sykes abuses his wife, she watches over his nature that is abusive, and unfaithful. This is not an aspect of being a feminist though. The protagonist proves to be very much enlightened and empowered character and unless the readers read deeper they cannot see her empowerment. Delia is able to manage her finances, she builds her own home, and she also works very hard and enjoys her hard work in return. Her aspect of hard work is proved when she has to start her week by washing for the white man. The only obstacle to her hard work is her husband, Syke who sees her as a hypocrite and does not allow her to work. The author says that Delia is able to maintain her own small house and going to church as well, which keep her happy since her husband has left her and has gone to sleep with another woman, Bertha. The husband spends all the money he gets to buy gifts and presents for Bertha (41). Huston also uses foreshadowing to bring out the opinion of personal power when Delia says that “whatever happens behind the back of the devil comes back under his belly.” This means that she foreshadows that Syke will eventually get what he wants from Bertha which, turns out to happen. Finally, the novel ends when Delia is passing men sitting and the men start commenting about how Delia used to look beautiful and the way she looks faded because of the beatings from her husband, Syke. On the other side, people in the town had a very negative attitude towards Syke (31). Conclusion In conclusion Hurston work has a good foundation and it proves that the Afro-Americans have also played a very important role in literature and thus they should not be discriminated because of race and color. In her other books, like The Bone of Contention and several others, Hurston has gone ahead to advocate for the rights of Afro-Americans and should be allowed to take their credits without facing any condition of segregation. Therefore, discrimination against color should be eradicated. Work Cited Bloom, Harold. Zora Neale Hurston. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2003. Internet resource. Read More