Zora Neale Hurstons Sweat - Book Report/Review Example

Did Delia delve into the morally grey by allowing Sykes to die once his boast of "y'all Jes' don't understand dese Diamon backs Ah do"(Hurston, 34) turned out fatal for him Personally, I do not believe that she was responsible? She could have cared less with all the suffering and pain inflicted on her, and right when she was at a critical breaking point in their relationship. We have to put into consideration that she had a severely paralyzing fear of snakes; even the vague outlines of a whip's resemblance to one sent her into a complete fit.

Given the psychological implications of her condition coupled with the incessant emotional torture that she had received at the hands of Sykes, she was in no way, shape or form morally obligated to rescue him. Some Eastern philosophies talk about the concept of karma, a form of universal retribution that no one is exempt from. In our own terms, "its when the chickens come home to roost". There was no one else to blame in his death but himself. To begin with, nothing untoward would have ever happened if had not brought the snake home.

And to think its mere presence there was predicated on his insidious plan to drive Delia out of the house so that he could give have his portly mistress stay with him. This is a classic case of people getting what is due to them, albeit in a negative context. Granted that Delia was not directly responsible for his death, can we righteously postulate that her inaction was warranted and not immoral Working within this context, it is but of the utmost necessity that we invoke the concept of free will in the argument.

Delia had a choice to let the man who ruined her life continue his tyranny, and she simply chose to put an end to it. And besides, why would she face her biggest fear, and in effect risk her life for someone who had done absolutely nothing to deserve it Would there be any guarantee that if she did call for help, there would be anything that 1920's medical science could have done to save him from a fatal rattlesnake bite I beg to disagree. To conclude, it is intrinsically apparent that Delia was neither responsible for his death nor was her relative inaction immoral.

People in this country can only tolerate a certain level of suffering; if we are oppressed we stand up for it. That forms the very basis of our ideology as a nation. In allowing Sykes to die, Delia came of age and declared her own personal emancipation from the terror that had turned her life into shreds of a broken, faraway dream.