Character Clues

Character Analysis

Actions

Both Delia and Sykes are quite active throughout "Sweat." The main difference between their actions of course, is that Delia's are positive and Sykes's are negative.

No matter what, Delia always does her duty as a washwoman, as Joe Lindsay notes:

Hot or col', rain or shine, jes ez reg'lar ez de weeks roll roun' Delia carries 'em an' fetches 'em on Sat'day. (32)

On the other hand, Sykes's actions consist of either torturing Delia or courting big Bertha, like when he goes to Joe's store:

Give [Bertha] two bottles uh strawberry soda-water, uh quart uh parched ground-peas, an' a block uh chewin' gum. (50)

Compare that to almost every scene with Delia, including this one:

As she was stooping to pass under his outstretched arm, he suddenly pushed her backward, laughingly. (62)

Then, he gives her a gift of a rattlesnake. Pure evil, that man.

Occupation

Working Harder Than Nine to Five

Delia is a hard worker, and we're told this right off the bat in the story's first paragraph:

But she was a wash-woman, and Monday morning meant a great deal to her. (1)

She brings her work home, works after church and delivers her clothes rain, shine, snakes or gators be darned. So next time you think that math homework sounds daunting, just think of Delia hauling her laundry under the hot Floridian sun. Doesn't sound so bad now, does it?

We Don't Want No Scrubs

Let's face it; Sykes is a man baby—a lazy scrub, and whatever all those other insults Delia hurls at him say. The fact that he mooches off of Delia is bad enough, but we also learn that he uses Delia's hard earned cash to woo another woman—the nerve.

Props

More often than not, Delia has a pile of clothes in her hands, which just goes to show how responsible and self-sufficient she is.

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 […] (2)

Now, what would dear old hubby Sykes have as a prop? Why a bull whip, of course. Yikes. In fact, the first time we're introduced to him in "Sweat," he has it on him:

Then [Delia] saw that it was the big bull whip her husband liked to carry when he drove. (3)