Modernism

I have decided to put my focus on the Harlem Renaissance only for the mere fact, I was interested.I want to achknowledge the works of the African Americans who were coming straight out of the war. I want to see how the looked at life, how they felt, and also what ideas they stumbled upon.

The story "Sweat" by Zora Neale Hurston, was a sad story with a good moral to it. The story was about a woman who decided to work for the "whites" to make money to support her family, but her husband completely didn't approve of her decision, and hated her completely all around because of it. The woman would work then come home and clean and cook for him and her both while her husband was out man hoeing around with all different women. When he would finally return home he would fuss and carry on and often beat her. "Ah done tole you time and again to keep them white folks clothes outa dis house." "He picked up the whip and glared at her." This stuck in my mind and I could see it clear as day. It bothered me because no one deserves to be treated this way, and yes I know that how most marriages were back in the day but it was just exteremly wrong and these types of situations occur still to this day. It is completely not acceptable for a man or a woman to treat there spouse that way, or anyone for that matter. Something needs to be done. This story ended good, because Delia was terrified of snakes, or basically anything that moved. Well one day as a mean thing to do her husband went and put a rattle snake in her clothes basket. The snake slithered out shaking his tail, but she ran off. The next morning her husband came home and got attacked by his own set up. "Outside Delia herd a cry that might have come from a maddened chimpanzee, a tricken gorilla. All terror, all the horror, all the rage that man possibly could express, without a recognizable human sound."

In "Sweat", Zora relates this story to the Harlem Renaissance by showing the dialect of the African Americans to show a piece of their lifestyle. "You ain't got no business doing it, Gawd knows it's a sin. Some day Ah'm gointuh drop dead from some of yo' foolishness. 'Nother thing, where you been wid mah rig? Ah feeds dat pony. He ain't fuh you to be drivin wid no bull whip." Another example of the African American culture she describes is the way the women lives day to day. She shows how Delia doesn't have all the rights that the white people have, but she has to do what she can to survive.