by the way the porch is described: they are appalled and believe there “oughter be a law about him,” but the heat “melt[s] their civic virtue.” (both p. 4) The men quickly disperse. We realize they are all talk when Sykes comes into Joe Clarke’s shop with his mistress and spends all his money on her while Delia walks back from delivering her clothes. The significance of the store setting in this scene is that it highlights the financial abuse that Delia suffers. She performs back-breaking labor while her husband buys frivolous things for his mistress. It also shows the economic impact that Sykes’s wealth has on the other village men, a possible reason for their unwillingness to take him to task over his behavior.

Delia’s strong work ethic is related to her husband’s philandering and abuse. He spends all his money on his mistress Bertha and Delia bears the full financial burden of keeping up their house. Delia tells Sykes that her work:

“filled yo' belly with vittles more times than yo' hands is filled it. Mah sweat is done paid for this house and Ah reckon Ah kin keep on sweatin' in it.” (p. 2)

Delia has nowhere else to go, and she rightfully owns the house, recalling Sykes’s “numerous trips to Orlando with all of his wages when he had returned to her penniless.” (p. 3) The house is a point of conflict between Delia and Sykes because neither wants to leave the property. So the domestic setting serves as a kind of prison for Delia, much as the snake is later trapped in the soapbox. Sykes takes perverse pleasure in Delia’s captivity in the house just as he takes pleasure in trapping the snake and scaring her with it.

Please note: The post contains two questions. The eNotes Homework Help policy allows for one question per post. This answer addresses the first question.

As “Sweat” begins, the author provides information about the time and place in which the story is set. The immediate setting is Delia Jones’s home at 11 p.m. on a Sunday night. Zora Neale Hurston further specifies the places the story takes place. She specifies the bedroom, where the wash-woman keeps the dirty clothes in a hamper, and the kitchen, where she is currently occupied sorting the clothes that she will soon begin to wash. The next area of the home introduced is the yard, from which she retrieves a tub. The author hints at domineering attitude of Delia’s husband, Sykes, by his referring to it as “mah house” rather than “our house.” As they argue, she points out that her earnings bought the house, in which he actually has no financial stake, and that she plans to stay there until she dies.

“Mah sweat is done paid for this house…. You aint paid for nothin’ on this place, and Ah’m gointer stay right heah till Ah’m toted out foot foremost.”

Within her community, another location mentioned is the “church house,” from which, she tells Sykes, she recently returned.

After he leaves out the back gate as Delia tries to sleep she remembers his frequent trips to Orlando, indicating that it is not far from their hometown. Also, lying in her “big feather bed,” she reflects on the meaning of the marriage, which is not likely to hold up much longer, as contrasted to that of the house.

Too late now to hope for love…. Too late for everything except her little home. She had built it for her old days, and planted one by one the trees and flowers there. It was lovely to her, lovely.

The setting is significant for the emphasis on the house, especially its importance for Delia. She fully understands that her own labor, signified by her “sweat,” has enabled her to create something that is “lovely” and that will endure past the end of “love” or marriage. The mention of time is relevant in terms of her need to work on Sunday, although she is a church-goer, and her understanding of the life-long security that owning her own home provides.

"Sweat" opens with Delia at home at 11 o'clock on a Sunday night, sorting the laundry she has collected into piles so that she can get started on it before Monday morning comes. This shows that Delia works seven days a week, around the clock, at the hard labor of washing other people's clothes so that she has enough money for housing, food, and other necessities.

This is relevant to the story because it shows how hard Delia's life it. The story is a comment on what Delia is willing to bear and more broadly a commentary on the harshness of black life in the 1920s.

As the story opens, Delia puts up with being a black woman in a racist society, which means taking on society's least desirable work. She also has to deal with an abusive mate. As she is working, Sykes drops a snake, an animal she dreads, across her shoulders.

This opening is relevant to today because many women, especially women of color, have to toil around the clock to make ends meet, often working two or more jobs to hold their families together. Too frequently, they also have to deal with the anger of other people in their communities as Delia does with Sykes.

The intense heat is relevant to the setting as it shows the escalating rise in temperature for Delia. Delia hears the local men laughing at the way Sykes bets her, takes her money, and cheats on her. She witnesses Sykes and his girlfriend as he buys the mistress expensive things, using the money Delia sweats for.

The physical reaction to intense heat is to sweat, and certainly Delia sweats from both the heat of the day and the exertion of her labors.

It could also be the heat that causes Delia to finally snap. It is intensely hot, and Sykes finally provokes Delia into action. By bringing a snake into the house, something that Delia is frightened of, finally causes Delia to react to all the physical and emotional abuse. Her anger, heated by both temperature and emotion causes her to retaliate.

This is very much relevant in modern society. Heat causes tempers to flair. The physical discomfort causes emotions to be raw. There are many cases of women who finally snap and take action after years of abuse. Television shows, police dramas, and movies on the subject can attest to it.