Comparison of Women in Sweat by Zora Neale Hurston and The Revolt of Mother by Mary E Wilkins Freeman

How is it that two women, from different places, different times, and with different situations can be so much the same? And how is it that two authors with the same differences, can write such similarly intriguing stories?  

The woman from the story “Sweat” by Zora Neale Hurston, and another woman, the woman featured in the story “The Revolt of Mother” written by Mary E Wilkins Freeman, can be compared in a number of fascinating ways.These two women show similar heart, spirit, and determination. However, there are much deeper and meaningful similarities and differences between the two women, and the two stories. There are several symbolic items in each story that are easy immediately to pick up on. In the story “The Revolt of Mother” her home was very symbolic, as it was the home she had lived in for forty years, despite her husband promising to build a new house at the beginning of their marriage. To this woman, her house symbolizes dishonesty, laziness and selfishness.  

In the story “Sweat” The clothing Delia is constantly folding is very symbolic in the story. The clothing represents her difficult life as a washwoman, a job involving difficult labor and constant hard work. Delia’s husband Sykes, steps on and mistreats the clothing, and by extension is disrespecting Delia. He shows no appreciation for her job, despite it paying for their home and life.  

In both of these stories, there is a woman who is unhappy with her marriage or an aspect of her marriage. Although the reasons are different, the effect is the women become unhappy, angry and dissatisfied. Both men in the story show disrespect towards their wives and disregard the things these women do. In “The Revolt of Mother” Sarah’s husband appears to be a hardworking man who has a sense of good morals and self-respect. Despite this, he has disregarding a promise he made to his wife in the early stages of their marriage.  

In “Sweat” Dalia’s husband is truly an abusive, disrespectful, and lazy man. Both mentally and physically. I found comparing the actions of both men to be particularly fascinating. Seeing as both men have extremely different personalities, as well as actions. Yet they both seem to have so many similarities. Both men were disrespectful, both men disregarded the hard work of their wives, and both men seemed to see nothing wrong with what they were doing and ended up repeatedly doing it until the women in the stories were forced to do something.  

In the story “Sweat” Delia is regularly beaten by her husband. She mentioned that it was only two months after they were married that he gave her first “Brutal beating.” Her husband had been not only emotionally and mentally abusing her, but also extremely physically beating her consistently for years. 

While the behavior of the man in “The revolt of mother” Is not even close to comparable to extreme physical abuse, it is worth comparing from a literature perspective. In this story, Sarah’s husband appears to consistently ignore her, and fail to communicate with her. This is made evident when she tries to speak with him about the new barn that he’s building and he never says a word during the encounter. It is also made clear by the fact that his son knows far more information about the barn and the property than Sarah does. Throughout the story she is consistently and deliberately ignored. I find it interesting that in both stories the husbands each have a consistent and wrongful behavior which sets the tone for each of the stories.   

While reading the stories it seems both of the authors were coming from the same place as well as they wrote these short stories. Both authors seemed to make points regarding women's strength and empowerment throughout the stories. Womens rights, and the idea of women’s voices being heard was an extremely important part of progression during that time. It was in a sense “History in the making” which would explain the reason both authors chose to write stories with similar messages.  

Although both messages in the two stories are similar, the writing styles are still different. Freedman's story is written from the perspective of a woman who is very quiet, gentle and laid back. Freedman used a writing style that perfectly flowed with the characters personality and attitude.  

In Hurston's story, the main character was a fairly bold a straight forward woman who was not afraid to speak, and so the story is written in a bolder style. I found it interesting how both women in these stories used those personality traits to prove a point. Sarah Penn used her quiet and composed personality to show her independence, as well as her opinions, to her husband. She did everything quietly and remained calm in front of her children. Sarah moved everything from her old house, which was falling apart, into the new house. She did all of this quickly, with the help of her children, while her husband was purchasing a horse. Once her returned she only said around 10 words to him and continued working in silence. These personality traits and the way they were used to enhance the story made a huge impact of the overall reading experience.  

In the story “Sweat” Delia approached everything with a strong attitude. Using her voice, work ability and persistence to prove points. She worked her way through life and did everything necessary to support herself, and her husband. Despite being mistreated, unappreciated and used. These characteristics in both women were incredibly beneficial to overall themes of the stories. “Sweat” was written with a Theme of strength and hard work, and this was well demonstrated in the main character.  

It seems that that story “The revolt of mother” Had a theme more along the lines of composure and dignity. This theme was well demonstrated through the personality of the characters. Another interesting basis of comparison, is the titles of each of the stories. The titles each reflected the theme, the characters and the writing style, extremely well.  

The title “Sweat” causes the reader to think of hard labor, abuse, and determination. Which reflects the story very well. “Sweat” Was a well-suited title for the story.  

“The revolt of mother” Makes the reader think of a tired mother who rebels against something. Another well suited title, summarizing the plot of the story in four simple words. Reflecting the situation of Sarah Penn and how she rebelled against her controlling husband.  

Overall, I think she two stories have some very interesting similarities and differences. It is fascinating how to compare how to the two women reacted to the behavior of their husbands, and well as comparing how they handled themselves and their situations. It is also very interesting to compare the behavior of the two men, how they treated their wives and the other people in their lives. As well as comparing the writing styles and how they work well, and flow well with the personalities of each of the characters.