Zora Neale's "Sweat"

"Syke, Ah wants you tuh take dat snake 'way fum heah. You done starved me an' Ah put up widcher, you done beat me an Ah took dat, but you done kilt all mah insides bringin' dat varmint heah." 

I chose this quote to analyze because it appears to encompass a great deal of the entire premise of the story in one concise dialogue. It details the hardships that Delia endures living with Sykes, describing how he beat her all through her marriage while she continued to put up with it. However, it focuses in on an important aspect of the story: Delia's fear of the snake. This quote shows exactly how much hatred she had for the creature, which clearly illuminated the symbolism that Neale must have intended the snake to represent. It seemed to be a biblical reference to the story of Adam and Eve in the garden, in which the snake represented the evil lure of temptation. In the end of the novel, Delia lets her husband die from the bite of the snake; she did nothing to help him, when she could have probably saved his life. Clearly his death was something she had wanted for quite some time, given the way Sykes treated her throughout their marriage.