In the short story "Sweat", Zora Neale Hurston describes the final months of the marriage between Delia Jones and her husband Sykes. Delia's hard work supports both her husband and their small home, but Sykes takes Delia's earnings and spends them as he wishes. He is also known in their Florida town for his extramarital affairs. Delia's life is one of managed goodness, and Sykes is Delia's opposite in every sense. In an attempt to drive Delia out of their wedding, Sykes brings a large rattlesnake into their home. Although the serpent ultimately ends the couple's marriage, it is not in the way Sykes imagined. The story of Zora Neale Hurston depicts the classic struggle of good versus evil, but also illustrates that evil is pervasive and tempting, leading good people to succumb to evil. Delia Jones is a dedicated, hard-working woman who spends the entire week, starting on Sunday evening, washing citizens' clothes. For fifteen years, Delia's hard work has provided for her home, which she intends to have "for her old days" (Hurston 293). She and her husband Sykes are locked in a fight over the house, which is Delia's most prized possession. Her “sweat…paid for this house” and she created life here by planting trees around the house (293). However, Delia's plan to stay home is compromised by her husband. Sykes promises his current lover, Bertha, that "he may have that little house soon [he] can get that oman outadere" (296). Hurston creates sympathy for Delia through this struggle. Sykes is the evil within the marriage, and Delia is the good counterpart. Although Delia is characterized by "habitual meekness" (293), she stands up to Sykes one evening. After trampling on her neat underwear and “brutally stomping on the whitest pile of…half of paper…assaults on his wife, Delia must also face the consequences of her decision. It is here that the reader will have to decide Delia's fate. Hurston illustrates Delia's struggle throughout the story and the reader's sympathy for Delia increases. Both the atmosphere and tone of the story are very dark, and Hurston uses this to put pressure on the reader, pushing them to "root" for Delia. When the snake attacks Sykes, the reader feels triumphant for Delia and may believe that good has prevailed over evil. One must wonder whether enjoying Delia's victory implies that one would also give in to temptation as Delia did. Hurston asks the reader the question of considering whether he is strong enough to resist the temptation of evil. Works Cited Hurston, Zora Neale. "Sweat." Backpack literature. Eds. XJ Kennedy and Dana Gioia. Boston: Longman, 2010. 291-301. Press.