The main character of Zora Neale Hurston's "Sweat" is a black woman residing in the South who clings to her faith in God to help her get through her situation suffering she endures at the hands of her abusive, adulterous husband, Sykes. “Sweat” is filled with religious symbolism which shows that Hurston was using the theme of good versus evil in the short story. At the beginning of "Sweat" you can see that Delia has a very strong work ethic, among other things she is working vigorously to wash clothes for the white people she worked for to put food on the table and a roof over the his and Sykes' head. The white clothes that Delia washes in the story represent her character. White indicates his virtuosity and healthy spirit. Delia has a docile personality and an overriding faith in God. Delia's body may be physically destroyed from all the years of hard work and mistreatment by Sykes, yet her spirit remains intact. Delia is a church-going woman inspired by her trust in God. She trusts that God will guide her in the right direction and protect her from Sykes' cruel physical and emotional abuse. Another reference to Delia's goodness can also be found in these lines from "Sweat", "Delia's work-worn knees crawled on the earth in Gethsemane and on the rocks of Calvary many, many times during these months" (445). According to Raymond Brown, who wrote, A Crucified Christ in Holy Week: Essays on the Four Gospel Passion Narratives, the Garden of Gethsemane is where Jesus took his followers to pray. He advised some of them to watch and many of them to pray, yet Judas fell asleep and escorted the Romans to him at Gethsemane before he was executed (49). .. middle of the paper ...... gets wisdom. Delia's goodness and her faith in God ultimately prevail over Sykes' powerful muscles and violent ways. Bibliography Brown, A Crucified Christ in Holy Week: Essays on the Four Gospel Passion Narratives Collegeville, Minnesota: The Liturgical Press, 1986. Hurston, Zora Neale. "Sweat." The Personalized Library of American Literature. John Bryant. Boston, Massachusetts: Pearson Custom Publishing, 2008. 440-445.Jones, Sharon. Rereading the Harlem Renaissance: Race, Class, and Gender in the Fiction of Jessie Fauset, Zora Neale Hurston, and Dorothy West. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2002.Masson, Davis. Biographical and Critical Essays: Chiefly on English Poets. La Vergne, Tennessee: Lightning Source, Inc., 2007.Ménez, Andre'. The Subtle Beast: snakes, from myth to medicine. New York, New York: CRC Press, 2003.