What is the theme in Sweat by Zora Neale Hurston?

One of Hurston's central preoccupations in "Sweat" is the problem of oppression within the black community. Sykes's ceaseless cruelty towards his wife is by far the most difficult part of Delia's situation, and she must seek emancipation from her tyrannical husband before she tries to address the wider system of racial inequality.