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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What kind of indifference does the narrator say Delia comes to feel about everything Sykes says or does after she realizes that his evil deeds will revisit him in the end?

2. What verb does the narrator use to describe what Delia's pose in the kitchen does to Sykes?

3. When Delia goes into the yard to retrieve the washtub, what action does Sykes take inside the house?

4. What type of material makes up the mattress of the bed in Delia's home?

5. How long after their wedding had Sykes brutally beaten Delia?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is meant by the piece of narration that states, "It was plain that the breaches must remain agape" (6)?

2. How does Sykes react to Delia's questions whenever she asks him a question?

3. Before Delia's decision to stand up to Sykes by raising the iron skillet in a defensive pose, how does she react to his verbal abuse?

4. How does the author depict Sykes as being childish?

5. In what season does the story begin its narrative and what does this choice by the author symbolize?

6. How does the author make a change in Delia's speech in order to portray her newly-won defiance toward Sykes and his attempts to control her?

7. In what ways does Sykes's character emerge within the story's very first featured encounter between Sykes and Delia?

8. What behaviors does Delia display that demonstrate her familiarity with Sykes's abusive behaviors?

9. What is the significance of Joe Clarke's pronouncement that some men treat women like pieces of sugar-cane?

10. What is shown about Delia's character traits in the very first paragraph of the story?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How is the cycle of domestic violence portrayed within the short story Sweat?

Essay Topic 2

What is signified by Delia's worry that Sykes is out with her horse and carriage at the start of the story and how does her worry relate to the themes inherent in the story?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the rising action and climax stages of the story and discuss how the story's themes are brought forth within these two plot arc stages.

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