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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 object does Delia credit with paying for the house she and Sykes live in?

2. Who says he would have married Delia himself if Sykes had not beaten him to it?

3. What object does Delia pick up immediately after Sykes threatens her in the kitchen?

4. When Joe Clarke says that there is no law in the world that will make a man act a certain way, what is that certain way he mentions?

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

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. What is the reason for the listlessness of the men who gather on Joe Clarke's porch?

3. What does Sykes's bullwhip symbolize within the story?

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

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

6. 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?

7. How is foreshadowing incorporated into the very first encounter between Delia and Sykes?

8. In what ways do the men on Joe Clarke's porch express admiration of Delia?

9. What is the significance of Delia's comment that she does not want to fight with Sykes because she has just come back from church services?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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.

Essay Topic 2

What is the significance of the first scene in the story when Sykes frightens Delia with his bullwhip?

Essay Topic 3

Perform a Marxist criticism of the short story Sweat.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 958 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample