"Sweat" is the short story of Delia Jones, a Negro washerwoman whose struggles against society and her own husband finally erupt into an act of passive aggression, totally changing the complexion of her life.

As the story opens, Delia Jones sorts clothes on the kitchen floor of her home. It is eleven o'clock on a Sunday evening in July in a small town in Florida. Mondays are long days for Delia, who earns her money as a washerwoman. This Sunday night ritual helps to ease her burden for the next day.

Delia is content and hums to herself all the while wondering where her husband, Sykes, is and why he has not returned with her horse and cart. As Delia is lost in her own thoughts, a long, black, limp object touches her shoulder, and she screams with fright. Realizing it is a bullwhip and...