Media outtake #3 Enough is Enough

Zora Neale Hurston’s short story “Sweat” deals with the struggle of a woman in a physically and mentally abusive marriage that progresses until she stubbles across an opportunity to free herself. The protagonist Delia Jones is an African American woman who distracts herself with her hard work as a washwoman and her religion. Unfortunately she is married to Skyes, a deadbeat who not only beats her and insults her but also degrades her by openly cheating on her. As the story continues Delia reaches a turning point and starts defending herself. Ironically Skyes end ups dead in the end of the story due to a snake poisonous snakebite, the very snake that he tried to terrorize Delia with. Delia is faced with the decision to save him or let him die. By allowing him to die she has liberated herself from the limitation of male domesticity.  I related “Sweat” with the 2002 movie “Enough” by Michael Apted. “Enough” is about a woman named Slim who is physically abused by her husband Mitch after threatening to leave him due to his adultery. He tells her that he refuses to stop unfair unless she fights him. After several fail attempts to run away slim finally escapes the relationship and hides out with their young daughter. Mitch then finds Slim and attacks her, after escaping again Slim decides she no longer wants to be scared and starts taking self defense lessons. At the end of the movie Slim breaks into Mitch’s house, sets him up and fights him with her new set of skills which results in his death. The connection I made between the two stories besides for the abuse was the way in which both husbands enjoyed humiliating their wives by openly cheating on them. Also in the end both Slim and Delia gain preservation by allowing and causing the death of their “beloved” husbands. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3LVthzm88g