The song “It’s a Man’s World” by James Brown reminded me of the short story Sweat by Zora Neale Hurston. The story takes place in patriarchal society, therefore men are the ones with the power. Skyes beats Delia because he has the right to and has the power. Delia takes care of the home and caters to skye because she has to be the submissive woman's role in society. This is a straight parallel to the title and main line of the song “This is a man’s world” because society catered to men.
However, the other line in the song “But it would be nothing, nothing, without a women...” is a perfect match as well because Delia is the one who does all the work. She maintains the house and garden, works all day everyday to make money, and she cooks and feeds Skyes. Not once does Skyes say anything in appreciation, but he would not be able to survive without her. He does not take care of the house, cook, or have a job. All he does all day is spend Delia’s hard working money, on his mistress. Skyes would be nothing without Delia. This can even be broadened to the patriarchal society they live in because all the women were having similar life styles of cooking and cleaning and maintaining their husband.
There is even a correlation to religion in both the short story and song because of the line “like Noah made the arc” references a story in the Bible. This relates to Delia because she went to church regularly and it helped her get through her everyday struggle.
The last line of the song “He’s lost in bitterness” reminds me of Skyes because he is just really bitter and not the husband he used to be to Delia. It is inferred in the story that Skyes actually was a good husband when they were first married. However, he changed and became “Lost in bitterness.” He does not see what a good wife he has and how much he needs her.
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