Character+Development



Examine each character for description, disposition, how they interact with other characters and in any other way that helps to define the characters. How do they change or stay the same throughout the story? How do these individuals make meaning in the story? 

Delia seems to be a gentle woman, who is a hard worker and loves her husband. She went from being outspoken to being observant and tries to avoid any arguments with her husband.

Sykes- is a strong man, however he is openly disrespectful by having a mistress and being inconsiderate of his wife's feelings. He went from being the "Macho Man" to begging for Delia's help in the end.

This passage shows how Delia begins to re-see her husband. It constructs an interesting defiant identity, drawing on Biblical language (Mah cup is done run ovah") reclaimed as her sense of self. Biblical teachings have both enables and constrained Delia, giving her both the power to claim her life as well as the subservience to remain in her dysfunctional marriage.

 "Yo' ole black hide don't look lak nothin' tuh me, but uh passle uh wrinkled up rubber, wid yo' big ole yeahs flappin' on each side lak uh paih uh buzzard wings. Don't think Ah'm gointuh be run 'way fum mah house neither. Ah'm goin' tuh de white folks bout you, mah young man, de very nex' time you lay yo' han's on me. Mah cup is done run ovah." Delia said this with no signs of fear and Sykes departed from the house, threatening her, but made not the slightest move to carry out any of them."