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The search for independence is what set the world topsy turvey in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. The pair wanted to make decisions for themselves independently of what their Creator laid out for them. As a result, sin was passed down to all of mankind.

Alice Walker’s “For Everyday Use,” Zora Neale Hurston’s “Sweat” and James Weldon Johnson’s “Prodgial Son” are all literary pieces that are based upon Jesus’ parable of the Prodigal Son found at Luke 15:11-32.

In the parable, the reader finds a young man who in search of a life of wealth and comfort, he leaves his father and brother, squanders his fortune, falls on hard times, only to find himself full of remorse and regret. He later repents, returns home, and is welcomed by his loving father.

The search for independence is inevitable, however, living life without the love and support of family and friends doesn’t have to be.

The search for independence is inevitable, however, living life without the love and support of family and friends doesn’t have to be.

SWEAT FEDU PRODIGAL SON

Goal of Independence Sykes seeks to be independent from Delia (wife)

Dee seeks to be independent from backwardness of family culture

Young man seeks to be independent from Father (God)

What was lost Sykes lost his wife, in the end, his life

Dee lost Family traditions/ the “know how” to keep them going

Y/S lost inheritance, relationship with brother, pride

What was gained Temporary pleasure of a BBW, joy of putting Delia down

Education, sense of pride over her “come up”

Life experiences/ exposure “women of Babylon”

Forgiveness None granted. Delia silently resented the outcome, not enough to change it

“Consolation” prize of lesser than quilts. Maggie was willing to concede…again

100% forgiveness. Unconditional (Father/God) 0% and resentment from brother

Repentance Sykes: Failed to ask for forgiveness; Regretted that help was not there for him, however, no indication of change of action given

Dee returns with a new value for family artifacts, not necessarily for the culture behind those artifacts

100% turn around

The goal of the search of independence varied among the main characters of the texts. Sykes, the husband of Delia in Hurston’s “Sweat,” never physically took a journey, however, he ventured from his marital vows in an attempt to find a more suitable mate. He found himself tangled up with the likes of Bertha, a big boned woman that proved to be the very opposite of the mild and meek Delia that he’d married. In his attempt to free himself from “dat skinny ‘oman,” Sykes, in a sense, was seeking to free himself from his marriage.Dee, unlike Sykes, wasn’t in search of a mate. Instead, she was in search of a better way of life than she could ever have by remaining in the small town that she’d been born in. Dee wanted a life that her mother and sister didn’t dream of; she wanted a higher education, she wanted to leave that small house; she wanted to be bigger than what their life could afford. Sadly, in her attempt to better herself, she pushed herself away from her family. The young man of Johnson’s “Prodigal Son,” he was the most deplorable character of all, he left his family, rejected their values, and squandered his father’s material possessions—all in an attempt to find his own way. His desire for independence is more of a natural coming to one’s own than that of the goals of Sykes and Dee, however, the result is the same, a loss of family.

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Data from “Sweat”

Commentary from

“Sweat”

Claim from “FEDU”

Data from “FEDU”

Commentary from “FEDU”

Claim from “Prodigal

Son”