Hurston employs suspense and tension to build towards the story's tragic resolution. The element of suspense is created through the use of foreshadowing, and is amplified by religious allusion and the heavy use of motif. One instance of this occurs when Delia is ruminating on Sykes's abuse, and thinks to herself:
Oh well, whatever goes over the Devil's back, is got to come under his belly. Sometime or ruther, Sykes, like everybody else, is gointer reap his sowing.
This foreshadowing of the consequences of Sykes's cruelty, coupled with the religious imagery of "reap[ing]" what one "sow[s]," injects this passage with menace and creates a suspenseful mood.
While revolving around themes of domestic abuse and racism, Hurston’s prose occasionally creates a light, jocular mood. "Sweat" is interspersed with moments of playfulness and comedy. For example, Hurston often uses jokes to illustrate dark facts about her characters' relations with one another. The men sitting on Joe Clarke's porch remark to one another:
Delia works so hard ovah dat washtub she reckon everything on de place taste lak sweat an' soapsuds.
The image of Delia's home tasting like "sweat an soapsuds" takes a comedic spin on Delia's drudgery and hard labor. While this passage acknowledges the suffering Delia experiences, it uses the levity of the men's conversation to find humor in her difficult circumstance. This oscillation between comedy and tension keeps the reader engaged, and represents the characters' experience of drudgery and suffering interlaced with humorous companionship.
