Hi everyone!
This is your last blog post for Sula. The guiding questions are below and I've also included questions from students from the last post.
A. Respond to one of the guiding questions (I will post them on the blog for you).
B. Send me an email with a thoughtful question, so I can post it on the blog.
C. Build on someone else’s idea or politely disagree, with a thoughtful alternative opinion.
Please be thoughtful, careful, and diplomatic about your comments. I will be checking the blog regularly and will be contributing as well. Each post should be about one body paragraph long. You must complete the blog post by 10 PM on the night before the assignment is due.
Happy reading!
Guiding Questions and ideas to respond to:
1. What is the significance of names and naming in the novel?
2. Although Sula contains several male characters, the book is, in many ways, a novel that celebrates women. Sula looms so large in the reader's mind because Morrison strips away the power traditionally given to men. Examine the deficiencies of two male characters that suggest contrasting strengths in female characters.
3. Toni Morrison once said, "I know evil preoccupied me in Sula…" Examine the nature of evil in Sula, especially as it occurs in the protagonist. To what extent is Sula evil and how does she manifest this trait? What are the sources of her evil and what is its ultimate significance in terms of her relationship with the Bottom residents?
4. Death is a dominant motif in Sula. The text begins, "There was once a neighborhood," signifying that the community no longer exists (3). Morrison portrays death as an event that purifies, renews, and brings freedom to the deceased and/or their family and friends. Death is also an event that is often witnessed in the text; it is a spectacle that demands attention. Consider how this notion of death subverts more traditional depictions and why Morrison uses this strategy.
Questions from students:
5. What is the significance in Sula living a similar life to her mother and what does that say about parent-child relationships?
6. Many of Sula's actions suggest a certain degree of insanity. Do you believe that Sula is actually crazy, evil, or accursed, as the townspeople claim? Or is she instead a perfectly sane woman whose actions are both misconstrued by the residents of the Bottom and exaggerated by Toni Morrison for the purpose of characterization?
7. How does Nel's friendship with Sula impact the actions that the girls do in the book? Is Nell an observer of the havoc that Sula creates or does she play a bigger role in their actions?
8. Since Nel finds out about Sula and Jude's affair, do you think she will ever forgive Sula or will she feel so betrayed that she won't ever talk to her ever again? Why?
9. In the book, death is essentially a normal thing. It happens often, and is caused by people that they have a close relationship with. Do you think that having a "National suicide day" made their society more accepting of death? Is it because of a day like that being put into effect that everyone is so used to the grimness of death?
10. Hannah's father left her as a kid, did that affect her morals as an adult when she broke up families as a result of her promiscuity? And did Sula being Hannah's daughter also have a correlation to her promiscuity?
11. What's the significance of the dead robins and how does it relate to Sula's "evil" character?
12. Why did Toni Morrison choose to have her female characters be such (for lack of a better term) horrible people? Wasn't her point supposed to be to put more of a positive/empowering light on women since men were previously the focus in most literature?
As an answer to the 12th question of why Toni Morrison created women that were "horrible" people, I think she intentionally made these characters face difficult moral decisions and had them react in tune with their lifelong experiences. In Sula's case, she was surrounded by promiscuity and thought of sex as commonplace. Due to this attitude, she had sex with married men and drove them from their families, much like her mother did. The townspeople thought of this attitude as morally wrong, but Sula did not think of it as wrong at all, pointing out after she had sex with Jude and he left Nel that he left of his own accord and that the act was not emotional at all. Indeed, most of the women in this book did morally wrong things in the eyes of society, but I think Morrison is trying to say that society is narrow-minded and does not care about the context of the event, only that one committed it, as the case may be. With this evidence, I do not think that Morrison wrote the women of Sula as horrible people, merely people dealing with life in their own ways. In the end, the women do have a lack of knowledge or care for society's morals or other's interpretations of what could be considered morally wrong events, but their intentions are overwhelmingly good and carry little premeditated malice.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Sula encompasses an "evil woman" in the noval. She is often criticized for sleeping around with many white men in Medallion. The town sees these actions as taboo, which shows off a large amount of irony for all of the townspeople. The town doesnt react strongly when a man like Ajax sleeps around with many women, but since Sula is of the opposite sex it is considered evil. This shows a large level of sexism that exists among all of the townsfolk. Additionally, this level of animosity directed at Sula most likely contributes to her actions. Her mindset is revolved around the idea of going through life without leaving anything hidden or covered up. However, Nel sees this as a strange choice, and this shows a side of her which is not as open as Sula. There have been many moments throughout the book that have shown Sula and Nel to be the same person. For example, Chicken-Little's death and Hannah's death spark similar levels of excitement with both girls. This is a valid explanation for why Sula believes they are the same, and also serves as evidence as to why both girls feel such a strong connection with each other.
DeleteI agree with you but I see it from a different point. I believe that in a way Morrison plays with the idea of a double standard around the way women act versus the way men act and the way society view these actions. I see this in the way that the town talks about Sula after sleeping with Jude but there isn't as much talk about Jude's role in is and Sula's encounter. I also believe that Morrison discusses the side of women that some novelists tend to ignore, the side of women that doesn't care about what society says about them. Sula didn't care about what society said a woman "had" to do to be happy (marry and have kids), she did what her mother and grandmother did and lived as she pleased.
DeleteI agree with you to a point as well. Similar to Kaetlyn's response, I believe that Morrison wants to portray women as men are somewhat usually portrayed in novels as the daring, fearless, and dauntless personality that never falters similar to Sula. The actions that Sula does like cutting off her finger as an example, its outlandish and unusual as women in stories aren't usually portrayed like that. But when a man does its considered brave and noble that he stood up for his friends. Toni, though, portrays women as this because she wants to show that men aren't only the ones that do the daring things that men do and I believe that is what she wants to do in order to empower them. Even though Sula's actions seemed barbarous and in the bad, Morrison, I believe, wanted to show how women as men.
DeleteI feel that Toni Morrison portrayed her characters as such horrible people because she wanted to show that women are just as capable of committing atrocious acts as men are. For example, I think of Sula as a violent book and I personally tend to associate violence with masculinity. Seeing female characters commit murder or self-mutilation is out of the ordinary since women are often portrayed as pure and innocent or fragile and weak. In a way it can be seen as empowering that women can be just as strong as men in everyday life even though, in the book, what they are doing might be totally wrong. These characters are not totally evil or horrible just as they are not completely good people. To me this shows how Toni Morrison feels women can be a mixture of both in society. Besides the violent aspects of the characters, sex is portrayed by the characters as something fun and passionate while society feels that women who enjoy sex should be labeled as whores or sluts. I like how Toni Morrison shows that women should't be ashamed of something that was taboo at the time because it allows women to feel empowered and not embarrassed about what society thinks about them. She shows women that things that may be seen as wrong by society are not always something a woman has to feel ashamed by and therefore allows them to still feel good without regret.
ReplyDeleteThat is really interesting! I had not thought of that at all. I think this relates to how Sula is considered evil. Unlike Nel, who is far more easily sympathizable, Sula was perceived as horrible because she breaks social conventions in the novel and in real life. The way she acts is not what is typically accepted and is borderline immoral, but she is a strong and independent woman who refuses to follow what society expects from her. Her strength does not lie in beauty or domesticality; rather, her strength lies in her strong sense of self. That is what I believe empowers her. She remains resilient despite the community pinning her down and slutshamming her. Like you said, I also believe that women should be unapologetic and unashamed.
DeleteWhen reading the last chapter of the homework, I realized what a understandable and predictable character development that has happened in Sula and Nel. Since the beginning you easily grasped the idea that Nel would resist being like her mother Helene, but inside she knew that she would have the same characteristics. When Nel is betrayed by Sula, who slept with Jude, Nel becomes associated with the other women in the town who blame Sula for all the chaos that happens after her 'sin'. Nel wants to be looked at as perfect or to assimilate to others so she wouldn't feel and be outcasted. This connects to her name, Nel Wright, which sounds a lot like "right", meaning she was raised and acted the right way. Her correctness in her actions as an adult relates to the way how she doesn't do anything wrong to counter society.While Sula's name is Sula Peace, which is ironic because she and her family do not bring "peace" and aren't "peaceful". Her character has always been easily predicated was always the one who spoke up for herself when others were rude to her and stepping out of the boundaries of her community which makes her such a strong female character. Overall, Sula became outcasted by the people at the Bottom and it was bound to happen. Both of the two girls show how a community can define who they are. While Nel wants to be appealed by everyone, Sula wants to be original. When Sula starts having feelings for Ajax, she doesn't realize that since people see her as this girl who sleeps around that she has to stay this strong person who shouldn't have feelings. Morrison wanted to use the character’s personality to highlight the idea of how people are judgemental and blame others for their bad decisions. Sula creates chaos, but more than that, she creates the truth. The other characters are scared to be who they are, and that comes with human nature. In the beginning of the novel, Shadrack, Helene, and Eva, are these charcters who want to be independent while Sula follows the need to feel independent, others in the Bottom need to feel and be part of something that makes them feel significant.
ReplyDeleteThat is the perfect way to put it: "Sula creates chaos but more than that, she creates the truth". Sula is never afraid to be herself, while the other towns people, including Nel, are especially peculiar about being "normal" in a town that thrives on extreme abnormality. The townspeople are afraid to be who they are, but moreover, they are afraid of their lack of wholeness in world that tears people down. For example, the women in the town only started treating their husband and children well after Sula posed a s a threat to them. When she died, so did their kindness and brief consideration. Once again, Sula brought out the truth in people and human nature even after she died. Her action-death- demonstrated true human nature. The truth is that people up in the bottom are empty, They don't really care unless the things and people they don't really care about are threatened by someone who becomes the common enemy. Sula was just someone to focus on to fill the emptiness.
DeleteThis is very interesting! Sula brought truth to a town that only accepted lies. Sula was definitely used as a scapegoat for the towns misgivings. The environment of the town, the characterization of Sula , and Sula herself made her the character she was. Sula knew that speaking out in the town and her actions would cause waves but Sula did it anyway because she refused the lies.
DeleteTo answer question six, I do not believe Sula to be an insane individual. Morrison has a way of normalizing strange behavior and even arousing doubt in the readers minds. Evert thing Sula did was against every single societal norm; therefore her actions were viewed as negative. Ironically, her actions had positive results. Morrison purposefully did this to show that Sula was more knowledgeable and understanding than any of the towns people who constantly doubted her. Sula did not necessarily do all she did to arouse anger in the towns people; she did it because doing anything else did not seem reasonable to her. She saw a cruel, tedious, racist world, so she simply decided not to be a part of it in the way everyone else was. The most mind blowing part of the novel is that Sula turned out to be the wise one, while the others ignorantly judged her. This is not to say that any of Sula's actions are justified. This simply means that Sula is an anomaly and she refuses to be restricted by societal norms. She never caused harm to anyone. She never forced those men to sleep with her or the child to knock on her door or the birds to come crashing down. Those things just happened as if nature was against her for refusing to abide by the natural course of things. She is simply living the way she desires, while every thing around her takes its natural course.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with you on several points here. While Sula may not ultimately be insane, her actions cannot entirely be excused by her harsh environment. First of all, you argue that Sula's actions never harmed anybody. I think Chicken Little might disagree with that. And perhaps Nel too, for she suffered a lot because Sula slept with Jude, even if it was Sula who she was missing the whole time and not her husband. The environment she was raised in can't be blamed for all of her unusual actions, either; most of the residents of the Bottom faced similar poverty, racism, and hopelessness, yet didn't do anything similar to what she did. This is not to say that everything she did is terrible and was the fault of her own evil and insanity; you are very much correct in asserting that a lot of her behavior is simply not conforming to society's norms and expectations in ways that wouldn't be "bad" or "harmful" if society hadn't imposed those expectations. Ultimately, I think it comes down to that Sula has a touch of madness to her that makes her defy her surroundings in ways that are both shocking to the community and the reader.
DeleteIn response to question #9--
ReplyDeleteNational Suicide Day is perhaps emblematic of the community's relationship with death, but was almost certainly not the reason for it. The very first death of the book, that of Helene's grandmother, occurs before or roughly around the establishment of National Suicide Day, and her attitude towards that death was fairly subdued, even disinterested. This reflects a normalization of death that likely existed before Shamrock's ritual began. The community had faced racism and poverty for generations, and nothing had changed about that during the years depicted in the book. People had likely become used to death from their childhoods, as they grew up surrounded by it, as had their parents and their grandparents. Their social situation had ingrained their perspectives on mortality, and Shamrock's holiday only came along to reflect on and supplement that. It also should be noted that, until 1941, most of the residents of The Bottom disliked and ignored National Suicide Day, perhaps in denial of the fact that it reflected their own views on death. Or perhaps that isn't true-- National Suicide Day is for the supposed purpose of getting all the dying done at once so it nobody should have to deal with it the rest of the year. The townspeople are rather the opposite-- death surrounds them and their lives every day, to the point where they don't even think about it any more. The unusual public celebration of the "holiday" after Sula's death perhaps reflects a shift of the townspeople' attitudes towards death, or maybe an acceptance of it. Ironically, many of them proceed to die in an accident, but this perhaps only goes further to assert the position of death as being central to the lives of these people. Ultimately, National Suicide Day may not entirely be as related to the community's attitudes towards death as we initially thought.
Regarding question number 7 about Sula and Nel's relationship with each other, I believe that Sula and Nel wouldn't have been the same characters without the presence of the other. Sula and Nel could be one of the same person. Sula is the half that does what she wants to in the moment and Nel is the more orderly person. Though their ways of doing things are different, the two girls think almost exactly alike. They both had similar reactions when Chicken Little drowned but Nel was the one who tried to put all the blame on Sula, but soon enough Nel came to realize that she felt (for lack of a better term) good. I think that without the other, the girls would have acted way differently than they did in the story. They influence each other more than they would have admitted when Sula was alive.
ReplyDeleteSula is considered evil because she does not conform to societal expectations. Rather, she follows her own rules and lives a quite independent life. By refusing to go against what society expects of her, she is unlike everyone else in Bottom. Her strong sense of individuality causes chaos to ensue, resulting in her becoming a sort of social pariah. This so-called evil trait of hers is what unites the community. Because she disagrees with the ideology that the community generally goes by, Sula somehow managed to motivate the community to unite against her to uphold their own beliefs. When she died, that sense of community disappeared and the “tension was gone and so was the reason for the effort they had made” (Morrison 153). While Sula was alive, the goodness in the community improved, but when she died, the Bottom residents returned to their respectful selves. Without Sula, the community no longers knows the difference from right or wrong because she acted as the moral compass by being the manifestation of what is considered evil. Eventually, without the need to strengthen moral resolve, the community, despite “social progress,” became replaced by “separate houses with separate televisions and separate telephones and less and less dropping by” (Morrison 166). Despite what the Bottom residents thought, Sula made life better in Bottom.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I agree with you that Sula's presence created a much more united community in Bottom, I believe that Sula's death came with many benefits. For example, her death had called for the construction of an old people's home for colored people, as well as the hiring of black workers to work on a tunnel. Because of this, the citizens of Bottom consider Sula's death "a clear sign of the mystery of God's ways" (Morrison 151). However, her death also spurs a bitter, harsh winter that causes everything to turn to ice - crops and animals die, people become sick, and no one can earn any money, which also amplifies the loss of unity within a community. The ice that seems to come as a result of Sula's death is only melted (or so it seems) when Shadrack rings his bell on National Suicide Day in January, but many residents die on the unstable bridge. It seems that while Sula brought a certain chaos and hectic atmosphere to bottom, she also brought a sense of sanity that the people of Bottom needed to thrive.
DeleteI think the significance of the dead birds is that it is suppose to symbolize and foreshadow the conflicts that Sula brings when she comes back home after being gone for a long period of time. For example, Toni Morrison describes Sula coming home with the plague of robins as, "Nobody knew why or from where they had come. What they did know was that you couldn't go anywhere without stepping in their pearly shit,and it was hard to hang up clothes, pull weeds or just sit on the front porch when robins were flying and dying all around you" (Morrison 89). When Sula came home she had a history of sleeping with multiple men. This shows that people were now exceptionally cautious whenever they would be around Sula. For example, woman would cling and protect their husbands because they fear the possibility of Sula and their husband having an affair. It could also be hard for people to live their daily lives because they know that there is someone who is harming the well being of people. So people are afraid to let their guard down because they think that Sula might hurt somebody they care about.
ReplyDeleteAs an answer to question six I think Sula is so sane that she is able to observe the insanity of those around her. In my opinion Sula represents the bluntest ideas of humankind by not caring what those around her think. To those who conform to societies standards Sula may seem eccentric or insane but in reality Sula is humanity in its natural form: cruel, cold, and indifferent to the pain of strangers but not crazy. When Sula dies for example life in the town is great but after awhile things go sour and Sula is not there to take the blame. Sula was a barrier that protected people from themselves and was the scapegoat for everything that went wrong in the town. By exaggerating Sula's characteristics Morrison creates an idea of Sula and Nel balancing each other out; however, too much good or too much bad can have catastrophic effects in works of literature as shown in the novel "Sula".
ReplyDeleteI mostly agree with your point, but not entirely. I think your idea about Sula being able to view society from an outsider's perspective, rather than simply being insane, is valid, and it is true that she kept her community together in a way they never realized. I also agree that Sula creates a sort of balance with Nel. However, I do not believe that Sula is humanity in its natural form because the ability to form relationships is one of the deepest experiences a human being can have, whether they are platonic, familial, or romantic attachments. Humans can be cold and cruel, but they have an equal capacity for warmth and empathy. In addition, Sula appears to have craved the experience of loneliness and sadness more than intimacy, which is very different from the inclinations of most people. Still, it is also not true to say that a person cannot be considered a whole person unless they rely on others; we have only to look at Sula's contentedness and her possession of her own mind to disprove this. I think it might be more accurate to say that Sula is human, but she is not all of humanity.
DeleteSula's evil character doesn't become apparent until she came back to the Bottom after ten years, her entrance already gave a sense of uneasiness and heightened the resident's superstition. Considering the "Plague of robins," in literature birds are meant to symbolize freedom and spring, along with rebirth. This event not only foreshadows upcoming events related to Sula's influence, but also gives a sense of "reverse symbolism." As the residents began to reconstruct their homes and began to appreciate one another more, purely from Sula's infamous status, literally the "rebirth" of their town as foreshadowed by the plague of robins. "They had to protect and love one another. They began to cherish their husbands and wives, protect their children, repair their homes and general band together against the devil [Sula] in their midst (Morrison 117-118). Without Sula the Bottom would not have improved the way it did without her.
ReplyDeleteultimately, the extent of Sula's bizarre presence impacted the residents to connect to one another in ways that they never have pondered on, with the residents superstitious nature led to a "Us vs. the Devil" type of conflict resulting in making the Bottom a better place.
I agree with you about the fact that Sula's presence only kept everything in check because everythign she did was so bizarre and it was extreme enough to the point where everyone was against her. The things that they as a whole community was scorning her for, obviously kept the community members from doing those actions in fear of being scorned along side Sula. She kept them all in check as everyone in the community is trying to conform to what is the "normal" society and what is "socially acceptable". With Sula gone and her misdeeds aren't blatantly in their face, they do not have that united force against those "evils" that ultimately keeps them from committing those sins. Sula's death is actually really important in the story as they show that with the superficials being over, the community crumbles because nothing is "real" everyone there is fake.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteAlthough Sula's presence caused the people of Bottom to have a change in heart, Sula's death also caused Bottom to no longer exist and be full of care and love. Right after Sula's death, Teapot's Mother beats Teapot, showing that she is reverting back into her old ways of neglecting Teapot. Also Sula's death causes others' care and affection to disappear because they feel that there is no longer a threat in there life. Latter, Shadrack comes to the realization that Sula is dead and that he is all alone, which results in National Suicide Day and the death of those who followed Shadrack. At the end of Sula, whites end up moving into Bottom, thus erasing the existence of Bottom because the original inhabitants find no value in living there.
DeleteToni Morrison’s claim that “evil preoccupied (her) in Sula”, I can’t necessarily agree that Sula is an “evil” character. She doesn’t really go out of her way to make others’ lives difficult; she simply lives by her own rules and always puts her needs before others, “Eva’s arrogance and Hannah’s self-indulgence merged in her, she lived out her days exploring her thoughts and emotions, giving them full reign, feeling no obligation to please anybody unless their pleasure pleased her” (118). Other characters call her selfish, along with all kinds of other humiliating names, however, I don’t agree with those claims to the extent of calling her “evil”. Society normally reacts negatively with change or anything outside its usual norm, and Sula’s character is nothing like Medallion has ever seen before, “Sula was distinctly different” (118). They simply don’t know how to react to a woman like her, the type of woman who goes with her gut, lives for herself, knows what she wants, is independent, and does not need a man to define or complete her. During Sula’s time, women were the opposite of that, and her behavior was absolutely out of the question. Furthermore, this relates to another recurring theme, the idea that Sula is a novel that celebrates women and challenges the power of men.
ReplyDeleteBecause Sula’s behavior is completely foreign to society at this point in history, I do not believe it is fair to call Sula “evil”. Her actions are not prompted by malice, she does not seek revenge on anyone (except maybe Eva), and she certainly does not mean to hurt Nel. The twisted events of her childhood do lead the reader to question Sula’s personality.
Answer to #12
ReplyDeleteToni Morrison' s female characters are seen "horrible" people to show that women are cable of doing anything a man can do. Usually men are seen controlling women, but in Sula, the gender roles are switched, thus having women in control. For example, Hannah manipulates men, which results in Hannah's need of wanting to care for a man fulfilled. An other example is when Sula defends Chicken Little, causing Chicken Little to trust Sula and do everything she suggest. Sula has an affair with Jude, to show that a women could take care of their children and work. Nel finds a job, which enables her to provide for her family without the help of a man. A second example of this is when Eva left her children behind, so that she could learn skills to provide for her family.
Sula's death is a very interesting event in the story, and a necessary one. It was important for everyone in the Bottom to see the true effect of Sula's presence, which is why Morrison makes it into such a spectacle. After Sula dies, everyone in the town behaves very strangely, considering they always treated Sula in the same way as they acted towards other "evil" neighbors - with contempt, but not enough anger to ever drive her away. Therefore, it is unusual for them to let her body lie unattended and uncared for; the fact that the residents allow the white doctors to take away Sula shows that she is worthless in their eyes. Her funeral also becomes a spectacle, marked not by the presence of many people, but by their absence. They do not approach her grave until she is already buried, as though they want to make sure she really is dead. Everyone assumes that without Sula, life will be much better, but they are soon proved wrong as their relationships come unraveled again, lacking her opposing force to keep them together. Indeed, Sula's death is also followed by the death of her community as they face a harsh winter and then decide to march on Suicide Day, causing many of them to die - ironically, after Shadrack realizes that Suicide Day's original purpose is useless, and even more ironically, in the act of "killing" the tunnel they have been deprived of building for so long. This death is also quite spectacular, and freeing in a way because the inhabitants of Medallion finally get to vent their frustration against society and their place in it. In the end, they become a bit like Sula, following their own whims just as she does all her life.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree with you on the significance the event played, I think that the nature of her death was important too. Everyone else in the book died slowly/painfully while Sula herself died peacefully and almost without noticing. The contrast is definitely worth noting, though I'm not exactly sure what to make it Toni Morrison's decision to use it. In part, she was likely just trying to use the peaceful death for the sake of contrasting with the others, since it by default makes hers stand out, but there has to be more to it than that.
DeleteInteresting! Perhaps Morrison is trying to emphasize how prepared Sula was for death and how contented she was with herself, because she had always been a genuine person while the other characters died with regrets.
Delete"How does Nel's friendship with Sula impact the actions that the girls do in the book? Is Nell an observer of the havoc that Sula creates or does she play a bigger role in their actions?"
ReplyDeletePersonally I feel that a bystander is the same as the person doing the offense. Even though you are not the perpetrator, since you are observing it and doesn't even try to do anything to stop the misdeed you could be seen as supporting the action. It is revealed later that Nel actually felt a "rush" when she saw Chicken Little's body sink into the waves as the water closes over and became peaceful.
This shows that Nel was actually happy that the water became peaceful and covered up the atrocity that she just witnessed.
She might not be the one who caused the death of Chicken little but she is a bystander and didn't make any move to save him. She played the role of an accomplice by doing this. In addition to that it highlights the difference between Sula and Nel, while Sula enjoys all things chaotic and changing confronting everything head on, Nel prefers the peace and she constantly lives in denial and this marks the beginning of her life long experience.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteTo answer question 6, I think that Sula is indeed insane; however, I think this may have been the point. To me, the book seems almost like a commentary on mental illness in some respects (obviously it isn't the main theme, but maybe an underlying one). Sula is clearly sociopathic at a minimum (as she feels nothing seeing her own mother die and doesn't respond much to chicken little's death either), but in addition we also see a character in a mental hospital, a character being killed for his otherwise ignored addiction, and of course national suicide day. Perhaps the author was trying to tell something about the lack of attention given to these types of problems, or something of the nature. Something to think about. Either way, her actions are not misconstrued. You can't really "misconstrue" cutting your finger and watching someone burn to death.
ReplyDeleteI agree with that Sula is insane. Although she did not see her actions as wrong, they were still not typical and caused a lot of harm to others. Also, good point with her lack of reaction to what would normally be a traumatizing event.
DeleteI agree that Sula is a sociopath, as she doesn't seem to understand or concern herself with how her actions might affect those around her. One example is how she has sex with Jude without much concern for her friend Nel.
DeleteThe robins in Sula represent a multitude of ideas. The unnatural force of nature represents not only how the townspeople view Sula, but also foreshadows what Sula is to bring. To the people of Medallion nature was "only inconvenient" (90). Sula, always acting on her accord, was looked at as "inconvenient" just as the swarm of birds were (90). In literature the flight of birds can represent freedom. Connecting to my last idea, Sula does not feel tied down to conform to society's ideals; therefore, Sula is an uncontrollable force just like the nature of the birds. Birds can also represent renewed life. When Sula enters the town the people now have a person to ridicule. Similar to the Puritan society in The Scarlet Letter, Sula is a new target the people could use to compare themselves to in order to feel better about themselves because of her "evilness". The people now have a new sense of purpose, and that is to be better than Sula. Sula creates a new lifestyle, she brings this social pressure on the townspeople that forces them to deny their own problems and to focus on thinking that since Sula is below them, that they are better than her. Sula also creates a sense of unity, women are now "coddling" their husbands and daughters are finally caring for the elderly without resentment (154). When Sula dies, their new lifestyle is changed once again and is reverted back to their "original claims of superiority" (154).
ReplyDeleteYour connection to the Puritan society in the Scarlet Letter is really powerful because the connection between the two is uncanny. In the Puritan society, many women commit the forbidden sin of adultery, but they ostracize Hester for it because it became a public fiasco with her pregnancy. They act like they are better than Hester, even though they have committed the exact same sin as her. In the same way, like you said, the people of Medallion isolate Sula, even though many of them have committed similar crimes of neglect etc. They need someone to look down on to take on their responsibilities. That's the sign of a truly dysfunctional society.
Delete12. Why did Toni Morrison choose to have her female characters be such (for lack of a better term) horrible people? Wasn't her point supposed to be to put more of a positive/empowering light on women since men were previously the focus in most literature?
ReplyDeleteMorrison used female character instead of men to be criminals and horrible people to destroy the stereotypes of women being so perfect. We see the shift from the beginning of the book of Eva. When she left her children she came back with a missing leg. She hid her leg from society with ling dress and now in the end of the book she lets it visible near Nel. Looking at other book, men don't hide their scars or missing parts of the body. Toni Morrison wanted to highlight the strengths of women then the men and prove that they can be similar in many different ways.
I agree! I also think he wanted to express women empowerment, and how girls react differently then guys. Like Sula vs. Nel. There are different ways to approach a situation and they represnt that perfectly. If it was men there wouldnt be as much emotion play in the situation. Women are very attatched so they feel for more in different situations. It changes the perspective. I believe
DeleteI think the questioning of Nel's good nature really puts the issue of good vs. evil into perspective. For most of the novel, we are led to believe that Sula is the evil one in the relationship because she is so outrageous, but there is a more subtle side to the story. When Sula was playing with Chicken Little near the river and accidentally threw him in, Sula was a wreck. She had no idea what to do and crying hysterically, ran to Shadrack's house for help. On the other hand, Nel kept calm and acted as if nothing was wrong, was even proud of the way she reacted. At the time she thought it was a sign of maturity for her to be so calm and collected, which is a twisted and evil idea. She thought it was logical to look around to see if anyone had seen and only cared about her and Sula's public image. I think that's is one of the few differences between Sula and Nel. Nel was raised to be self-conscious about her reputation, while Sula was not. Like Eliana said in class the other day, the only difference between Sula and Nel is their upbringing. Other than that, they are pretty much the same person. We see evidence of this when Nel visits Eva in the nursing home. Eva is going a little bit crazy/senile, accidentally mixes Sula and Nel up and Nel answers her, "You're confused, Miss Peace. I'm Nel. Lula's dead."( Morrison 168). And a little while later, Eva says "Just alike. Both of you. Never was no difference between you."Finally, their union is exemplified perfectly as Nel leaves the nursing home in anger and remembers Sula. In a moment of clarity, she realizes that the betrayal she had felt at being wronged was nothing, and she cried as if she had lost a piece of herself. Sula was a part of her: a part of the good and a part of the bad.
ReplyDeleteToni Morrison chooses to have her female characters be "horrible" people instead of a more positive light because it differentiates then from stereotypes. Instead of being housewife characters Morrison creates a woman who lost her leg trying to feed her kids. Instead of settling down with one person, many characters end up by themselves or sleeping around. Sula herself is more violent and active rather than being shown as a stay at home mom.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Morrison seems to go against roles tyically assigned to female characters in literature, I like how you mentioned that Sula is violent and not a typical mom type character which is what a lot of authors who were writing a similar story might do to play it safe. I also appreciate how Morrison chose to go against the status quo to provide an orginal and interesting story.
DeleteEvil is very prevalent in Sula by Toni Morrison, it is all over the book and evil forms within many of the novel's characters, particularly the protagonist Sula. The evil within Sula can be seen in several key points throughout the story, at one point it can be seen when she cuts off a part of her finger to stand up for herself against a group of boys. Sula and Nel's friendship can also be seen as a sort of yin and yang relationship with Sula being the balance of evil and Nel being the balance of good, Nel is viewed as the good one and Sula was always the bad one. Sula carries evil within her all the time being seemingly unfazed by the phenomenon of death. She is a witness to all the evil in the book and can be seen as the most evil character in the strory because of all the evil she becomes exposed to.
ReplyDeleteI think Sula's actions are from her life experiences. She plays off of what she knows, and she does things in the best way she knlws how. I think that she is a result of her parents upbringing, and of her own experiences. Everything that she has experienced changed her. Because shes living in a similar situation i think it shoes shes doing what she knows. And she learned what she knows from her parents. Its like a cycle. In a way. I dont think she would be the way that she is withough her upbringing being in that way.
ReplyDelete