Many Sides to Sula

The section we had to read this weekend definitely has a lot going on. I’d like to talk about the many new sides we see of Sula. There are many conflicts that revolve around her and it is interesting to see how she handles them.

The biggest surprise to me was her interaction with Jude. I was immediately confused when I read this. I was under the impression that Sula and Nel were best friends. My understanding of being a best friend is that you can trust that person with anything. Their previous relationship was one that appeared strong and unbreakable. When Sula has her encounter with Jude the friendship was broken. I am shocked that Sula did this in the first place but am more surprised by her reaction. Sula is described as sitting on the bed and she appears to be unaffected by the events that just occurred. Why didn’t she react strongly? Why did Sula appear to think what had just happend was wrong? Her reaction here strikes me as unusual and this behavior doesn’t disappear.

The carelessness of Sula is amazing to me. I can not understand how she goes through life with no worries or stress about her actions or life around her. After the events with Nel and Jude, Sula gains a terrible reputation. She is living in a town where nobody likes her and everyone wants nothing to do with her. Additionally Sula has been accused of pushing a boy named Teapot down some steps which only further separates her from her community. She still is responsible for the death of the young boy Chicken and has lost her only true friend yet again, shows no sorrow. After all of these things, Sula does not display a drop of care.

All of my previous thoughts about Sula are completely thrown off when Ajax comes into the story. Ajax brings out a side of Sula that I have never seen before. We learn that Sula wonders one day if Ajax will come by. This little thought shows that Sula cares, even if it is only a little, about this man and if he comes around. For the first time she questions her beauty because Ajax is around. Once he leaves she is lost and alone, looking for something to remind her he exists. All of these behaviors reveal the first sign of a caring person. This relationship leaves me wondering, why care now? Why does Sula only show these characteristics towards Ajax? Why can’t she feel some sort of loss towards her old best friend? I am curious to see what role Ajax plays in the rest of this book. He clearly has something about him that triggers emotion in Sula.

 

Thoughts on the reasoning behind the title of Sula.

In this week’s reading for Sula, I  think I am finally understanding why the novel is named after her.

Within the first few pages of 1937, I knew Sula would do something despicable to someone in the Bottom/Medallion. The description of her clothing, and the significance of the robins, the long paragraph about how the townspeople view evil as something they must ‘survive’, all added up to major foreshadowing. The only part for me that was unclear, was whom Sula would hurt.

She surprisingly ended up hurting two people; Eva and Nel. What happened with Eva was not as shocking to me as what happened with Nel… However, I was very surprised by the incredibly heated (no pun intended) conversation Eva and Sula had when Sula went back to Eva’s house. I figured there would be animosity between the two of them, but I never imagined Sula brashly bringing up Plumb’s burning, and especially did not expect her threat to burn Eva alive. Sending Eva to the nursing home was a rather selfish thing on Sula’s part. I do not think Eva needed to be sent there, I just think Sula was lazy and self-centered and did not want to care for Eva in her old age and poor health/with her disability. I think Sula also sent her there as a ‘legal’ way to punish Eva for all the pent of and apparent hatred Sula has harbored for Eva over the years.

The second event, her betrayal towards Nel, stayed with me much more. I think a possible reason behind that is because we got so much more description and point of view from Nel in the aftermath, than we did with Eva. It was easier to feel bad for Nel, because her pain felt more ‘real’ to me, more tangible.

Reading about Sula sleeping with Jude was quite a surprise, because Nel and her were once so close, but not a surprise in the sense that I would not expect much less from her character. I know her childhood was not easy, but I can honestly say I feel very little sympathy for her. She is very careless and foolhardy in her treatment of those around her.

However, I must admit that while I do not like Sula’s character, or her behavior, she also fascinates me. It is quite rare that an author has the nerve or skill to show the protagonist in an unflattering light. It was a bold move for Morrison. We are not quite finished with the novel, so perhaps Sula will do something remarkable and redeem herself (though I do not foresee that happening). However, for where we are in the novel, I view her as a character we are supposed to “love to hate”.

I was almost happy that Sula fell for Ajax, and that he abandoned her when he found out how much she was willing and wanting to invest in their relationship. I know how terrible it sounds for me to say it that. Regardless, I consider helping someone cheat/cheating in general (especially in the circumstances that Sula did to Nel), one of the most deplorable acts a person can do. I am glad Sula is getting a taste of the devastation Nel went through when she discovered Jude and her together.

Back to my initial observation, about the title of the novel, I believe that it is called Sula because while the story is not solely about her, it is about those around her and how she affects so many people (even random townspeople that gossip about her, as well as her family members and close friends). Even when Nel was hurting so bad she was practically numb, she was still thinking about Sula and wishing she could talk to her, because she respects her intelligence and her sense of humor. It amazes me how this one individual has so much impact on the other characters. The townspeople view her as a source of evil and even begin using her as a scapegoat to blame unfortunate incidents on her. I do not think Sula is loved by many people (in fact, I think Nel was the only true friend Sula ever had), but I do think she is respected and feared by the masses. They witness what she is capable of, and even if some of it is gossip, they still probably think she is capable of every awful rumor they hear.

Good Vs. Evil

The theme of good vs. evil has been a prominent one throughout the novel Sula thus far.  The roots of this theme can be traced back to both Nel and Sula’s childhoods. Here, and displayed quite obviously, Sula’s lack of action after accidentally killing Chicken Little and watching her mother, Hannah, burn in a fire, show how Sula is metaphorically portrayed as evil. Nel and the majority of the town on the other hand, at least, so far in the novel, can be seen as the good to Sula’s evil.

Flash forward to the section for this upcoming week, where right off the bat, we have a bit of foreshadowing with Morrison’s description of Sula’s ominous return to Medallion.  “In spite of their [the town]  fear, they reacted to an oppressive oddity, or what they called evil days, with an acecptance that bordered on welcome,” (pg.89).  Here, we are treated to the town’s general indifference to past and future unfortunate occurrences.

Upon Sula’s return to Medallion, a string of chaos seems to follow her wherever she goes, beginning with her shipping of Eva off to a home. After this, trouble continues to trail her when she breaks up Nel’s marriage by sleeping with Jude.  Additionally, Sula even causes Mr. Finley to choke on a chicken bone and die, simply because he noticed her walking on the street.

While many of these events could be chalked up to unfortunate accidents, the piece of evidence that sealed it for me was when Ajax, Sula’s latest lover, was describing how he loved his evil mother and how she reminded him of Sula. Because the only woman he had ever loved was evil, it makes sense that this feeling could only be reciprocated with another evil woman, who, in this case, is Sula. While Sula is seen as wild and unconventional, Nel, even into her adulthood, remains the picture of propriety and goodness due to her being morally sound.

While it is clear that so far the figurative good vs. evil theme has shown that Nel is good and Sula is considered evil, I am curious to see if this will remain the same as we finish the last section of the book. Could there be an event or an epiphany by a character that leads to us changing our minds, or will this theme continue to play out the same as it has for the first 3/4’s of the book?

Sula has fallen in love (?)

I feel like so many interesting things happened in this section of the book.  Some of our questions were answered and yet many more were presented to us.  To begin with, I would like to note the significance of the robins and their arrival in Medallion as Sula returned. Knowing that the presence of different birds usually signal something, such as doves for peace and ravens for death, I decided to look up robins.  However, I only found positive things such as rejuvination and clarity.  I had been expecting evil and danger based on the town’s reaction to Sula and Sula’s actions upon returning.  On one hand, many of the birds were dying so maybe this represented the lack of clarity, joy, and warmth with Sula’s return.  On the other hand, maybe the robins were for Sula and represented her personal rejuvination and clarity.  From here, I would like to turn to her relationship with Ajax. 

It seems that Sula spent most of her life without love.  She did not feel loved by those around her, like her mother, and did not openly love any other person, even herself (maybe Nel).  When she began spending time with Ajax, we learned that she had strong feelings for him that began when she was 12-years-old.  This is very interesting to me.  I would think that she would view him as an obstacle to conquer and that she would discard him after she did so.  However, she began to develop strong feelings for him, feelings she hadn’t ever experienced. I would also like to point out that I see a strong correlation between the personalities of Sula and Nel, and Clare and Irene, from Passing. Sula, like Clare, is the wandering, seductive, mysterious woman, while Nel, like Irene, is the poised, mother-like, settled-down woman.

In terms of Nel’s part in this chapter, I am very curious as to why Jude slept with Sula if he referred to her as someone that “stirred a man’s mind…but not his body” (p.104). If he was not attracted to her then why would he sleep with Sula and leave Nel for Sula as if he never loved her at all.  Also, I did not understand what the “gray ball” was that Nel referred to and I am very curious to see if we find that out or if other people picked up on it.

Any thoughts on why Jude chose Sula over Nel, what the gray ball is, and why Sula loved Ajax?