-Merriam-Webster Online.
P 35: "His shoes were a shiny orange, and he had on a citified straw hat, a light-blue suit, and a cat's-head stickpin in his tie."
2. The Prologue opens with a description of the Bottom, a once all-black neighborhood that is being turned into a white suburban golf course. The whites, who were originally interested in the valley, convinced the blacks to move to the Bottom, as it was "the bottom of heaven," nestled high in the hills above the valley. In 1917, Shadrack, a veteran of WWI, suffers hallucinations involving his hands swelling to great proportions, leading to his containment in a mental hospital. He is released and allowed to move to the Bottom, where he institutes National Suicide Day, a day on which he parades through town ringing a bell and proclaiming that people can kill themselves or others if they feel the urge. Helene Wright is introduced, the mother of Nel. Helene was the daughter of a Creole prostitute and was raised by her grandmother, building a respectable life after marrying Wiley Wright and starting their family. When Cecile, Helene's grandmother, dies, Helene and Nel make a train trip south to see her, and on the way they are humiliated by the white conductor. Nel becomes close friends with Sula Peace, whose mother is known for sleeping around. Sula's life is chronicled next, and focus is put on her grandmother, Eva. Eva's husband, BoyBoy, left her and their children, Hannah (Sula's mother), Ralph (Plum), and Pearl, to fend for themselves. Plum becomes ill, unable to pass bowel movements, and in desperation Eva puts the absolute last bit of lard in the house on her finger and sticks it up his bottom, digging the stools out. She then leaves the children with a neighbor for a year and a half, and when she returns it is with one less leg but a large amount of wealth. Eva uses the money to build a house, where she lives to old age with Hannah and Sula, as well as three "adopted" children, all named Dewey, and many boarders, including Tar Baby, a white alcoholic. When Plum returns from WWI, he becomes heavily dependent on drugs, and in her frustration and love, Eva pours kerosene over him in his bed, rocks him in her arms and soothes him, and then sets him on fire and lets him burn to death. Nel and Sula seem to complete each other, with each girl's personality holding the lacking aspects of the other's. Nel is shy, while Sula is assertive; Nel is reserved, while Sula acts on whims. One day, while faced with bullying older boys, Sula cuts off the tip of her finger to frighten them, demonstrating her lack of fear and restraint. Growing up, the girls are fascinated by the men who sit outside the ice cream parlor and occasionally make sexual comments. As the girls play by the river, Chicken Little wanders up. Nel teases him and Sula swings him in circles, but he slips and flies into the river, never resurfacing. Sula is hysterical, but Nel remains composed but guilt-burdened, and the girls keep the death a secret. Hannah asks Eva whether she ever loved her children, and Eva becomes angry, defending everything she did for them. Hannah then brings up the murder of Plum, and Eva becomes emotional, saying that she killed him out of love. Hannah tells Eva of her dream of being married in a red dress, and that afternoon, she catches on fire in the yard. Eva jumps out of the window in an effort to smother the flames, but her attempt is unsuccessful. Hannah dies, and Eva attributes the death to the dream of the red dress. She then remembers seeing Sula on the porch, watching her burning mother but not moving to help. When the girls grow older, Nel married Jude Greene and Sula leaves the Bottom for college.
3. Shadrack seems to be a very pitiful character. Suffering what appears to be extreme after-affects of the war, possibly shell shock, he hallucinates to a point where his own body seems to be against him. He feels he has no control over his life, and even his hands, with their "rapid growth," are an example of the chaos surrounding him. I believe this is what leads to his creation of National Suicide Day; he wants an opportunity, even if just for one day, to be in charge of something important. His tremendous fears and his mental inadequacy in dealing with the everyday nature of life are allowed to run freely for twenty-four hours. Helene, on the other hand, has no lack of structure and no need to compartmentalize. Growing up with Celine has instilled a sense of strict rigidity and religious repressiveness in Helene, who then tries to force this way of life onto Nel, although her attempts prove unsuccessful. It's interesting to look at the contrasts between Nel's household and Sula's household. While both girls are raised by women, Nel's mother Helene is strict and conservative. She is repressive and wants Nel to grow up religious, reserved, and neat. Sula, on the other hand, is raised by her mother, Hannah, and her grandmother, Eva. Hannah is known to be quite loose. She sleeps with many men in the pantry, the kitchen, or the bedroom, wherever she finds space. She has a reputation for sleeping with married men, but she never seeks to keep a man, only to bed him. Eva is a very strong woman, and her killing of her son is not necessarily meant to make her seem cruel. Rather, it is an act of love and sacrifice: because she cannot stand to see her son in such pain, sinking deeper and deeper into drug addiction and depression, she does what she can to save him. This also raises a question of morality. Was Eva right in killing Plum, doing what she could to save him, or should she have let him struggle through life? Was it her place to step in? The Deweys are very intruiging characters, in a way paralleling Nel and Sula. Like the girls, the Deweys complete each other; in fact, they have in a sense become one person. Although they do not share physical characteristics, many people have trouble telling them apart, as their personalities and demeanors are so similar. Although different ages, the Deweys are allowed to begin school together, as separating them would be traumatic for all. I found the part of the novel where Hannah claims that she does not like Sula although she loves her to be very thought-provoking. I agree with Morrison's idea here: you do not necessarily need to like someone to love them, and vice versa. There are definitely times where I do not like my brother and my sister. They grind on my nerves, and sometimes they cross the line. However, I will always love them. I feel that you can be really angry at someone and dislike them, even if it is a temporary dislike, but that doesn't mean that your love for them has gone away. Love is not a simple matter, as we've certainly asserted in class; it is arguably the most complex human emotion, and I know I'm nowhere near understanding it completely. Chicken Little's death was obviously a very striking and important part of the story. His death ultimately shows the girl the reality of humanity - it serves as a transition from innocence into realization of immortality. The way the girls grieve is noteworthy. Sula grieves outwardly and loudly, crying and trembling, visibly shaken. Nel, however, shows no outward signs of grief. Instead, she carries the burden of guilt. It's like, once again, the girls are a single person split into two; each carried half of the normal signs of grief.
4. Does Shadrack actually know what happened at the river with Chicken Little? What is the significance of his remark, "Always"?
Hannah and Plum both die by fire. Is this significant? Is there meaning behind two of Eva's children dying in flames?
Why did Sula not react to the burning of her mother, especially since she grieved so obviously for Chicken Little? Was it shock? If so, wouldn't she have had the same reaction to the death of the child?
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