Sula 2

1. Mooring: 1 : an act of making fast a boat or aircraft with lines or anchors
2 a : a place where or an object to which something (as a craft) can be moored b : a device (as a line or chain) by which an object is secured in place
3 : an established practice or stabilizing influence : anchorage 2 —usually used in plural
-Merriam-Webster Online

P 139: "Virtue, bleak and drawn, was her only mooring."


2. Sula returns to the Bottom, bringing a "plague of robins" with her. Eva and Sula's relationship immediately becomes tense, with Sula asserting that Eva cut off her own leg in order to gain wealth. Eva fires back, and Sula insinuates that Eva murdered Plum. Eva then brings up Hannah's death, and Sula's lack of reaction. Sula threatens to kill Eva, and eventually moves her into an old-folks home. The community sees this as an act of evil on Sula's part, as people in the Bottom are generally not moved into nursing homes until absolutely necessary. Nel walks in on Sula and Jude, her husband, having sex. Jude leaves Nel and their children for Sula, and Nel is deeply hurt. Meanwhile, the community becomes more and more wary of Sula, ostracizing her even more from their realm. They blame her for everything, ranging from the death of a man by choking on a chicken bone to Teapot, a child, accidentally falling off of a porch. Sula follows in Hannah's footsteps, however, having many affairs and committing to no man. Ajax, a man who originally made lewd comments to the girls as they went to get ice cream, takes interest in Sula's unusual nature. The two begin an affair, and Sula begins to fall for Ajax. However, as she becomes more entranced by him, Ajax loses interest, feeling that Sula has become a typical lover. Later, Sula becomes ill, and Nel visits her in retribution. She questions why Sula slept with Jude, and the two feud over morality and the implications of friendship. Sula remains stubborn that she did nothing wrong, while Nel remains adamant that she was wronged. Nel leaves, and Sula thinks back on her life before passing away. Sula's death is regarded positively throughout the Bottom. Many people believe she was evil, and her death is seen as an omen of good times to come. However, a frost comes, "silvering" the town. People lose livestock, crops, and wages. The weather warms just in time for National Suicide Day, and Shadrack remembers Sula's visit immediately following Chicken Little's death. He did not know of the death of the child; rather, he saw the fear in Sula's face, and tried to comfort her. On Shadrack's annual Suicide Day parade, many of the townsfolk follow him, an unprecedented reaction. They parade to the tunnel in the valley, but the tunnel collapses, and many die, including the Deweys and Tar Baby.


3. Sula seems to have a genuine lack of interest in societal norms. She doesn't sleep with married men to be spiteful or to hurt women, she does so because she doesn't see the harm in it. She doesn't see that all of the Bottom associates her directly with the devil because she put Eva in a nursing home prematurely, or if she does, it certainly doesn't seem to bother her. She recognizes that she is a pariah within the community, but she doesn't appear to be affected by it. She acts as a free spirit, doing what she wants when she wants, without concern for how it will be interpreted by others. This is so unlike Nel, whose entire life seems to be designed around what she is "supposed to be doing." She married Jude because it seemed like the right thing to do. It's interesting that Nel seems to blame Sula entirely for the affair with Jude; after all, it takes two to have an affair. Jude was just as willing, and likely not as naive as Sula seems to be. While Sula may not have seen the harm in their lovemaking, Jude should have. He should have realized that it would destroy his marriage, and by taking up with his wife's best friend, he showed a blatant lack of respect for the woman he promised to love and honor till death do them part. Jude then left his family, of his own free will, for Sula, who did not love him. She never pretended to love him, only went to bed with him. Jude, however, escapes the blame of the entire town, which is instead focused on Sula. Sula's ostracizing from the community has an interesting affect on the townsfolk. As they label her more and more as an evil woman, their own moral standing increases. They try to prove how bad she is by behaving in a more morally righteous way. They are kinder to each other and to their children. In this way, Sula actually betters the Bottom, whether those around her see it or not. The one time Sula does attempt to be conventional ends traumatically for her. She begins to fall for Ajax, relying on him and enjoying his visits. Instead of finding love, however, she finds rejection and heartbreak. Ajax, who was only interested in Sula because of her free spirit, finds her dull and typical when she begins to become interested and reliant on him. Sula later finds out that she didn't even know his real name, which was Albert Jacks. As Sula dies, she looks over her life, remarking that she lived it in a natural, "good" way. Unlike Nel, who has always been so worried about societal conventions and behaving in a proper, expected manner, Sula did as she pleased and accepted the consequences when necessary. She was unapologetic, but this raises the question of what "good" and "evil" are. Sula, who lived as she saw fit, has never fallen prey to the commonalities of society. Does this make her "evil"? Does this make Nel morally better than her, simply for following societal standards? As Sula dies, it's interesting that she thinks of Nel. Clearly she harbors no ill wishes toward her old friend, indicating that Sula is prone to forgiveness and not one to hold a grudge. Nel leaves Sula's house bitter and angry, once again questioning which woman was a "better" person.


4. Is Morrison using this section to question the standard assumptions of "good" and "evil"? It seems to me that she is bringing them up as grey areas, questioning which woman is truly the virtuous one.

Will the Bottom jump to another "devil woman" after Sula's passing? The inhabitants of the town were morally upright when Sula was around, using her to bolster the virtue of their actions. Will they look for another victim, or will they slack into immorality?

What is the meaning behind the collapse of the tunnel on National Suicide Day? The people did not want to die; they were behaving completely out of character, participating in a carefree, almost instinctual and animal parade. What does the large-scale death mean?