Part Two

Chapter Seven: 1937

New Characters:

John L. and Shirley: a couple Sula and Nel remember from their youth

Laura: the helper who had been living with Eva, Sula, the deweys, and Tar Baby

Mrs. Rayford: the next-door neighbor to Nel and Jude

Summary

Accompanied by a plague of robins, Sula returned to the Bottom ten years after the wedding of Nel and Jude. The people of the Bottom did nothing to rid themselves of the plague. Their attitude was that one must learn to withstand evil.

Eva reprimanded Sula for staying away for ten years and suggested that Sula had only contacted her when she needed something. The argument escalated and Sula stated that Eva put her leg under a train to collect the insurance money; Eva denied the story and reminded Sula to honor her father and mother. Sula said that her mother must not have honored her parents because her days were short; to this, Eva responded, “‘Pus mouth! God’s going to strike you!’” Sula asked if Eva were referring to the same god that had watched Eva burn her son. The argument became even more intense. Eva admitted seeing Sula watch Hannah burn. In the heat of the argument Sula threatened to burn Eva.

Eva locked herself in her room, but the lock did not prevent Sula’s inevitable destruction of the older woman. Men came with a stretcher, strapped Eva in, and took her to a home near Beechnut.

Nel looked at the return of Sula with joy. She believed that Sula had brought magic to her life. Sula and Nel discussed and laughed about past times. They laughed about how they had scrambled trying to do “it” and not to do “it” at the same time when they were young. They laughed about John L. and Shirley and how the two had tried to do “it.”

Sula told of asking Laura to leave their home—even though Laura was working without pay Sula explained to Nel that she had completed college in Nashville during part of the ten years that she was away from the Bottom. Sula said that she had Eva committed to the home because Sula feared that Eva might burn her, as she had Plum. Sula said that she had witnessed Eva torching Plum. She asked Nel to help her with cashing Eva’s checks.

Sula was still in Nel’s house when Jude returned from work. Jude told of some insults at work, but before Nel could commiserate, Sula began to explain that whites respected black men in many ways. Jude commented that he could do without respect that resulted in the loss of his privates. Jude’s thoughts were that Sula could not stimulate a man’s body but she might stimulate his mind.

In the bedroom, Nel caught Sula and Jude kissing without their clothes and on their hands and knees. Jude left with Sula. Nel was devastated—yet she could not cry. Sula had said that Hell was forever, but Nel found her Hell was change. To cope on a day-today basis, Nel found it necessary to avoid the furry, gray ball of string that was in her life.

Analysis

The setting is an integral part of “1937.” When Sula returns home to her neighborhood in the Bottom, she meets primarily the stares—not the welcomes—of the neighbors. Sula’s reaction to the hills and its residents is that she has managed not to strangle anyone yet. When Nel asks if anyone in the Bottom needs killing, Sula responds that half the town needs killing and the rest of the town is a disease. These reactions to the neighbors foreshadow events to come.

Although the chapter title—like many of the other sections of Sula—seems to suggest a chronological treatment of the material, the reader finds that the arrangement is not sequential. The conversations of Sula and Nel use flashbacks as they recall an earlier time in the same place. Morrison uses foreshadowing which hints of future events through the interpretation of the birthmark over Sula’s eye.

The birthmark begins to change its form in the eye of the beholder. There is symbolism in this mark and its interpretation by others. In the beginning of the chapter, the birthmark looks like a darker rose to Nel; the mark gets darker, in Nel’s eyes, as Sula and she age. Nel’s children see the mark as black and scary; they believe that the mark actually leaps. Their interpretation of this mark is foreshadowing of events which will change their lives and their family. Later in the chapter the mark, to Jude, takes on the shape of a copperhead—a silent symbol of danger—when Sula is quiet; when Sula begins to talk, Jude observes the mark again and notes that it resembles a rattler—a noisy symbol of danger. The change in shape of the mark seems to correspond with Sula’s behavior and with the perception that others have of her. This symbol is one that appears throughout the book and one that reflects many of the events to come.

Jude’s tie hanging over the closet door is symbolic. The tie serves as proof to Nel that Jude was once there; it is the only tangible item that Jude left. The tip of the tie pointing steadily downward is also symbolic of Jude’s impotence—his inability to succeed in work, in life, in marriage.

Morrison does not use chronological order in presenting this chapter. Nel and Sula discuss the past. With the discussion, the reader glimpses an earlier time. The writer also gives a hint of what is to come (foreshadowing) in Nel’s life by her thoughts about her thighs:

“...What good are they, Jesus? They will never give me the peace I need to get from sunup to sundown, what good are they, are you trying to tell me that I am going to have to go all the way through these days all the way, 0 my god, to that box with four handles with never nobody settling down between my legs....0 my sweet Jesus what kind of cross is that?”

Morrison uses many stylistic devices in her writing. Alliteration (the repetition of sounds) is evident when Morrison describes the robins as “flying and dying.” The dialect of the people makes for realistic reading; for instance, a little boy says, “Carry yo’ bag, ma’am?” Morrison uses symbolism to describe Nel’s feelings upon Sula’s return. Nel says that having Sula home was like getting an eye back; the implication is that Sula helped Nel to see the world in proper perspective.

The acceptance of good and evil by those in the Bottom continues in “1937.” The residents do not try to eliminate the plague of robins, the symbols of evil. The commonly accepted belief of those in the Bottom is that the purpose of evil is to help one to survive. Those in the hills of Medallion accept the plague of robins, just as they have accepted many misfortunes in the past.

The birds of Medallion symbolize death, as well as evil. The “plague of robins” which accompanies Sula into town also is a foreshadowing of the plague of deaths that will come later in the book. The four robins on the walk into Eva’s home symbolize the deaths of the residents of the house: Plum, Sula, Hannah, and Eva.

Sula affects many of the residents upon her return. The following statement foreshadows Sula’s influence: “...a relatively trivial phenomenon could become sovereign and bend their minds to its will.” They seemingly accept Sula and her return as they do other things in their life.

Morrison employs imagery in her depiction of the tryst between Sula and Jude:

“...But they had been down on all fours naked, not touching their lips right down there on the floor where the tie is pointing to, on all fours like (uh huh, go on, say it) like dogs. Nibbling at each other, not even touching, not even looking at each other, just their lips, and when I opened the door they didn’t even look for a minute....”

To reveal the characters more fully to the reader, Morrison uses a variety of techniques. She goes into the minds of certain characters and reveals to the reader what they are thinking. After Jude comes in from work and talks with Sula and Nel in the kitchen, Morrison tells the reader that Jude is thinking that Sula could stir a man’s mind, but not his body. The reader also knows the depths of Nel’s despair when Morrison reveals Nel’s thoughts about Jude’s departure. The actions of the characters (for example, Jude’s and Sula’s encounter on the floor), Jude’s departure, Nel’s inability to speak, and Jude’s quick speech (for instance, “I’ll be back to get my things.”), reveal the characters in depth to the reader. Through contrasts, Morrison explores the differences in the beliefs of Sula and Nel: Sula says that the real Hell is forever and Nel says that Hell is change. The humor that Nel and Sula share on Sula’s return tells the reader about the two characters and also provides a flashback of an earlier time.

The reader finds that Sula remains an unpredictable character. Nel seems to have met the Hell that she has dreaded: change. Sula seems to have avoided, for the time being, the Hell that she has dreaded: sameness. The reader received a hint that Sula would find comfort in many men; just as her mother took many different men into the pantry many years before with Sula looking on, Sula a finds that many different men are important to her and to her avoidance of sameness.

It is significant that this chapter is the only chapter in the book which contains humor. The recollections of Sula and Nel, their comments on the memories, and their laughter bring some fun into a work which one can only construe as a tragedy.

The reader watches while the tight web of love about Nel’s heart unravels along with her life when Jude leaves. To enable the reader to experience Nel’s pain, Morrison shifts the narrative voice to first-person to reflect Nel’s inner thoughts.

Morrison tempts the reader to read further with an open-ended chapter. There are many unanswered questions. The reader does not know if Jude will return, what will happen to Sula, and if Nel will survive her loss.

Study Questions

How long did it take for Sula to return to the Bottom after Nel’s wedding?
What plague accompanied Sula?
Why did the people of the Bottom do nothing to rid themselves of the plague?
How did Sula get Eva out of the house?
What did Sula tell Nel that she had witnessed with Eva?
How did Nel feel about the return of Sula?
Why was Nel surprised that Sula had asked Laura to leave?
Where had Sula attended college?
Why did Sula tell Nel she had moved Eva into the home?
With whom did Jude leave?

Answers

It took Sula ten years to return to the Bottom after Nel’s wedding.
A plague of robins accompanied Sula into the Bottom.
The people of the Bottom did nothing to rid themselves of the plague because they believed that they had to learn to live with evil.
Sula got Eva out of the house by signing the papers and having the men come with their stretcher to transport Eva to Beechnut.
Sula told Nel that she had witnessed Eva burning Plum.
Nel greeted the return of Sula with joy and gladness.
Nel was surprised that Sula had asked Laura to leave because Laura was receiving no pay for her work.
Sula had attended college in Nashville.
Sula told Nel she had moved Eva into the home because she was afraid that Eva would burn her as Eva had burned Plum.
Jude left with Sula.

Chapter Eight: 1939

New Characters:

Teapot: five-year-old son of Betty

Betty: often called Teapot’s Mama because mothering was her major failure in life; reforms and becomes a good mother for a while; relapses

Mr. Finley: was sucking on a chicken bone when he saw Sula and choked

Dessie: Big Daughter Elk; saw Shadrack tip his imaginary hat to Sula and developed a sty on her eye afterward

Ivy and Cora: Dessie’s friends

Ajax’s mother: the only thing Ajax had ever loved besides airplanes

Summary

The people of the Bottom talked about Sula. They were angry with her for taking Eva to Sunnydale and for leaving with Jude. Sula a soon ditched Jude and he went to Detroit. Sula returned to the Bottom. Residents of the Bottom forgot their own easy ways and called Sula a bitch.

The people of the Bottom had the same venom toward integration as the white people. The men in the Bottom gave Sula the final label—the label which would remain with her for life; the conclusive fingerprint, the black men of the Bottom said, was that Sula would sleep with white men. There was nothing filthier in the eyes of the blacks than this integration. The people of the Bottom insisted that any union between a white man and a black woman was rape. For a black woman to agree to such a union was unthinkable.

The rumor may not have been true, but it could have been. After this label, the women pursed their lips, the children looked away with shame, and the young men fantasized torture for Sula whenever she came in sight.

The people did not try to harm her. They merely looked at evil and let it exist. They did sprinkle salt on their steps and lay broomsticks across their doors at night. They watched her carefully and things began to happen.

First, Teapot, the five-year-old of a negligent mother named Betty, came to ask for bottles from Sula. He slipped and fell. Betty was coming home drunk and saw Teapot on the ground. She told everyone that Sula pushed Teapot. Betty took Teapot to the county hospital. For two dollars she found out that Teapot had a fracture resulting in part from his soft bones, a result of inadequate nutrition. Betty became a devoted mother. She became clean and sober. She began to prepare breakfast instead of sending Teapot to get a breakfast of candy and pop.

Second, Mr. Finley was on his porch sucking on a chicken bone when Sula passed by. He looked at her, choked, and died.

Sula continued to antagonize the people of the Bottom. She came to church suppers with no underwear and did not praise the food the people prepared. Sula used the husbands. She took the men once and then cast them aside; her rejection disturbed the wives. The wives had to comfort their husbands and to justify their own choice of their husbands to themselves and others.

Sula did not look her age. She was near 30 and yet she had lost no teeth. She had no ring of fat at her waist and no bruises on her body. The rumor was that she had had no childhood disease. She had no scar on her body except for a deformed finger and a birthmark. The men reported that no gnats or mosquitoes came near Sula in the summer. When the people of the Bottom looked at the mark over Sula’s eye, they decided the mark looked like Hannah’s ashes.

The people of the Bottom had other rumors to report about Sula. Patsy reported that even when Sula drank beer she did not burp. Dessie saw Shadrack tip his imaginary hat to Sula and afterward Dessie developed a sty for the first time in her life. Dessie identified Sula as the source of her misfortune.

The people of the Bottom, as a result of Sula, began to protect and love each other again. They repaired their homes against the devil and loved each other against the evil one. They did not try to kill or destroy the devil, however. They considered such actions both unnatural and undignified things to do. They believed that they had to be provoked to kill on impulse; otherwise evil was, to the people of the Bottom, something they had to recognize, deal with, survive, outwit, and triumph over in their time.

The evidence against Sula was contrived evidence. The conclusions that the people of the Bottom drew about Sula were not, however, wrong. Sula was different. She felt no obligation to please anyone unless their pleasure pleased her. She was as willing to feel pain as to give pain. She had lived an experimental life because she heard the remark from her mother. She had felt responsibility once when Chicken Little drowned, but Nel had exorcised this responsibility from her. Sula could not, therefore, count on others or herself. Sula had Eva’s arrogance and Hannah’s self-centeredness.

Sula had not meant to hurt Nel. The two had always shared the affection of others. In the past they had discussed other women and men. They had figured wives did not want their husbands to be unfaithful simply because the wives feared they might lose their job as wives.

Sula was not materialistic, but Nel seemed to want everything. She was like others who climbed the ladder.

As a result of Sula’s travels to Nashville, Detroit, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, Macon, and San Diego, she had found that all people were the same. They shared only worry with her; they taught her only love tricks; they gave her only money. She wanted a friend. A lover could not fulfill her needs. She was like an artist with no art form; she was dangerous.

Sula lied only once: to Nel about the reason for putting Eva out. To Sula, social conversation was impossible because she could not lie.

Sula was pariah, Morrison says. She liked sex as a comedy and liked to think sex was wicked, not ugly. She rejected those who thought sex was healthy and beautiful. Sula could participate in the act, however, even when she was not thinking the act was wicked. She felt strength and power when she was under someone. Sula went to bed with men to find the misery and deep sorrow she desired. She found loneliness and the death of time. The loneliness she experienced assumed an absence of people; in her solitude she never admitted there could be people. The overt action she employed was to weep. Her partner assumed that he had brought her to tears; she, however, waited for him to turn away so she could meet herself.

When Sula was 29, she heard a step and saw the beautiful black face of Ajax. He had watched her years ago when she was 12, and he was 21. He had at last come to her door with two quarts of milk. Sula stated that she did not drink milk, but Ajax reminded her that the bottle itself was beautiful. Ajax presented her with the bottle after drinking some of the contents, discarding the rest, and rinsing the bottle. Sula went into the pantry with him.

From that time, Ajax came regularly to visit Sula. He brought gifts: berries, fried fish, ice, cleanser, and other small trophies. Ajax was nice to women. The side he presented to women was quite different from the side others often saw: he yelled filthy remarks, he shot at Mr. Finley for beating his own dog, and he lounged in the pool hall. Ajax’s attitude toward women was a habit he had from dealing with his mother—the only interesting woman he had ever really met.

Ajax’s mother was an evil conjure woman. Her seven children brought her what she needed for her hexes and potions. Ajax’s mother made a modest living through her work. She could have been a beautiful woman if she had not lost her teeth and if she had straightened her back. She gave her sons freedom and knowledge. Ajax loved only two things: his mother and airplanes.

Sula experienced pleasure from Ajax. They could carry on good conversations together. He expected brilliance from Sula, and she complied.

Sula maintained her interest in Ajax for several reasons. He was comfortable in her presence. He willingly told her about plants and “fixes.” He was unwilling to coddle her. He was generous and only occasionally resorted to vengeance.

Sula did not perhaps feel love for Ajax, but she did feel desire for him. This was a new feeling for her. She recognized her feeling toward Ajax when she wondered if he would stop by her home, when she wondered how she looked, and when she tied a ribbon in her hair, cleaned the house, and set the table for two.

When Ajax came to her, he told her that Tar Baby had stumbled drunk into traffic. The mayor’s niece had swerved to miss him and had hit another car. The police arrested Tar Baby. Ajax and two other men went to see Tar Baby. They found him beaten, lying in a corner, and wearing only soiled underclothes. When the three men asked why Tar Baby was in such a state, angry words flew The result was that the three black men had a civil court date on Thursday next.

Sula invited Ajax to her bathroom, and he began to feel regret. He left her so completely alone that she found it difficult to believe that he was ever there. The only proof came from his driver’s license, tucked away in a drawer. She remembered his many layers as she read the statistics on the license and learned his real name, Albert Jacks, for the first time

Analysis

The theme of identity runs throughout the chapter—and throughout Sula. Betty has no identity of her own at the beginning of the chapter. The reader learns that even though her name is Betty, she is known primarily as Teapot’s mother. Through her brief encounter with Sula, Betty begins to assume her own identity; she tells the community about Sula and the community listens to her. She begins to assume her responsibilities as a mother to Teapot. Betty is, therefore, a dynamic, or changing, character in this chapter.

Morrison uses several stylistic devices to enhance her writing in “1939.” For example, Morrison uses a simile when she says that Sula is “like any artist with no art form.” Morrison makes use of comparisons and contrasts when she writes that “the narrower a woman’s life, the wider her hips.” The chapter also contrasts Sula with the other residents of the Bottom. Morrison uses a metaphor when she writes, “She [Sula] was pariah...” Morrison uses personification when she describes the absence of Ajax as “giving” color and “stinging everything.” Diction is also evident when Sula a remembers the words that Ajax used: “pig meat,” “brown sugar,” “jailbait,” and “Do, Lord, remember me.”

Morrison uses symbolism with the bottles of milk. Sula remarks that she does not drink milk—the contents of the bottles. She is actually rejecting a deep, rich, meaningful, complete relationship with another person. Ajax reminds her that the physical container is beautiful also. He is saying that even if one does not pursue a complete relationship, the physical relationship can be a beautiful thing by itself. Ajax drinks some of the milk to show the safety of it. He discards some of it to show that a complete relationship is not a requirement with him. He presents her with the container—the outside trappings of a relationship. Sula accepts the physical portion of the relationship and draws him into the pantry as she saw her mother draw men into the same pantry in the past.

In the earlier chapter, “1921,” Sula learns that sex is pleasant, frequent, and otherwise unremarkable. This foreshadowing is complete in Sula’s experiences with many men. Sula begins in this chapter to find a change in her life: she begins to feel a possessiveness toward Ajax. She had previously scorned Nel’s possessiveness of Jude.

The reader meets Ajax’s mother through the narrator’s voice. The narrator tells the reader that Ajax’s mother is an “evil conjure” woman. This lack of objectivity on the part of the narrator affects the reader’s opinion toward the character. Perhaps Morrison’s writing about Ajax’s mother and her work reflects Morrison’s own knowledge of superstition.

The narrator is able to go into the mind of Sula and Ajax. Readers know Ajax’s and Sula’s thoughts. Limited omniscience helps develop fully certain characters and makes other characters remain flat to the reader.

The previous chapter suggested that Sula liked to have a man above her and described the sad feelings she had during their physical relationship. In this chapter, however, the reader finds that Sula lies above Ajax on the bed and finds joy—not sadness—in their relationship. There is symbolism in the fact that with other men, Sula assumes a position beneath, but with Ajax she assumes a superior position. In the inferior position she is moved to tears; in the superior position, she finds happiness. It is when Ajax decides to leave that he assumes the superior position and she the inferior one.

The reader knows Sula will be sad again when the act is complete. The reader senses that Ajax no longer respects Sula as an individual and an equal. He will not be a possession. Ajax is beginning to treat Sula in a different way. She is an object, perhaps as disposable as the milk bottles Ajax brought to her on his first visit.

Morrison uses limited omniscience. She allows the reader to know the thoughts of some of her characters. Sula, for instance, describes the man, Ajax, and his many valuable layers: gold leaf, alabaster, loam. Her thoughts of layers seem to indicate that as she digs deeper and finds out more about Ajax, he becomes even more valuable to her. There is more to him than just what meets the eye.

Morrison has her characters speak indirectly at times. They do not always say exactly what they mean (denotation) but instead use connotation when they speak. For instance, when Ajax leaves, Sula finds his license and discovers his real name. She remarks:

“... I didn’t even know his name. And if I didn’t know his name, then there is nothing I did know and I have known nothing ever at all since the one thing I wanted was to know his name so how could he help but leave me since he was making love to a woman who didn’t even know his name.”

The reader begins to see another reflection of the background of Morrison in this chapter. When the neighborhood begins to associate Sula with evil, they respond by warding off her evil by placing broomsticks in their doorways and sprinkling salt on the steps into their homes. This superstition relates to the dream books and other superstitious beliefs of Morrison’s childhood. The community in effect, unites against evil. They are taking action—which is new for them. They temporarily change in reaction to Sula.

As with many of her earlier chapters, Morrison continues to use an open ending. One must read the entire novel to find the answers to the many questions raised in the sections. Sula, then, is non-episodic. Rather, it is a suspenseful novel which requires one to continue to read.

Study Questions

What does it mean when Ajax had the conviction that Sula would very soon “like all of her sisters before her, put to him the death-knell question ‘Where have you been?’”
Why was Betty angry with Sula?
What was Betty’s child’s name?
What had Dessie seen that upset her?
What was Ajax’s real name?
At his arrest, what were the charges against Tar Baby?
Why did Ajax leave Sula?
What did Mr. Finley do that angered Ajax?
What was the first gift that Ajax brought Sula?
What item did Sula find which helped her to know that Ajax was not a dream?

Answers

Ajax had the conviction that Sula would very soon “like all of her sisters before her, put to him the death-knell question ‘Where have you been?”’ This meant that Sula would soon try to control or possess Ajax.
Betty was angry with Sula because she believed Sula pushed her son.
Betty’s child’s name was Teapot.
Dessie was upset because she saw Shadrack tip his imaginary hat to Sula.
Ajax’s real name was Albert Jacks.
The charges against Tar Baby at his arrest were those of drunkenness.
Ajax left Sula because he thought she would become bossy and try to control him.
Mr. Finley angered Ajax by beating his own dog.
The first gift that Ajax brought Sula was two bottles of milk.
The item that Sula found that helped her to know that Ajax was not a dream was Ajax’s driver’s license.

Chapter Nine: 1940

New Character:

Nathan: the school-age child who checks on Sula and who runs errands for her periodically; discovers her lifeless body.

Summary

After three years, Nel was at last going to meet with Sula face-to-face. She would say that she had heard Sula was sick and would ask if there was anything she could do for her. She practiced her words and would try to insert no inflection into the statements. Yet there would be resentment and shame in her heart when she spoke. She thought of the black rose that Jude had kissed and of her own almost selfish love of her children. For these children Nel had cleaned houses and worked as a chambermaid in the same hotel where Jude had once worked.

At 7 Carpenter’s Road, Nel saw Sula’s rose, her thin arms, and the bedroom window through which Eva had jumped. Sula asked Nel to pick up a prescription for her as if no time had passed since they last spoke.

The medicine that Sula asked Nel to have filled was a powerful pain-relieving drug. Sula had instructions not to use the medication until the pain was unbearable. Sula gave Nel no money to pay for the medicine; in fact, Nel noticed that the purse holding the prescription was empty except for a watch.

In her errand, Nel walked the street that she and Sula walked years before. She passed the place where she first heard words from Ajax. Sula, meanwhile, wondered why Nel had come.

Upon Nel’s return they first discussed Sula’s staying alone and working. Sula remarked that work was good for Nel but that she herself would not work. Nel remarked that Sula never had to work.

Nel said she could not act like a man. Sula retorted that she was “a woman and colored” and asked if that was not the same as being a man. Nel told Sula that Sula would not think that being a woman and colored was the same as being a man if she had children. Sula remarked that if she had children she really would be like a man; every man she had ever known had left his children.

Nel chastised Sula for knowing everything and for not knowing what Nel had gone through. In response, Sula said that she knew what every colored woman was doing: dying, the same as she was. Sula said, however, that there was a difference: She was like a redwood while other women were like stumps. She likened herself to a redwood because of what was going on in her mind and because of the life that she had lived. Sula concluded by saying that she had herself.

Nel flippantly remarked that it must be lonely for Sula with just herself. Sula said that it was, but that she was responsible for her loneliness; Nel, on the other hand, blamed someone else for her loneliness. Sula called Nel’s feelings a secondhand kind of loneliness. Even though Nel did not know the physical condition of Sula, she decided to go ahead and tell “the truth.” Nel said she was at last able to understand why Sula had been unable to keep a man, but she always knew how she could take a man.

When Sula asked what was she supposed to do (keep a man), Nel responded that men were worth keeping. Sula retorted that men were not worth more than she herself was. Nel said that Sula thought she owned the world and the rest of the people just rented. Nel went on to say that she had not come for “this kind of talk,” but had come to see about Sula; because Sula had opened things up, however, Nel asked why she had done it.

Sula responded that Jude had merely filled a space. Nel, horrified, asked if Sula had taken Jude without even loving him and why Sula had done that to her. Sula, matter-of-factly, said loving someone was like being mean to someone: risky. Sula said she had not taken Jude away; she had merely had intercourse with him. Sula said that if Nel had really loved her as a true friend, Nel would have forgiven her.

Nel reminded Sula that she was in a bed without a friend or any money and she was expecting others to love her. Sula predicted that in time others would love her. Sula said that at some time in the future there would be love left over for her, and she knew what it would feel like.

When Nel was preparing to leave, she warned Sula that she may not return. Sula left her with a parting question: how did Nel know that she was the good one?

Nel walked away and thought of the deweys who were living anywhere, of Tar Baby who was still drinking, of Eva in Sunnydale, and of Sula with no money, a boarded-up window, and an empty pocketbook.

Sula knew that Nel would walk on in the old coat, with her back straight, and never remember the days of “two throats and one eye.” She recalled seeing Hannah burn but remembered that she was thrilled to see her mother dance. Sula experienced wires, throbs, and explosions of pain before she died, alone as she had always wanted to be.

In Sula’s near-death condition she strives to reach the rain, or the water, at the end of the tunnel. She imagines the water will envelop her, carry her, and wash her always. She tries to recall the one who had said the word “always” to her in an earlier time and place.

Sula’s last thoughts were that death had not hurt, and she could not wait to tell that to Nel.

Analysis

The setting for the chapter has not changed from any of the chapters before it. The Bottom remains an integral part of “1940.” The Peace home is the place where Sula and Nel meet for the last time.

Morrison allows the reader to enter the minds of both Sula and Nel in this chapter. Both think of earlier, happier times, as well as the time that Nel initially sees as one of betrayal.

Sula regrets that Nel will not think back on the times when they “were two throats and one eye.” This metaphoric expression is symbolic of the times when they had talked with one another and had seen things alike, or with one eye.

Diction between the two women and former friends is an important part of the chapter. In fact, the chapter “1940” contains more conversation than any other section of the book to this point. The realistic diction of Nel and Sula includes such phrases as, “Hey, girl” and “How come you did it, Sula?” The two throats (Sula and Nel) again express their true feelings, but they do not view things in the same way (with one eye) as they once did.

Morrison uses other expressions to make the feelings and settings real to the reader. For instance, she uses a metaphor (“wires of liquid pain”) to describe the pain that Sula feels. Morrison uses personification when she tells the reader that Sula’s pain “was joined by fatigue.” Sula uses an effective simile when she likens herself to a redwood and the other women to stumps.

Several important themes emerge in “1940”; one of these is love. Nel blames Sula for taking Jude away from her and for making her focus all her love on her children. She refers to this love as a “cumbersome bear-love” which “would suck their breath away in its crying need for honey.” This description helps the reader to imagine the loss that Nel has endured and the intensity of the emotion and affection that Nel now focuses on her offspring. Nel’s identity is not as complete as it was after New Orleans; Nel defines herself through others.

Nel and Sula discuss their concepts of love in their last conversation. Nel is curious as to how Sula could have left with her husband if Sula really loved her. Sula also believes that Nel should have forgiven if she truly loved her friend and husband. Sula said that love is “risky.” Nel asks Sula how she can expect others to love her with her actions. Sula replies that others will love her after all. After she is gone, they will love her. Sula even says she knows how this love will feel.

The theme of change is a second theme in this chapter. This theme has occurred frequently in other chapters throughout the book. Morrison, through the narrator, observes that nothing is ever different. Sula mourns that the sun is the same one she has always observed, her smell is the same, and her hair follicles are unchanged; in an earlier conversation with Nel, Sula has remarked that Hell would be sameness. It appears that Sula is now condemned to sameness from her sickbed. Nel, however, is experiencing much change—Nel’s idea of Hell.

Loneliness is a third important theme. Sula says that Nel’s “lonely” is somebody else’s “lonely”; in other words, Nel has not taken charge of her life. She has allowed someone else (her husband, her children, Sula) to control her feelings. Sula, on the other hand, has had control of her life. She is alone, but she is alone chiefly by her own doing—not by anyone else’s actions. This explanation reminds the reader of Sula’s not allowing anyone else to determine her feelings toward herself. Morrison professes also to control how she feels about herself.

The fourth important theme in this chapter, in Sula, and in many works of Morrison is that of innocence. When the two former friends are speaking of why Sula used Jude, Sula seems neither to show regret nor to acknowledge wrong-doing. Nel thinks that talking to Sula about right and wrong is like talking to the deweys; this analogy indicates that both Sula and the deweys (who never grew up and remained children in mind, body, and spirit) maybe innocent. Nel still blames Sula; she does not tell Sula that it is not Sula’s fault as she did by the river when Sula accidentally drowned Chicken Little. Sula asks Nel at the end of their visit how Nel can know who is good. Sula says that maybe it is she herself—not Nel—who has been good; perhaps Sula is innocent and not accountable. Even though Sula is facing death, she still seems satisfied that she has lived her own life and that perhaps her way has been good.

The reader finds out even more about Sula—and Nel—through their conversations with each other, through their reactions to and actions with each other, and through their thoughts. Morrison continues to reveal her characters in a variety of ways and, in doing so, makes them real. For instance, Nel’s posture (back straight), Nel’s harsh words to Sula, Nel’s thoughts as she goes for the medication, and Sula’s reactions and words to Nel reveal more about Nel—and Sula.

The symbolism of the rose is again prominent in Morrison’s writing. This time the rose is black. In prior chapters the rose has been a stemmed rose, a copperhead, a rattlesnake, and Hannah’s ashes. The black rose symbolizes a rose that is dying. It is no longer vibrant like a stemmed rose or alive like a copperhead or rattlesnake. The black rose is at the end of its journey; the dark, black color is a symbol of death.

There is symbolism in Nel’s name. The reader begins to wonder if Nel Wright is truly right. Sin and evil, in this chapter, seem to be actions committed against what one believes is right for one’s own self. Sin and evil do not necessarily relate to actions typical of a particular religion. Sula is adamant about acting in the way that is best for her; Nel, on the other hand, has allowed others to control her life.

The reader, however, begins to wonder if Sula has really always chosen her own actions. She patterned her sex life after that of her mother. She felt pain as a child when she overheard her mother’s comments about her; perhaps the careless death of Chicken Little was actually a result of her preoccupation with her mother’s words. She felt concern about the loss of Ajax—much as Nel had with the loss of Jude earlier in the book.

Blue glass is a part of the house on 7 Carpenter’s Road. Morrison used blue glass earlier in her writing when she described the blue glass of the milk bottles that Ajax brings when he visits Sula for the first time. The glass milk bottles symbolized a superficial relationship. The blue glass in the house on 7 Carpenter’s Road also symbolizes the now superficial relationship existing between Sula and Nel. The mention of the blue glass is a foreshadowing of what is to come during Nel and Sula’s last visit.

In “1940,” Morrison makes good use of flashback and foreshadowing. On her way to get the prescription for Sula, Nel remembers where Sula and she first heard Ajax’s estimation of them. Both Nel and Sula remember the past and talk about it in their last encounter. The use of flashback brings nostalgia to both of them for what once was. Sula remembers the time that they dug the graves with the sticks—just before the death of Chicken Little. This flashback foreshadows another grave—that belonging to Sula.

Further foreshadowing is evident when Sula can hardly wait to tell Nel that death is painless; this is a hint—a foreshadowing—that there will be a later reunion between the two.

Morrison again employs foreshadowing when she allows the reader to enter the mind of Sula in her near-death condition. Just as Eva remarks that Plum was trying to enter her womb again, Sula, too, seems to be trying to move through a tunnel to find the water, amniotic fluid, or refuge to protect and envelop her always. Morrison implies that safety and peace could be within the mother’s body, but that another refuge “at the end of the tunnel” might also exist.

Morrison’s writing style in “1940” helps the reader experience Sula’s death. Morrison reveals Sula’s feelings, her smells, and her thoughts in this graphic picture. Metaphors (placed in bold) and personification (placed in italics) abound in her description. For example:

“...she woke gagging and overwhelmed with the smell of smoke.

Pain took hold. Once the wires of liquid pain were in place, they jelled and began to throb. She tried concentrating on the throbs, identifying them as waves, hammer strokes, razor edges or small explosions...it was joined by fatigue...”

The reader has a sense of satisfaction at the end of the chapter to find that the experience of dying has actually not hurt, that Sula dies smiling, and that she plans to tell Nel in the future about her encounter with death. The reader must continue reading to find out who finds Sula’s body, what Nel’s reaction will be, and what will become of Medallion and the people there.

Study Questions

How long had it been since Nel had last seen Sula when the chapter “1940” begins?
Where did Nel find the money to care for her family?
At what address did Sula live?
What did Sula ask Nel to buy for her?
What two things did Nel find in Sula’s purse?
How did Nel feel about work?
How did Sula feel about work?
How did Sula say being mean to someone and loving someone were alike?
How did Sula say people would eventually feel about her?
What news did Sula want to share with Nel at the end of ”1940”?

Answers

When the chapter “1940” begins, it had been three years since Nel had talked with Sula.
Nel found the money to care for her family by cleaning for others.
Sula lived at 7 Carpenter’s Road.
Sula asked Nel to buy a prescription for her.
Nel found a watch and a prescription in Sula’s purse.
Nel felt work did not hurt one.
Sula said she never would work.
Sula said being mean to someone and loving someone were alike because both were risky.
Sula said people would eventually love her.
Sula wanted to share with Nel the news that death did not hurt.

Chapter Ten: 1941

New Characters:

Mr. Hodges: man who hires Shadrack to rake leaves; Shadrack becomes aware of Sula’s death when he sees her on a table at Hodges’ home

L.P, Paul Freeman and his brother Jake, Mrs. Scott’s twins: examples of the beautiful boys of 1921

Summary

The “best news” that the Bottom had had since the tunnel work was the death of Sula. Some came to the funeral to see a witch buried; others came to observe the burial of Sula. Some came to see that nothing inappropriate happened at the funeral; these people wanted to make sure that a gentleness of spirit abided at the last rites. Because Sula was dead or after Sula was dead, most believed a brighter future lay ahead. The two signs of this new day were the announcement of the tunnel to connect with the River Road and the construction of a new home for the aged.

Both signs brought hope to the Bottom. The blacks felt that they may have a chance for employment to help construct the tunnel. It was true the River Road was the result of only white labor, but the government seemed to view favorably the hiring of black workers.

The construction—actually renovation—of the old people’s home was good news to the Bottom because black people could reside there. Many viewed the transfer of Eva from a dark, dismal place to the shiny, new facility as the working of God.

Cold weather came to Medallion and the Bottom. The residents of the hills suffered in their poorly insulated homes and shabby clothes. Work was at a standstill, and they could purchase few things. Thanksgiving brought tough poultry, stringy potatoes, and disease for the young and old.

Worse still, the violence and death that Shadrack feared seemed upon them. The violence began when Betty beat Teapot for the worst insult a child can give its mother: refusing the food she offers. In this case, Teapot refused the oleomargarine his mother had failed to mix with the yellow powder before spreading his bread and adding the sugar. Mothers who had once had to defend their roles from Sula’s scorn and their children from Sula’s rumored harm now had no cause to protect their offspring. Daughters who had cared for their mothers because of Sula’s poor example now again felt resentment toward their elders. Wives no longer coddled their mates and Negroes from Canada began again to claim superiority over those born in the South.

Hunger, disease, and cold weather increased the bad temper in the Bottom. Even the fact that four black men received interviews for employment at the tunnel site did not relieve this mean-spiritedness. Hope seemed imminent, however. On January 1 the temperature rose to 61 degrees. On January 2 one could see some patches of grass in the pastures. On January 3 Shadrack brought his bell and his rope and recited his annual request.

Shadrack had changed. He drank less frequently, but his stupors were deeper. He had improved. In fact, as he improved, he even began to feel the emotion of loneliness. His habits of cleanliness, learned in the military, deteriorated. A bird flew into his shack and stayed for an hour before it flew out again. Shadrack grieved for the bird.

Shadrack focused on the purple-and-white belt left by a young girl many years before. He remembered the visit from this girl and his word of “always” to her. He meant this word as a reassurance to her about death and a promise of permanency for her even after death.

Shadrack saw Sula on a table in Mr. Hodges’ home. He learned his visitor, his guest, his friend had died. For the first time since his return from France, he did not want to celebrate National Suicide Day.

The next morning, however, he began his ritual walk down Carpenter’s Road with very little enthusiasm. For the first time his walk met with laughter. Dessie started the laughter. Ivy picked up the derision. Soon all the people standing on the road to watch the march were laughing. Dessie fell in line behind him first; others joined the parade. The parade seemed to give them hope and allowed them to forget their anxiety for a moment.

Helene Wright viewed the parade with her typical scorn. Some who understood the Spirit refused to join the parade. Some of those who joined the parade began to drop out when they approached the white section of town. The majority however, continued their trek down Main Street, past Woolworth’s, and by the old poultry house. The marchers turned right and approached the New River Road.

At the tunnel the marchers became quiet. The promise, they realized, had been dead since 1927. The parade attacked the tunnel they were unable to help construct. They even entered the tunnel in their frenzy. When the cave-in came, many were crushed; others drowned in the rush of water.

Shadrack stood and rang his bell; he had forgotten his song and his rope.

Analysis

The theme running throughout “1941” is the survival of the unfittest. Shadrack is a survivor in the chapter. Although less fit mentally than many other inhabitants of Medallion because of his injuries on the battlefield in France, Shadrack manages to withstand the social, physical, and emotional trauma about him and continue his life. Many of the other residents are not so fortunate. Morrison has hinted of their deaths in previous chapters.

Morrison describes the death of these residents of Medallion during the collapse of the tunnel. Shadrack has led them to the site of the tunnel and the eventual cave-in. The crowd has become a mob and has taken action into their own hands. They attempt to destroy the “leaf-dead promise” of the tunnel. The reader finds that:

“All the while Shadrack stood there. Having forgotten his song and his rope, he just stood there high up on the bank, ringing, ringing his bell.”

Morrison uses foreshadowing when she says that those who attended the funeral of Sula were unaware of the “bleak promise” of the song “Shall We Gather at the River.” It is fitting that Sula’s funeral song contains a reference to water because in her near-death state Sula has a vision of water. The water that has symbolized death at several points in the book and that has taken the life of Chicken Little now takes the lives of many of the residents of the Bottom when the tunnel collapses.

The reader finally receives an explanation of one of the questions which has gone unanswered throughout the book. Shadrack used the word “Always” with Sula so she would not be afraid of the death which will come and so she would know that there will be permanency for her. The word always and the vision that Shadrack had of her skull foreshadow Sula’s death.

Mrs. Jackson, who has craved ice throughout the book, meets with an open mouth the ice inside the tunnel. Her open mouth is symbolic of her welcoming death.

Morrison’s descriptive language gives the reader a clear picture of the setting. For example, Morrison says that the town turned silver, to describe the rain that fell and froze. Morrison employs alliteration (in this case the letter s); “...sprinkled stove ashes, like ancient onyx, onto the new-minted silver.” Similes add to the description in the chapter; for example, she describes the sun looking “like a worn doubloon...” and she writes that “Christmas ...haggled everybody’s nerves like a dull ax....” Personification helps to complete the image: “Grass stood blade by blade, shocked into separateness...” Morrison makes a reference to a real-life event immortalized in a poem by Robert Browning (“The Pied Piper of Hamelin”) when she describes the parade forming behind Shadrack as being a “pied piper’s band.” This use of allusion, or connotation, helps to describe effectively the sight on Carpenter’s Road.

The mark above Sula’s eye takes on a new shape to Shadrack. To him, the birthmark is a tadpole, his favorite fish. (It is significant that the tadpole is called a fish, associated with water; in reality the tadpole becomes a frog, which is at home on the land and in the water.) Again, the reader sees that those about Sula place on her birthmark their own interpretation of the mark—as well as their interpretation of her identity.

Most of the inhabitants of the Bottom have shown themselves to be capable of only two things: judging Sula and responding to her behavior. This pattern culminates in the final Suicide Day parade. Without Sula as a common enemy against which to unite, the inhabitants of the Bottom return to their petty, insulated lives until Shadrack gives them something to band together for. The inhabitants, like sheep, go off to meet their deaths. This “punishment” is reminiscent of Dante’s Inferno.

Another prominent symbol in the story is the bird. Birds are symbols of death—especially a bird in the house. The swarming of birds to Medallion when Sula returns after her ten-year absence foreshadows, or warns, the reader of an unpleasant happening or great tragedy to come when many will die. The bird in Shadrack’s house also symbolizes the death of Sula, who has been of great importance in Shadrack’s life. Shadrack has even kept her belt—a symbol of his visit from her, his company of years past, his social life, his friend.

The tunnel is an important symbol to the people of the Bottom. It symbolizes their worth, their permanence, their fitness, their link to others, and—if they gain employment—camaraderie. When the Bottom residents realize they will not get to participate in the construction, they attack the tunnel, the symbol of their unworthiness to others. Their death in attacking the symbol indicates the futility of their actions. It is ironic that all the deaths from the collapse of the tunnel occur on National Suicide Day.

Shadrack sees Sula on a table in Mr. Hodges’ home. Now Shadrack, too, knows of Sula’s death. The view of the body on the table upsets Shadrack. The knowledge of her death changes things for him.

The reader is finding in “1941” that Shadrack is not remaining an unchanging, static character any longer; he is becoming a dynamic, changing character.

Loneliness is a theme in “1941.” This time, however, loneliness is a positive emotion that Shadrack is well enough to experience.

Ironically the only link between two inhabitants in the Bottom which remains secure throughout the novel is the friendship between Nel and Sula. The theme of friendship prevails through several decades. It is more lasting than erotic love. Its value to the emotional health of the characters is evident.

It is significant that Helene Wright does not follow Shadrack. She is right in her reaction to the situation, as one would expect someone with the name of Wright (right) to be.

At the end of “1940,” there are some unresolved conflicts. The reader must go to the last chapter, “1965,” to determine the outcome of Medallion and what is going to happen to Nel. Again, the chapter is an open-ended—not a closed—one.

Study Questions

What was Sula’s last name?
What was the hymn sung at Sula’s funeral?
What were the two things under construction?
What did Shadrack see in the birthmark above Sula’s eye?
What did the purple-and-white belt symbolize for Shadrack?
How did Shadrack find out that Sula was dead?
Who was the first person to die at the tunnel?
How did most of the people react to Shadrack on this National Suicide Day?
How did the people begin to treat each other after the death of Sula?
How does the reader know that Shadrack was improving?

Answers

Sula’s last name was Peace.
The hymn sung at Sula’s funeral was “Shall We Gather at the River.”
The tunnel and the home for the aged were the two things under construction.
Shadrack saw a tadpole in the birthmark above Sula’s eye.
The purple-and-white belt symbolized a guest, a daughter, a woman, and a social life for Shadrack.
Shadrack found out that Sula was dead when he saw her on a table at Mr. Hodges’ home.
The first person to die at the tunnel was Dessie.
Most of the people laughed at Shadrack on this National Suicide Day.
The people begin to treat each other with no respect after the death of Sula.
The reader knows that Shadrack was improving because he felt loneliness.

Chapter Eleven: 1965

Summary

Things seemed better in 1965. The colored people were beginning to find work in the stores; one was even teaching in the local school.

Nel remarked that many things were better in the past. The young men of the day reminded Nel of the deweys. It was becoming more difficult for Nel to recognize many of the people in the town.

Medallion seemed to build a home for the elderly every time it built a road. It appeared the community needed more rooms for the elderly. The population was not necessarily living longer; the families were just placing their elderly in the homes sooner. It seemed easy for the white families to place their older people in the homes, but generally the black families did not put their elderly in a home until they “got crazy and unmanageable.” A few of the blacks, however, were like Sula, and put their elderly away for meanness.

Up until 1965, Nel had lived a narrow life. She had had a relationship with a sergeant stationed at a camp near Medallion, but that relationship had petered out. She had formed a liaison with a bartender at the hotel, but that did not last long. Nel was 55 in 1965, and it was difficult for her to remember what relationships were all about.

Nel joined a service circle when her children left home. Members of her Circle Number 5 often took turns visiting the elderly. It was her turn, and Nel was walking to the old folks’ home. Nel was curious to see Eva again.

After Jude left, Nel predicted her future. With three children she would find no other love in her life. The three children, however, were now grown and were looking elsewhere than their mother for happiness.

The Bottom had changed. Land was expensive. Whites were looking to expand to the hills. Blacks could not afford to purchase land in the Bottom if they were not already land owners. The new home builders in the Bottom were white; they wanted a house with a view of the river and elm trees. Because the blacks wanted to move to the valley, they sold the hill land to anyone who expressed interest. There were only a few close relationships remaining in the Bottom.

Nel was one of the few pedestrians left in the Bottom. Her children laughed at her for walking. She, however, adamantly refused to accept a ride unless the weather required it. To reach the home for the elderly, therefore, Nel walked.

It was four o’clock and chilly when she arrived at Sunnydale. She was eager to sit down and rest for a while. She entered a room with a long hall and doors on either side. She imagined that the building looked like a college dormitory. A receptionist gave her a pass and, after knocking, she entered the third door on the right.

Eva appeared small in her chair at the table. Her once beautiful leg had no stocking and was in a slipper. Nel grieved for the proud foot which was stuffed into terry cloth.

Nel greeted Eva, who imagined herself ironing and was dreaming of stairs. Eva did not stop her imaginary ironing even when she asked Nel to sit. Eva predicted Nel would be sick later in the day—perhaps from eating chop suey; Eva assured Nel that she knew what she was talking about. Nel tried to tell Eva that she had eaten no chop suey. Eva reminded Nel that she—Eva—had come a long way to visit Nel. Eva said Nel would not have come this far just to deny eating chop suey.

Nel explained that she was visiting Eva. Nel tried to identify herself to Eva. Eva asked if she were Wiley Wright’s daughter, and Nel was relieved that Eva knew her. Eva asked how Nel had drowned Chicken Little years ago. Nel tried to explain that it had been Sula who had drowned the child; Eva said that it made no difference. Eva explained that water was cold and that fire was warm.

Eva questioned Nel further about the death, and Nel tried to explain that she did not kill Chicken. Eva insisted that she had been talking to sweet Plum and that she knew otherwise. Eva reminded Nel that she had “watched.” Eva offered to give Nel some oranges—only now Eva called Nel by the name of Sula.

Nel was upset and walked out of the building with Eva calling, “Sula!” Nel recalled the scene by the river when Chicken Little had drowned. Eva focused on the word watched. Nel would have said that she saw, but not that she watched. Eva had said that Sula had watched Hannah burn; the question had surfaced again. This time the question was if Nel had watched Chicken Little drown.

Nel began to have questions about herself. Perhaps the maturity and serenity she displayed upon seeing Chicken Little drown was only tranquillity following a joyful stimulation.

Nel ran to the cemetery where Sula and Plum lay. She read the markers and found they were like a chant. They reduced life and death to mere words, wishes, longings.

Nel had believed for years that she had shared with Eva the feeling of being unloved and lonely. During her visit to the home, Nel began to reexamine her attitude toward Eva. Nel had always believed that Eva refused to attend the funeral of Sula because she did not want to see her family, her flesh, and her blood placed in the earth. Eva, she believed, did not want to see what her heart could not hold.

Nel began to change her beliefs. She now believed that Eva did not attend because Eva was an evil person. Nel thought there was no excuse for Eva to speak so cruelly during the visit. Nel decided that Eva had spoken as she had and refused to attend Sula’s funeral because of meanness.

Nathan had found Sula dead in her room. When Nathan announced his find, none of the women or men bothered to go. They ignored the news. Sula’s body lay all alone.

Nel recalled how the people in the Bottom had always come together in death, but they had not come to Sula. It had been Nel who had made the calls to the hospital, the funeral home, and the police. The white people had taken charge. Nel had gone to the white funeral parlor but had seen only a closed coffin. This type coffin had shocked Nel, and she had left quickly.

The next day Nel visited the cemetery. She noticed that the white people—Mr. and Mrs. Hodges, their son, and the grave diggers—gathered around the grave. After the whites left the cemetery, the blacks entered the cemetery and gathered around the gravesite. It was at this time that the residents of the Bottom sang the song “Shall We Gather at the River.” The song was sung as a question.

Nel left the cemetery with a heavy heart. She met Shadrack, who stopped and tried to remember who she was. When he could not recall, Shadrack ran on to haul the trash out at Sunnydale. Shadrack had not been able to catch or sell fish for some time. The river had killed all the fish.

Nel stopped suddenly. She realized that the sorrow she had felt for all the years after Jude left had been sorrow for the loss of Sula—not sorrow for the loss of Jude. Her final words are, “‘O Lord, Sula... girl, girl, girlgirlgirl.”’

Analysis

The narrator of “1965” is Nel. She begins the narration with contradictions. Nel states that things are better in 1965. Then, in direct opposition, she begins to recall the youth of 1921 and remarks that the young people and even the prostitutes were better in the earlier time.

Nel compares the youth of 1965 to the deweys. This comparison shows that she attaches no individuality to the young people that she sees. Likewise, the people of the Bottom in the past had not bothered to recognize the individuality of the deweys.

Eva gives an allusion to the past during Nel’s visit. She reminds Nel that water is cold and that fire is warm; Eva seems to suggest that death by fire (Plum) is preferable to death in the water (Chicken Little and the residents who had died by water in the tunnel). The comparison of fire with warmth is an understatement, a stylistic device which puts the comparison between fire and warmth mildly.

Morrison uses imagery when she depicts the inability of Shadrack to fish after the “river had killed the fish.” The reader gets a mental picture of the act of fishing that Shadrack misses:

“...No more silver-gray flashes, no more flat, wide, unhurried look. No more slowing down of gills. No more tremor on the line.”

Morrison uses flashback effectively when Nel remembers the scene by the river and the death of Chicken Little. The question of the difference between seeing and watching arises when Eva asks Nel about the happenings at the river. The reader remembers the question that Eva raised earlier about whether Sula had watched her mother burn.

Morrison’s reference to the grave markers reading like a chant is an effective analogy. A chant repeats. Life and death repeat. The markers attest to the repetition of chants and life—and death.

Morrison’s analogy between chants and grave markers is evidence of her knowledge of music and chants. The reader remembers from Morrison’s childhood that her mother sang, her grandfather played the violin, and Morrison herself planned to become a dancer when she was younger.

To Nel, the people are now only words recorded in a cemetery. The words are actually the wishes and longings never fulfilled in life. The people are gone forever.

The theme of aloneness is evident again in “1965.” Nel recalls that when Nathan announced that Sula was dead, no one came. Sula was alone in death and after death, as she had been in life. The people had always come when death occurred, but they did not gather around Sula as they had done even for the community prostitute; neither had they come when she returned to Medallion after college.

Nel, too, was alone. Her husband was gone; her children were gone; her best friend was dead; Eva was not the way that Nel had imagined her to be.

The words of Sula came true. After her death, Nel realizes that she loves Sula. The foreshadowing in an earlier chapter comes to pass.

The theme of “1965” is the survival of the unfittest. The reader finds that Shadrack with his psychological war injury, Eva with her missing leg, and Nel with her grief over losing her husband and best friend are the survivors. Strong Jude, assured Hannah, and confident Sula have not survived in the Bottom.

The genre of Sula is indisputably a tragedy. The last words of the novel itself are “...circles and circles of sorrow.”

Study Questions

Of whom did the young men of 1965 remind Nel?
Why were more homes for the elderly necessary in Medallion?
How many children did Nel have?
What was happening to land in the Bottom in 1965?
Nel persisted in doing an activity that most people in the Bottom did not do. What was this activity?
What did Eva imagine she was doing when Nel visited?
Whom did Eva call Nel at the end of the visit?
Whom did Nel meet on the way to the cemetery?
What was the song sung at the cemetery for Sula?
What food did Eva say that Nel had eaten?

Answers

Nel thought the young men of 1965 reminded her of the deweys.
More homes for the elderly were necessary because many families were placing their old persons in the homes sooner.
Nel had three children.
The whites were buying the land in the Bottom in 1965.
Nel persisted in walking, an activity that most people in the Bottom did not do.
Eva imagined she was ironing when Nel visited.
Eva called Nel by the name of Sula at the end of the visit.
Nel met Shadrack on her way to the cemetery.
The song sung at the cemetery for Sula was “Shall We Gather at the River.”
Eva said that Nel had eaten chop suey.

Part Two

Chapter Seven: 1937

Summary

Analysis

Study Questions

Answers

Suggested Essay Topics

Chapter Eight: 1939

Summary

Analysis

Study Questions

Answers

Suggested Essay Topics

Chapter Nine: 1940

Summary

Analysis

Study Questions

Answers

Suggested Essay Topics

Chapter Ten: 1941

Summary

Analysis

Study Questions

Answers

Suggested Essay Topics

Chapter Eleven: 1965

Summary

Analysis

Study Questions

Answers

Suggested Essay Topics