I don't think I've ever thought of Sula as under-developed or necessarily psychopathic in any way. I felt like her emotions and thoughts are somewhat justified by her upbringing and her past experiences. What I noticed throughout the novel was that most of the descriptions on Sula was from other people's point of view including Nel and Shadrack.
Shadrack's role in the novel still confuses me a little because it isn't clear of the connection between Shadrack and Nel and Sula's friendship. Speaking of Nel and Sula's friendship, in our Socratic seminar we also discussed whether their friendship resembled more of a platonic love or romantic love. I feel like there was no such this romantic love in this novel because all of the "relationships" weren't really based on mutual love but more of a possession. Despite Sula and Nel going separate ways, their relationship was far stronger and supportive than any of the relationships in the novel. Perhaps the novel is meant to portray that platonic love outweighs romantic love?
I feel like Sula is not necessarily under-developed but more just innocent. Naive to such an extent that society cannot fully accept her, despite how accepting Bottom has been. Someone once mentioned that people were jealous of Sula because she could live without a care in the world while they have so much to worry about. I agree but I also think it is because of her naive nature that makes people jealous of her. She was the childhood everyone sought (Chicken Little's funeral). That's why it would seem we are arguing that she is underdeveloped.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that there does not seem to be true romance in the story, in fact there were a lot of shattered romance. The platonic love between the two is relatively complicated though. They seemed to be together when they were children, but eventually they split and now they are different people. Their relationship did not last in the light long. They might have put it together after Sula's death, but it's a bit odd to say that loving a dead person is the eventual focus of the story.