Sula: The End!

I have mixed thoughts on the novel and I'm just generally overwhelmed by all of the overlapping themes and motifs. A clear overarching theme in the novel is the exploration of social norms in an African-American community and the ever-presence of suffering in their day to day lives. I feel like the whole novel emphasized the adversities of living in the "Bottom" and how evil plagued their lives in every way possible. However, evil in the novel is referred to as something that needs to be overcome and not something that you aim to destroy. Evil seems more common than good, in fact all of the "good" mentioned in the novel is constantly overshadowed by suffering. I've also noticed that there are always natural disasters occurring in the Bottom and it emphasizes how natural disasters are simply an extension to all the suffering they are already experiencing. Just their mere existence is already a sign of suffering due to their dehumanization and lack of freedom. Colored women especially lack freedom inevitably find themselves dependent on men. I think this is why Sula is significant in this novel and is named after her; Sula embodies the pariah, the outlaw woman who chooses not to follow societal expectations of her as a colored woman. She ignores the society's criticism of her promiscuous ways which do not follow the Medallion moral code but instead is appalled at how women gave in so easily to the controlling strings of society. Sula separates herself away from the society and in a sense does hold pride over her rebellious ways. However Sula doesn't go around preaching feminism to the community, her actions, her clothing, and her gestures are enough to unify the Medallion community against her, viewing her as the ultimate evil of society. I find it interesting how people view her as a curse and how her birthmark is always referred to as a symbol of evil. However, people's interpretations of Sula's birthmark reflect THEM more than they reflect Sula's identity. I wish the novel contained a passage on how Sula viewed her own birthmark, but I don't think she would really think much about it because Sula didn't have a sense of her own individuality, she had no core and no set of rules. 

Sula 138-162

The novel is drawing to an end but I don't think there has been much change between Sula and Nel. In the beginning they seemed inseparable and were like the dynamic duo but there were sharp differences in their upbringing and their goals in life. Although Sula embodies the pariah in the Medallion community, it doesn't necessarily equate to freedom or independence. It seemed to me that Sula is still caged by her past and her lack of emotion fuels her apathy and disdain for the world. On the other hand, Nel seems to be the only one who understood Sula but at the same time never understood why Sula thought the way she did.

"Lonely ain't it?"
"Yes, but my lonely is mine. Now your lonely is somebody else's. Made by somebody else and handed to you. Ain't that something? A secondhand lonely." (143)

I think the quote above accurately points out the difference between Nel and Sula. As colored women in Medallion, they both experience loneliness. However their loneliness is different in that Nel was constantly searching for something to be attached to, while Sula was lonely in her own decision of separating herself away from the others. No matter how "independent" Sula was from the rest of the Medallion community, she couldn't escape from the shared loneliness that the others experience. Through Sula's perspective, women were lonely because their existence depended on marriage and children and men were lonely because they were always seeking for another women to fulfill their needs. However, Sula cultivated her own loneliness inside of her and with her arrogance she holds her loneliness with pride. Perhaps there's no such thing as true independence or freedom for the colored women in Medallion.

Sula 112-137

"I did not hold my head stiff enough when I met him and so I lost it just like the dolls." (136)

Source

Finally in Chapter 1939 the readers are exposed to a more intimate insight into Sula's mind. What I liked most about this chapter was understanding how Sula thought of Nel instead of strictly Nel's views on Sula. I wasn't surprised at Sula's indifference or her selfishness because of the women who shaped her to become the woman she is now. It becomes clear that the turning point for Sula's apathy was when Hannah claimed she never liked her thus she Sula found no reason to ever please others if her own mom didn't like her. So I think that explains why she Sula had no issue sleeping with Jude. In fact, Sula seemed confused with Nel's anger because she always felt that Nel had always "seen through" the women who only seek the sexual approval of men:

"But she and Nel had always seen through them. They both knew that those women were not jealous of other women; that they were only afraid of losing their jobs. Afraid their husbands would discover than no uniqueness lay between their legs." (119)


The main difference between Nel and Sula was the concept of possessiveness and their idea of love, but Sula's relationship with Ajax made me think that Sula was really no different than Nel. Sula just happened to crave a different type of man than Nel, she wanted someone who could see her eye to eye instead of looking down at her as an inferior. Ajax eventually embodied the very thing that Sula craved for, and there she finally understood Nel's possessiveness towards Jude: "Sula began to discover what possession was. Not love, perhaps, but possession or at least the desire for it". (131)

I felt like Ajax was essentially the male version of Sula, he wanted a woman who was independent and indifferent to societal expectations. I feel like both Sula and Ajax shared the same dislike for commitment and everything that marriage required. They both wanted an intimate relationship but was afraid of having their hearts chained to each other until death do them apart. I was surprised that Sula began to develop a feeling of possessiveness for him but it didn't surprise me that Ajax left her.

"In her words, in her voice, was a sound he knew well. For the first time he saw the green ribbon. He looked around and saw the gleaming kitchen and the table set for two and detective the scent of the nest. Every hackle on his body rose...His eyes dimmed with a mild and momentary regret." (133)

This quote portrays that Sula fell in love with him because of the "nest" she built around him, indicating that she was already too attached and never wanted him to leave. The "nest" is basically identical to how a married woman would care for her husband, like how Nel took care of Jude. There was definitely a contrast in the way Ajax left Sula compared to Jude leaving Nel.  Sula "could find nothing, for he had left nothing but his stunning absence" while Jude's yellow tie was left behind for Nel as a reminder of his absence. (134)

Sula 86-111

The dark stemmed rose

In Part One, I felt an air of mystery surrounding Sula because I felt like she was only portrayed through the eyes of her family and Nel but there was no personal insight from Sula herself. I was at unease reading about Sula accidentally swinging Chicken Little into the river, dismember her finger, and watching her mother burn to death with interest. Jackie mentioned that it demonstrates her more or less her apathetic demeanor and seemingly indifference to pain.

 As the novel transitions to Part Two, the content becomes more abstract along with dialogue conversations. Birds all of a sudden pollute the sky and defecate the ground, signifying the unwanted return of Sula. What remains the same is the attention she receives from people, both men and women alike, but mostly with disapproval. I interpreted the community's cautious attitudes because Morrison shapes her as the "outlaw woman" who everyone dislikes simply because she doesn't succumb to gender expectations in order to appease social norms. Women dislike her because she doesn't permanently settle for marriage and children but instead takes her own course by running away and attending college. Just the mere existence of Sula reminds women of how they're chained to conventional norms and lack the freedom she owns. However men feel threatened by her independence and how she doesn't desire approval from men. 

These two quotes from Jude's viewpoint clearly illustrate how he's alarmed at her confidence when speaking about men because she did not speak to them to please them but actually chooses to express her unfiltered thoughts.

"she looked like a woman roaming the country trying to find some man to burden down" (103)

"she stirred a man's mind maybe, but not his body" (104)

Nel was an exception to those who were horrified by her return, but in the end Sula's intimate encounter with Jude eventually made her think twice. Nel only saw the good parts of Sula and although she noticed the darkening of her rose birthmark, she viewed it as a strong selfless identity. In a way, Nel seemed to to be the only one who knew Sula best  even though through rose-colored glasses.

"The rose mark over Sula's eye gave her glace a suggestion of startled pleasure. It was darker than Nel remembered" (96)

"Sula never competed; she simply helped others to define themselves". (95)

On the topic of Sula's birthmark, Meghan brought about the epigraph of the novel which I think is an accurate description of Sula. Her stemmed rose birthmark grows darker which symbolizes the strengthening of identity as she grows up and learns of certain dark truths. Despite her apathy and lack of judgment, Sula contains this inner glory and confidence that threaten others around her ....except Nel (until she was found naked with Jude).

"Nobody knew my rose of the world but me....I had too much glory. They don't want glory like that in nobody's heart."
-The Rose Tattoo

Sula 67-85

Omens: Wind, Fire, and Death

Hannah's whole body is on fire as Sula watches with interest, Eva jumps through the window with her one leg to save her first-born, Eva is smothered with blood while she watches Hannah inevitably burn to death.

I found Hannah's death really unexpected because what are the chances that two characters in one novel would spend their last moments with fire devouring their flesh completely? In retrospect, I feel like I should have expected her death because of all the ominous signs especially her dream of wearing a red gown in her wedding. Taking a few steps back, Eva was recounting the number of "strange" things occurring recently starting off the wind that took the dampness out of the air instead of welcoming rain. Sula was acting up and the strangest events were Hannah's dream of a wedding in red bridal gown and when Hannah bends down to light the yard fire.

The "strange" events were presented almost in a chronological manner leading up to Hannah's clothes getting caught on fire and Eva attempting to rescue Hannah and her precious beauty. All of these events represent ominous signs of Hannah's death. I noticed how the wind/breeze in the previous chapters symbolized freedom and empowerment in relation to Nel and Sula but the symbol of wind took a dark turn embodying the destruction of Hannah's precious beauty.

 

"Eva mused over the perfection of judgment against her. She remembered the wedding dream and recalled that weddings always meant death. And the red gown, we that was the fire, as she should have known." (78)

What intrigues me even more is how Eva felt that her intuition and judgment went against her and that she should have been more conscientious of her daughter's dream. The statement "weddings always meant death" once again reflects her bitter experience with marriage and perhaps her marriage destroyed her once bright future. When Hannah mentioned that she was wearing a red bridal gown it striked me as odd because red was a bold color usually referencing blood and death. However in Hannah's dream, the red color represented her body being lit on fire.


Image : Katniss, the girl on fire, represented here as courageous. However Hannah's fire red gown symbolized the destruction of her beauty.

Sula Pages 49-66

Nel Wright and Sula Peace: Soul-mates Forever?

In this section of the novel, we gain a deeper insight into the friendship between two very different 12 year-old girls, Nel and Sula. Nel is described as bold and independent whereas Sula is more dependent on Nel and not as emotionally stable. Nel takes the position of the leader while Sula eagerly follows her. I think the contrast in their personalities is really interesting because they become close friends to the extent of  soul-mates. They do share a similar attraction for adventure and "[t]he new theme they were now discovering was men." (Morrison, 55)

As they're both approaching adolescence, it's not surprising that they begin to crave attention from men. From the previous chapters we've learned that their mothers and grandmothers have had bitter experiences with marriage but gain attention from men through their physical appearances. I've noticed that Morrison always emphasizes women's clothing; the color, the way it accentuates the figure, and the way their dresses are blown by the wind to reveal their bodies. Even the 12 year old girls' dresses are described with a sexual connotation, catering to the male gaze: "It pushed their dresses  into the creases of their behinds, then lifted the hems to peek at their cotton underwear." (Morrison, 49)

Speaking of the male gaze, the way women dress are often connected to the male gaze. It could be that women dress to satisfy the eyes of men or that the male gaze is conceptualized due to the way women choose to dress for themselves. However, when Nel and Sula go Edna Finch's Mellow House for ice cream, the male gaze ultimately held power over their appearances: "Nel and Sula walked through this valley of eyes chilled by the wind and heated by the embarrassment of appraising stares." (50) They felt embarrassed and the male gaze was described as a valley of eyes, almost seemingly hovering over them as they walked together.

Another component of the male gaze is the verbal communication between a man and woman. A young man apparently "compliments" the girls by referring to their body as "pig meat", which I found degrading because  it objectified them: "Pig meat. The words were in all their minds." (50) There's definitely tension in the process of the male gaze when their eyes feed on their lust for the girls' skin and flesh.

I feel like this famous statue of Marilyn Monroe demonstrates what men seek in the male gaze. 

Credit

Sula pages 16-48: Overview

Sula is a novel exploring the theme of power in society through both gender and racial lens. The author, Toni Morrison, claimed in the novel's foreword that she did not want to address African-American culture as a "problem" but rather pursue it strictly in literary terms. I found that she somewhat contradicts this statement because there is a clear indication of white versus black race through the mention of skin colors and even behavior. However, I do find that the novel does not focus entirely race and the main purpose is not to depict political power struggles between two different races.

Another major theme in Sula is feminism or a form of female empowerment centralizing around outlawed women. In the foreword, Morrison seeks to discuss the consequences of being an outlaw woman in a woman-prejudiced society. Many female characters have been introduced (Cecila, Helene, Nel, Eva, Hanna, Sula) and I've noticed a pattern  of complexity in personality and responses to trials of being a women. There's a similarity in their experiences due to socio-political issues and family conflicts.

I'm really intrigued on how the novel will progress and also for the character development of Sula, since her name is the title of the novel. Personally, I anticipate how Sula will defy society norms and prove to be somewhat different from how she will respond to socio-economic problems.

Image Credit:

http://dramatica.com/resources/onesheets/sula-one-sheet.jpg