Sula by Toni Morrison
1. Briefly summarize the plot of the novel you
read according to the elements of plot you've learned in past courses
(exposition, inciting incident, etc.). Explain how the narrative fulfills
the author's purpose (based on your well-informed interpretation of same).
Exposition:
At the very beginning of the novel, the reader is introduced to the setting of
the story. The author explains The Bottom as a neighborhood in the hills of
Ohio where black people live after an ex-slave was tricked into thinking that it
was good land. The author also introduces a poor, mentally damaged resident of
The Bottom named Shadrack who created National Suicide Day within the
community.
Rising
Action: At this point in the novel we meet Nel and Sula and learn about their
contrasting lives. Nel is from a stricter, upstanding family whereas Sula lives
with her mother and grandmother and her mother is known for being promiscuous.
The two girls become friends despite their different backgrounds. They spend a
lot of time together but begin to grow apart especially after Sula’s mother,
Hannah, dies.
Climax: Nel
and Sula go their separate ways as they grow into adults. Nel gets married and
lives a traditional life in The Bottom. Sula moves and disappears for 10 years
having different affairs and what not. Sula comes back and has an affair with
Nel’s husband, Jude. This ends their friendship.
Falling
Action/Resolution: Sula dies a few years later and the two reach some sort of a
reconciliation. One day, Nel visits Eva (Sula’s grandmother) in a nursing home.
They talk about the death of a little boy that had drowned because of Nel and
Sula when they were young girls. Eva tells Nel that she has unfairly judged
Sula all of these years and Nel feels remorse. She goes to Sula’s grave and
cries.
The author’s
purpose was to show that issues in life are not clear. In reality, things are
messy and complicated and there is no right or wrong answer most of the time.
The complicated issues and trials that the characters face in this novel show
that.
2. Succinctly describe the theme of the novel.
Avoid cliches.
A major
theme in Sula is friendship and human
relationships. The novel traces the relationship between Sula and Nel and the
events that occur throughout the novel define their friendship. Friendship is
complicated and difficult, as is life. It also shows how keeping an adult
friendship is much harder and more complicated than keeping the friendship as a
child.
3. Describe the author's tone. Include a
minimum of three excerpts that illustrate your point(s).
The tone of
the novel is wise. The narrator tells the story in a way really analyzes the
characters and their actions. "I done everything I could to make him leave
me an go on and live and be a man but he wouldn't and I had to keep him out so
I just thought of a way he could die like a man not all scrunched up inside my
womb, but like a man." (page 48). The author writes about the characters
in a way that shows how they realize their life mistakes. “The children needed
her; she needed money, and needed to get on with her life. But the demands of
feeding her children were so acute she had to postpone her anger for two years
until she had both the time and the energy for it.” (page 31). The author uses a wise tone to show
how the Medallion community reacts to situations. “But they let it run its
course, fulfill itself, and invented ways either to alter it, to annihilate it
or to prevent its happening again. So also were they with people.” (pages
89/90).
