discussion post to SULA – answer each question

Today we will finish Sula. I have attempted to steer you away from interpretations that rely upon binary oppositions (e.g., good/evil, mature/immature) and making moral judgments about the characters. I have also tried to steer you away from assessing the characters by white middle-class “norms.” The term “normal,” in and of itself, is problematic, as what is perceived as “normal” is shaped by the culture and society that imposes these standards. Please think before you judge. In the concluding chapters of this novel, Nel is challenged–first by Sula and later by Eva–about her assumptions regarding who is good and who is evil. As I have said before, if you choose to moralize about the characters and the novel itself, you are not understanding Morrison’s point about human behavior, racial marginalization and prejudice, and adaptation to circumstances.

Today’s topics:

As Sula is dying, Nel comes to visit her. Why does Nel do this? The exchange between them is contentious, with old grievances coming to the surface. Sula asks Nel how she knows about “who was good. How you know it was you?” She adds that “maybe it wasn’t you. Maybe it was me.” Nel walks out, unable to accept this. Indeed, how does Nel “know” who is good and who isn’t? What has Nel done in the past to suggest that she wasn’t necessarily the “good” one, that life is more complicated than this? What is Sula saying about moralistic judgments? Why is it significant that Sula’s last thought that she was going to tell Nel that dying didn’t hurt?

What changes in the Bottom after Sula’s death? How do these changes culminate in National Suicide Day? What do the townspeople follow Shadrack and why do they wreck the tunnel? Discuss any of the many examples of irony in the events of the day.

Nel goes to visit Eva in the nursing home. Why? Although Eva seems confused, once she remembers who Nel is, what does she ask Nel? Nel becomes defensive and says she didn’t “watch” Chicken Little die, she merely “saw” his death–how, in her mind, are these terms different? What does Nel finally realize about her own involvement in this incident? How does this parallel Sula watching Hannah burn to death?

Discuss the last paragraph of the novel. The metaphorical dust ball that has haunted her since Jude left disintegrates. What does this mean. What is the significance of Nel’s realization that while she thought she was missing Jude she was really missing Sula?

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