Sula Reader Response

After reading Sula by Toni Morrison I felt like I was left wondering. I don't know what I was supposed to get out of this book or what the author was trying to portray. I did enjoy the vast array of characters, and it offered a view of black culture. But the book seemed to deal mainly with sex, which was different then what I was used to.

Shadrack is an interesting character who brings his own twist to the book. The way he views death or fears death is striking. Because of Shadrack's terror of unexpected death he invents National Suicide day. It took place January third, Shadrack would "[walk] through the Bottom down Carpenter's Road with a cowbell and a hangman's rope calling the people together. Telling them that this was their only chance to kill themselves or each other"(14). I found it intriguing why Shadrack had created National Suicide Day. If you devoted one day a year to death and its unexpectedness, the rest of the year you could go without fear of it. It seems to make sense, in a far out way.I think that Shadrack's character was highly misunderstood. The community viewed him as crazy and slightly scary but I think he was only trying to find his place in the world. His interaction with Sula is viewed differetly from the two parties. Sula found him to be scary, and his response of "always"(62) worried her. But Shadrack viewed her as his only vistor, a friend of some sort with the word "always" as a sort of welcome.

While reading I noticed Sula's mark above her eye is mentioned several times. The mark seems to get darker as Sula gets older. At first the birthmark looks like "a stem and rose"(74). Which is also the image on the front cover of the book. Sula's mark reminds Shadrack of a tadpole. After Sula returns home Jude calls the birthmark a rattlesnake. Finally the towns people say that Sula's birthmark was "not a stemmed rose, or a snake, it was Hannah's ashes marking her from the very beginning"(114). I was wondering what the importance of Sula's birthmark was, or if it was simply a destination of her character. Something that made Sula stand out. A mark of evil in the eyes of the community.

I found the Peace women to be strange characters. They are all very independent women, none of whom have serious relationships throughout the book. These women, Eva, Hannah, and Sula avoid commitment and float from man to man. Social expectations and morals seem to have little effect on these three women. I was shocked when Sula slept with Jude. Sula and Nel were the best of friends. They were inseparable and understood each other the way no one else did. Yet when Sula returns home she sleeps with Nel's husband. Sula didn't even see why it was a big deal. She grew up in a house where sleeping with different men was a way of life. So she did not think this was any different. I still couldn't believe she would do that, especially to her best friend.

I am confused about the part where Eva burns Plum, her own son. I know she taught he was in pain and she was worried about her baby, but why would she burn him. I am looking forward to discussing Eva more in class, there seems to be many angles to her character and I am looking forward to discussing it more.

I feel there may be more to this book then I understood. I want to explore the characters more and their actions. I am looking forward to discussing this book in class.