Short Essay notes - Professor Rita Abunasser. Fulfilled Lower Division TCU Honor\'s College requirement. PDF

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Professor Rita Abunasser. Fulfilled Lower Division TCU Honor's College requirement....

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Short Essay How does Sula’s character unite the community of the Bottom? Also, in what ways?     

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Chapters: Part 1 [1919, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1927]; Part 2 [1937, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1965] One oppression: black community Second oppression: womendouble oppression=black women Do the women unite against Sula more than men? If so, could be due to double oppression Sula is not the main character in the book; however, she affects many people within the book o Remember when she watches Hannah die as child and how people reflected on this Sula’s birthmark is a means of unity Necessary for mothers to protect their children. However, after Sula dies, mothers return to neglecting their children. Also wives protecting their husbands o So can say that Sula is “extreme/exaggerated example” of what community is doing wrong One of multiple central figures in the book Takes Sula’s going off to college, then she comes back a different person, thus beginning to be a contradiction to the group A means of contradiction by an entire community A sign of “what not to do”. Without her, Medallion and Bottom seemingly crumble. Appears to be no order without Sula, no sense of differentiating between right and wrong, good and bad Go so far as to say that Sula’s death led to the downfall of the Bottom pg. 30: quote about Eva presiding over house

Outline  Morrison uses Sula to unite the community of the Bottom

OTHER ARGUMENT: HOW DOES SULA DIVIDE THE BOTTOM COMMUNITY?    

Chicken Little’s death Examples of Mr. Finley choking on chicken bone, Teapot fracturing leg, and Dessie getting sty Never had any diseases, etc. (pg. 115) Destroys Nel’s marriage with Jude

Possible Sources      

1. The Tripled Plot and Center of Sula by Maureen T. Reddy Each chapter contains either actual or metaphorical death (pg. 29) 3 Protagonists: Nel/Sula, Shadrack, and community of black people in the Bottom Argument that Sula dies to achieve freedom (pg. 32) Shadrack’s connection to Sula (p. 34) Sula thinks of Nel as a second self (p. 36) “Sula becomes the speck around which the townspeople grow…” (p.39)

 “Once Sula dies, the Bottom ceases to be a cohesive community. Her death brings first general relief and then ‘restless irritability’” (p.40)  “The people of the Bottom require something or someone to define themselves against, some common enemy to bind them to each other…” (p.41)  Sula is a scapegoat for the Bottom (41)

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http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.tcu.edu/stable/2904148? Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=Sula&searchUri=%2Faction %2FdoAdvancedSearch%3Facc%3Don%26amp%3Bf2%3Dall%26amp%3Bpt%3D%26amp %3Bq0%3DSula%26amp%3Bf6%3Dall%26amp%3Bc1%3DAND%26amp%3Bq4%3D %26amp%3Bq2%3D%26amp%3Bq3%3D%26amp%3Bpm%3Don%26amp%3Bc3%3DAND %26amp%3Bar%3Don%26amp%3Bc4%3DAND%26amp%3Bsd%3D%26amp%3Bf3%3Dall %26amp%3Bf0%3Dall%26amp%3Bf4%3Dall%26amp%3Bf1%3Dall%26amp%3Bq5%3D %26amp%3Bc5%3DAND%26amp%3Bc6%3DAND%26amp%3Bf5%3Dall%26amp%3Bla %3D%26amp%3Bed%3D%26amp%3Bc2%3DAND%26amp%3Bisbn%3D%26amp %3Bq1%3D%26amp%3Bq6%3D%26amp%3Bgroup %3Dnone&seq=6#page_scan_tab_contents 2. Intimations of Matriarchal Age: Notes on the Mythical Eva in Toni Morrison’s Sula by Janice M. Sokoloff “…Sula’s personality and destiny are most fully revealed through contrast and comparison with the grandmother, Eva.” (pg. 430) “Sula, in an act unprecedented in the Bottom, has her formidable grandmother ‘put away’ in Beechnut Hill, a nursing home. Following this reversal of legal ‘guardian’ roles, Sula, in accordance with Morrison’s statement on killing the ancestor, dies.” “What Eva enacts in the interest of preserving her children from poverty, Sula transforms into a move that seeks not merely to survive, but to challenge, threatening forces.” (pg. 432) “Although Morrison does in fact portray her female hero attempting to kill the ancestor and deny historical connection, she more fundamentally creates a matriarchal community in which the ancestor becomes the source of vitality and truth telling that, in the end, permits her progeny to prevail.” (pg. 434) http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.tcu.edu/stable/2784198? Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=Sula&searchUri=%2Faction %2FdoAdvancedSearch%3Fq3%3D%26amp%3Bf1%3Dall%26amp%3Bisbn%3D%26amp %3Bc1%3DAND%26amp%3Bq4%3D%26amp%3Bf6%3Dall%26amp%3Bsd%3D%26amp %3Bq5%3D%26amp%3Bf3%3Dall%26amp%3Bed%3D%26amp%3Bla%3D%26amp %3Bf0%3Dall%26amp%3Bq0%3DSula%26amp%3Bc3%3DAND%26amp%3Bq6%3D %26amp%3Bc2%3DAND%26amp%3Bf5%3Dall%26amp%3Bf4%3Dall%26amp%3Bacc %3Don%26amp%3Bc6%3DAND%26amp%3Bq2%3D%26amp%3Bgroup%3Dnone%26amp %3Bq1%3D%26amp%3Bc4%3DAND%26amp%3Bpt%3D%26amp%3Bc5%3DAND %26amp%3Bf2%3Dall&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents 3. African Tradition in Toni Morrison’s Sula by Vashti Crutcher Lewis “Black people in the Bottoms of Loraine, Ohio certainly do not recognize the African presence of Sula and Shadrack whom they consider pariahs of their community.” (pg. 92)

 “Sula and Shadrack represent black sons and daughters of America who whould be more at home in Africa.”  Focus on pg. 96 http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.tcu.edu/stable/275004? Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=Toni&searchText=Morrison's&searchTex t=Sula&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3DToni%2BMorrison %2527s%2BSula%26amp%3Bprq%3DSula%26amp%3Bfc%3Doff%26amp%3Bhp %3D25%26amp%3Bacc%3Don%26amp%3Bso%3Drel%26amp%3Bwc %3Don&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents...