Sula (novel)
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| Author | Toni Morrison |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | African-American literature |
| Publisher | Knopf |
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Publication date
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November 1973 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 192 pp (hardback edition) |
| ISBN | (hardback edition) |
| OCLC | 662097 |
| 813/.5/4 | |
| LC Class | PZ4.M883 Su PS3563.O8749 |
Sula is a 1973 novel by Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison.
The Bottom is a mostly black neighborhood in Ohio. A white farmer promised freedom and a piece of Bottom land to his slave if he would perform some very difficult chores. When the slave completed the work, he asked the farmer to keep his end of the bargain. Freedom was easy, the farmer had no objection to that, but he didn't want to give up any land, so he told the slave that he was very sorry that he had to give him valley land. He had hoped to give him a piece of the bottom land. The slave blinked and said he thought valley land was bottom land. The master said, "Oh no! See those hills? That's bottom land; rich and fertile."
Shadrack, a resident of the Bottom, fought in World War I. He returns a shattered man, unable to accept the complexities of the world. He lives on the outskirts of town, attempting to create order in his life. One of his methods involves compartmentalizing his fear of death in a ritual he invents and names National Suicide Day. The town is at first wary of him and his ritual, then, over time, unthinkingly accepts him.
Meanwhile, the families of the children Nel and Sula are contrasted. Nel is the product of a family that believes deeply in social conventions; hers is a stable home, though some might characterize it as rigid. Nel is uncertain of the conventional life her mother Helene wants for her; these doubts are hammered home when she meets Rochelle, her grandmother who'd worked as a prostitute, the only unconventional woman in her family line. Sula's family is very different: she lives with her grandmother Eva and her mother Hannah both of whom are seen by the town as eccentric and loose. Their house also serves as a home for three informally adopted boys and a steady stream of boarders.
Despite their differences, Sula and Nel become fiercely attached to each other during adolescence. However, a traumatic accident changes everything. One day, Sula playfully swings a neighborhood boy, Chicken Little, around by his hands. When she loses her grip, the boy falls into a nearby river and drowns. They never tell anyone about the accident even though they did not intend to harm the boy. The two girls begin to grow apart.
One day, while Sula's mother Hannah was trying to light a fire outside, her dress catches fire. Eva, Hannah's mother, sees this happening from the upstairs window and jumps out into the garden to try and save her daughter's life. An ambulance comes, but Hannah dies en route to the hospital, and her mother is injured as well. The incident solidifies Eva's concern for her granddaughter Sula, as afterwards she remembers seeing Sula standing on the porch watching her mother burn. Other residents of the Bottom suggest perhaps Sula was stunned by the incident, but Eva believes she stood and watch because she was "interested".
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