Reader Response: "Sula"

Discrimination, suppression, glory, and tradition are just a few words to describe the life high up in the Bottom. The characters and stories of the Bottom were truly intriguing to me. The book “Sula” written by Toni Morison has a great message to send.
I felt sympathy in the beginning for the character Shadrack that is unique throughout the story. The accounts of soldiers and their struggles always seem to strike a special place in my heart. After Shadrack returns home from the war he goes a bit crazy and develops something called National Suicide Day in the Bottom. Shadrack became the most difficult character to figure out as the book went on.
Besides a strange beginning, the middle of the book is even stranger. Nel and her mother are conservative and proper unlike Sula and her mother, which are liberal and passionate. I knew that the two little girls would naturally attract to each other because of their contrast in personalities. Nel and Sula are inseparable and it made me miss my own childhood. I don’t know how I feel about the Chicken Little scene in the book. It was a mix of sadness, anger, and shock. The way Nel and Sula reacted towards the event seemed as if they felt nothing had happened. Sula was crying but she was more afraid of Shadrack and didn’t seem to feel any sort of sadness. Nel didn’t show emotion about the event. It was barely spoken of between the two girls. I am hoping that in discussion we can talk more about this event and why it had such little impact on the girls.
One of the most powerful scenes in the book is when Sula’s mother Hannah burned herself in the fire. The scene was so shocking to me I could hardly keep reading without letting out a gasp. I am wondering what urged Hannah to do it and why she would kill herself right in the front lawn for everyone to see including her daughter Sula. When Eva jumped out of the window I thought for a moment that she would die too but she was somehow saved throughout the story for a purpose that I am trying to figure out. The sight of seeing your mother burn to death had to have affected Sula greatly. The psychological affects might be the reason why she insists on only caring about herself.
I’m not sure if the author wants to put emphasis on the problems in society (white vs. black) or the importance of friendship. I feel that she intended to stress friendship but could not leave out the problems the black community faces. It could be argued either way.
One section I was unable to understand in the book was the significance of the robins. “The plague” (89) the Bottom called it. I felt that the robins could represent the white community moving in to their own. Taking away their land and so much more. It shows how the community gave up in a way, “But they let it run it’s course, fulfill itself, and never invented ways to either alter it, to annihilate it or to prevent its happening again” (90).
In the end of the book Sula ultimately betrays her best friend Nel. I felt confused when the incident happened. I couldn’t understand why Sula would make such a decision. Eva is even more intriguing in the end. She was the grandmother of the town and she knew everyone. The way she speaks to Nel at the nursing home represents something more about Nel’s character. I am eager to discuss the book in class because I have so many questions about the characters and their actions.