Sula: part II

"The black people, for all their new look, seemed awfully anxious to get to the valley, or leave town, and abandon the hills to whoever was interested. It was sad, because the Bottom had been a real place. These young ones kept talking about the community, but they left the hills to the poor, the old, the stubborn – and the rich white folks. Maybe it hadn’t been a community, but it had been a place. Now there weren’t any places left, just separate houses with separate televisions and separate telephones and less and less dropping by."

To me, this passage symbolizes Nel and Sula’s eventual drift apart. It explains how two parts of one self came to be separated by the passage of time. They remain friends in a particular place in time, just as the Bottom remains a community in a fragment of time. Their drift apart parallels their community’s disintegration. In a larger sense, Morrison appears to be highlighting one of the flaws of the postmodern society – isolation. While early 20th century communities were far from perfect, there was a sense of solidarity. Each had their own idiosyncrasies, in contrast to the faceless metropolises that dot the American landscape today.

This passage adds to the mythological quality of Morrison’s work. It seems the reader is always examining closely, yet is still remaining on the outside, confined to their own little particular place in time.

In a way, her strangeness, her naivete, her craving for the other half of her equation was the consequence of idle imagination. Had she paints, or clay, or knew the discipline of the dance, or strings; had she anything to engage her tremendous curiosity and her gift for metaphor, she might have exchanged the restlessness and preoccupation with whim for an activity that provided her with all she yearned for. And like any artist with no art form, she became dangerous.

I chose this passage because it highlights a major theme throughout the novel. Women have consistently turned to men, as a way to seemingly subvert the power hierarchy. What's ironic is that, while having sexual power makes one feel good in the moment, it doesn't change the historical paradigm. Woman's only creative outlet was to be a sex artist, which proved to be deeply unsatisfying for Sula, and many others.

Until very recently in history, women were denied many of the economic advantages men enjoyed. It is easy to forget that most of us still have grandparents who lived before the women's rights movement, without political, social, or sexual freedom. The setting of Sula isn't even a hundred years ago, which makes me very appreciative of those who fought to earn my sex equal opportunities for societal advancement.

Further, Sula and Nel were doubly disadvantaged, being minorities and women. While Sula tried to better herself, it didn't earn her respect from her fellow townspeople - she was ostracized and alienated for pushing the boundaries.