Sula

The first passage I've chosen to write about can be found on page 40. It reads, "Hannah worried about him a little, but only a very little. For it soon became clear that he simply wanted a place to die privately but not quite alone. No one thought of suggesting to him that he pull himself together or see a doctor or anything. Even the women at prayer meeting who cried when he sang "In the Sweet By-and-By" never tired to get him to participate in the church activities. They just listened to him sing. wept and thought very graphically of their own imminent deaths."

This excerpt stood out to me because I think it's a universal feeling that we share when close ones are in need of help or attention. It's applicable to me as the reader as well as others around me. I think that when others are in such a state that he is others tend to loose hope or take on an "oh well" mentality. It's rare to find someone that cares more about that other person's well-being enough to loose interest in themself. However, in this case there was no one like that to pull him out of this state, not even to suggest that he see a doctor or to take on the sober battle themself. In fact, people around him showed such selfishness that they began imagining their own deaths due to his situation, they turned the attention back on themselves. So far I see a running theme of death and selfishness in the novel and I hope things become more positive in the second half. Now, the argument can be made that it says he wanted to die privately but not quite alone so the women were providing him with his wishes. I beg to differ; concidering the community he is in, which is small and tight-nit, I think it's fair to assume that regardless of his habits, he cares about the people around him and wants them near him but lacks the ability to show that or ask for it. I think this also displays another theme in the book which is a lack of personal responsiblity. I would argue that the people around him, that see him like that, need to take responsiblity to help him instead of waiting for him to ask.


The next excerpt I've chosen is from a scene that takes place on pages 68-69 where Hannah is talking to her mom, Eva.
"'I'm talkin' 'bout 18 and 95 when I set in that house five days iwth you and Pearl and Plum and three beets, you snake-eyed ungrateful hussy. What would I look like leapin' 'round that little old room playin' with youngins with three beets to my name?"'

This is Eva's response to Hannah's question, asking if Eva ever played with her children. Eva also makes the point that just because things are good now doesn't mean they've always been good. I think this is so true and something that many of us tend to forget. I know that I forget what my parents have done and gone through to get to where they are now and while things are good now and we are finincailly and emotionally stable, it's been a fight to get here. Even though Hannah says yes, she knows about the beets it's much different to hear stories and know them than it is to have lived it. We so often take things for grandit and don't realize how others had to struggle so that we can reep the benifits. This is a true moment of children's innosence. Also, this shows the difference between the two in what they value, Eva values hard work and apprication while Hannah values time together and love.