Toni%20Morrison

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Toni Morrison

• The Pulitzer Prize for her novel Beloved.
• 1993 the Nobel Prize for Literature.
• The first African-American woman to win the
  award.

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Toni Morrison (1931-)

• Born in Ohio. (1931-)
• Fiction Complex experience of Afro-American.
• Novel The Bluest Eye, Sula, Song of Solomon,
  Beloved, Jazz

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Sula

• Race
• Womanhood
• The effects of history
• The contingencies of love
• Examining how all four intertwine to affect the
  beliefs and actions of individuals.

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Sula Part OneI. Prologue Bottom

• The changes taking place in the once all-black
  neighborhood known as the Bottom in the hills
  above the once all-white town of Medallion, Ohio.
• B. Bottom received its name from a slave owner's
  greedy deception of a slave (1994).

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II. 1919 Shadrack

1. Shadrack suffered a traumatic experience in World
   War I in 1917.
2. National Suicide Day (1999).

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III. 1920 Helene Wright
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IV. 1921 Eva Peace
Rekus Sula
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V. 1922 Sula and Nel

• Nel and Sula had radically different
• personalities Nel was quiet and
• unassuming while Sula was spontaneous
• and aggressive. Together, the girls seemed
• to form two halves of a whole person.
• B. Their friendship was so close, they
• themselves had difficulty distinguishing
• ones thoughts from the othersThey
• never quarreled (2031).
• C. I love Sula. I just dont like her
  (2019).

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V. 1922 Sula and Nel

• Sula playfully swung Chicken Little
• around by his hands, but he accidentally
  slipped from her grip. He fell into the river and
  drowned (2021).
• E. Shadrack told Sula Always (2021).
• F. The white sheriff thought to throw
• Chicken Little back to the water (2022).

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IV. 1923 Hannahs Death

• A. Mamma, did you ever love us? (2023).
• B. Whatd you kill Plum for, Mamma? (2025).
• 1. He wanted to crawl back in my womb
  (2026).
• 2. I had to keep him out so I just thought of a
  way he could die like a man not all scrunched up
  inside my womb, but like a man (2026).

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IV. 1923 Hannahs Death

• A. Hannah dreamed of a wedding in a red bridal
  gown(2026).
• B. She Eva saw Hannah burningshe threw
  herself out of window (2028).
• 1. Eva and Hannah were sent to the hospital in
  the same ambulance, and Hannah died on the way
  (2028).
• 2. Eva considered that Sula had watched Hannah
  burn not because she was paralyzed but because
  she was interested (2029).

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VII. 1927 Nels Wedding

• A. Jude married Nel.
• Jude was a waiter at the Hotel Medallion.
  However, he longed to have a man's job.
• The blacks were not allowed to build the New
  River Road (2030).
• With her he was head of a household pinned to an
  unsatisfactory job out of necessity. The two of
  them together would make one Jude (2031).
• B. Sula left the Bottom to attend college. She
  did not return for 10 years (2032).

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Sula Part One I. 1937 Sulas Return

• Accompanied by a plague of robins, Sula came
  back to Medallion (2032).
• B. Eva criticized Sulas dress and her remaining
  unmarried (2033-4).
• C. Sula quarreled with Eva. Sula was afraid of
  Eva and sent her to a nursing home that the white
  church run, shocking the entire community (2034).
• D. Sula had sex with Jude and was found by Nel.
  Jude left Nel.

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II. 1939 Sula and Ajax

• A. People in the town regarded Sula as a bitch.
  There were rumors about her.
• B. The meaning of the birthmark over her eye
  it was not a stemmed rose, or a snake, it was
  Hannahs ashes marking her from the very
  beginning (2044).
• C. In order to justify their statement, they
  began to cherish their husbands and wives,
  protect their children, repair their homes and in
  general band together against the devil in their
  midst (2046).

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• D. Nel thought, a lover was not a comrade and
  could never befor a woman (2046).
• E. Ajax and Sula had a passionate affair,
  enjoying one another's independence.
• F. For the first time in her life, Sula
  experienced the desire for possession of her
  lover (2052).
• G. When Ajax sensed her new domestic impulse, he
  abandoned the relationship. She was devastated by
  his abandonment.
• H. The real name of Ajax was Albert Jacks
  (2054).

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III. 1940 Revelation

• A. When Sula fell seriously ill, Nel went to see
  her for the first time in three years.
• B. The important conversations between Sula and
  Nel.
• 1. Nel You a woman and a colored woman
• at that. You cant act like a man.
• Sula You repeating yourself (2057).
• 2. Every colored woman in this country is dying
• like a stump. Me Sula, Im going down like
  
• one of those redwoods. I sure did live in
  this
• world (2057).

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• 3. Sula My lonely is mine. Now your lonely is
  somebody elses. Made by somebody else and handed
  to you. Aint that something? A secondhand
  lonely? (2057-8).
• 4. Sula didnt love Jude. He just filled up the
  space in Sulas head (2058).
• 5. Sula If we were such good friends, how come
  you couldnt get over it? (2058).
• 6. Sula About who was good. How you know it was
  you?
• I mean maybe it wasnt you. Maybe it was
  
• me (2059).
• D. Sula was dead.

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IV. 1941 After Sulas Death

• A. The community of the Bottom regards Sulas
  death as a good omen (2060).
• B. A devastating frost overtakes the area (2061).
  
• C. Shadrack felt lonely for the first time after
  war (2063).
• D. Sulas belt was Shadracks sign of a visitor,
  his only one (2064).
• E. After Sulas death, Shadrack realized there
  was no always (2064).

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• Many of the Bottom's residents, follow Shadrack
  on his march.
• They walk to the tunnel where they begin to
  vandalize the construction site because the jobs
  have again been denied to black workers.
• Suddenly, it collapses, and many of Shadrack's
  followers, including the Deweys, drown (2065-6).

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V. 1965 Nels Awakening

• A. The black community of the Bottom has slowly
  moved into the once all-white city of Medallion
  to build homes.
• B. Only rich white folks were building homes in
  the hills (2068).
• C. People lost the community because people lived
  in isolated house.
• D. Eva accused Nel for killing Chicken Little. It
  reminded her that she felt good to see him fall
  and she remained calm at that time (2070).
• E. All that time, all that time, I Nel thought
  I was missing Jude (2072). Nel whispered Sula's
  name and then cried out in grief for her deceased
  friend.

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Questions

1. Was it possible that Sula and Nel are lesbians?
2. Did Eva kill Hannah?
3. What was Evas definition of love and like?
4. What important theme in Sula did Shadrack
   represent?
5. What was the possible symbolic significance of
   Eva's missing leg?
6. What were some possible reasons for Eva's
   decision to kill Plum?
7. What was the meaning of Sulas birthmark?
8. Sula thought The real hell of Hell is that it is
   forever, does it have something to do with
   Shadracks Always?
9. Why did Shadrack like Sula?
10. Why did Sula like to think of sex as wicked?
    (2048)