-- from Rena
pages 26-27

My passage comes from pages 26-27, and the passage starts off with Rochelle saying "Comment t'appelle?" and ends with Helene on page 27 saying "and neither do you ."

This passage stood out to me because this was a prime example of what I brought up in class of Lighter skinned people rejecting thier blackness so to say.  Helene knows that she speaks creole but refuses to answer Nel's questions. I also think that this is her way of rebelling against being like her mother.

______________
--from Sara
pages 28-29

"Late that night after the fire was made, . . . the first time she was ever to leave Medallion."

I like this passage because it sets up Nel's personality. It shows that she has big dreams and high standards. In the end, however, it comes back to her because somewhere along the lines, she forgets to be herself; to live for herself. I guess I like the irony it shows within Nel's character. It shows that a person can say that they have this drive and determination, but when it comes down to it, they just don't live it.
______________

--from Bretlan
pages 47-48

It begins on p.47 with "Plum on the rim of a warm light sleep..." Through the next paragraph on p.48 where it ends "...back to the top of the house."

When I initially read this paragraph, I was drawn into re-reading it. At first I thought Plum's ignition scene was maybe another character's dream. It is the first time that Eva's actions are so zealous. These actions remain enigmatic and it is not until several pages later until it is revealed why Eva set her son on fire.

______________

--from RS1950
page 49

The main thing that I love about Toni Morrison is her description of the
places in her books.  For example on page 49, "It was too cool for ice
cream. . . . watched her retreating view with interest."  I feel like I'm
actually there with the characters. I can see the surrounding scenery,
smell the air and even feel the world around me. I can step into the
Bottom with Sula and Nel.

______________

-- from Amber
pp. 58-59
Nel and Sula, both on the brink of
adolescence, find themselves lying in a patch of shade
near the river. The two girls proceed, without
exchanging words or glances, to strip a pair of twigs
of their bark, then use those twigs to dig a hole in
the dirt. When one of these twigs breaks, it is
rendered useless and discarded into the hole, followed
by the other twig and all bits of debris found in the
immediate area. Nel and Sula seem to be engaged in
child’s play, yet the underlying chaos of puberty is
evident through their actions. It is not simply
Morrison’s symbolism that strikes me here, but the
symbolism of the girls’ actions – symbolic to them,
rather than us, the readers.  After the girls have rid
themselves, or perhaps their world, of “all the small
defiling things they could find” and buried them under
earth, an unfortunate event occurs.  When Chicken
Little slips from Sula’s hands and flies into the
river, it seems a tragic accident has taken place.  I
believe, though, that the preceding moments in which
Nel and Sula display with subtlety intense emotions
reveal that this was not exactly an accident.  Nor was
it a contemplated murder – Chicken Little happened
upon two pubescent girls at the wrong time and became
no more than another symbol in their activities. He
is but a “defiling object,” and is tossed away.
______________

--from Amanda
page 85:

"So they danced up in the Bottom on the second Saturday in June, danced at the wedding where everybody realized for the first time that except for their magnificent teeth, the deweys would never grow. They had been forty-eight inches tall for years now, and while
their size was unusual it was not unheard of. The realization was based on the fact that they remained boys in mind. Mischievous, cunning, private and completely unhousebroken, their games and interests had not changed since Hannah had them all put into the first grade together."

I liked this paragraph because it made me laugh out loud. The description of the Deweys is funny because it describes them so concisely, but almost like little animals instead of people. Though they have chronologically aged, they still seem like children, even in their childlike stature. It's also a good paragraph because most of the readers probably know people like the Deweys, who have never really matured, and they remember these immature people just as they were as children. I could easily describe people from my childhood as "Mischievous, cunning, private and completely unhousebroken" when I have seen them later and noted they have not changed any.

______________

--from Magpie83
pages 89-90

I liked the two paragraphs from page 89 to 90.  The passage begins with "In spite of their fear, they reacted to an oppressive oddity . . ." and ends with "They knew anger well but not despair, and they didn't stone sinners for the same reason they didn't commit suicide--it was beneath them."

This paragraph caught my attention when I read it for the first time, and it is even more significant to me know that I have finished the book. The passage shows that the people in Medallion almost seemed to enjoy suffering because they knew they will be stronger if they overcome it. They never tried to stop evil or bad things from happening. They kind of accepted that life was going to be harsh at times. The bad things that happened were just a part of life for them. Once the people survived a disparity they were that much stronger. The problems that they faced seemed to make their lives more interesting. I especially like the lines, "They did not believe death was accidental--life might be, but death was deliberate. They did not believe Nature was ever askew--only inconvenient." They thought everything happened for a purpose; whether or not we like it does not matter.  This passage shows
that we better accept things the way they are because they are not going to change.

______________

--from TomTomEditor
pages 90-91

Begin page 90: "Sula stepped off the Cincinnati Flyer . . . Ends page 91: . . . did the fox that was wearing them."

I enjoyed this passage because it shows Sula with her normal air of confidence as she returns. She is dressed "as close to a movie star as anyone would ever see" and it seems the whole town of Medallion is impressed with her return.  Everyone except Eva who is resentful and angry upon her return. The passage is written beautifully, but it also correctly and concisely portrays both Eva and Sula.

______________

--from Ale
pp. 103-04

Sula:"They spens so much time worrying about your penis they forget their own . The only thing they want to do is to cut off a n----r's privates.   And if that ain't love and respect I don't know what it is. . . . ( continues on pg.104 )."

In this passage Sula gives us an insight of racism during the 1930's. She ironically and even , mockingly narrates the burden of being a black men in a white dominated society. It is this passage, is  a glimpse of what the black men had to endure on a daily basis that is the disrespect, harrassment and insults. Furthermore Jude, like many other black men could not contradict the fixated stereotype that all white man thought he was.

In this passage Sula gives us an insight of the treatment the black men had to face from whites.  Furthermore she ilustrates racism in the 1930's. The black community suffered from the racism and segregation that was placed upon them by a whitely dominated society. Here, Sula tells us of the burden of the black man different skin color.
______________

--from Emily
pages 107-08

"She looked around for a place to be . . . she would lose that too."

This passage stood out to me because I identified with it. The bathroom is the place I go to be angry, to be sad, just to be. The bathroom is like a little sanctuary where you get ride of
everything (including the physical waste). I clean my body and sometimes mind in the bathroom.  No one is there to tell you what to think or feel, and there is nothing there to compare anything  to. While I read this passage I could almost feel the heat of anger on my head, and how cool and soothing the cold tiles would be. Surely this passage reveals more than I can tell, but mostly I can relate personally to Nel in this passage.

______________

--from Sarah Beth
pages 110-11


"Ooo no, not Sula. . . .  O my sweet Jesus what kind of cross is that?"
This passage strikes me and stings me. Nel is utterly alone. She realizes that she has lost not only her husband, but her best friend.  She analyzes how adultery only starts with looking. Then she imagines her life and all the hard work she puts into it without any intimacy, no one to hold and make love to. Then she cries out to Jesus--what kind of cross is that? This sentence particularly is signifigant to me because I wonder if she is questioning if the cross has enough mercy or if she is asking Jesus if this is the cross she has to bear.

______________

--from Steve
page 118:

"...ever since her mother's remarks sent her flying up those stairs, ever since her one
major feeling of responsibility had been exorcised on the bank of a river with a closed place in the middle. The first experience taught her there was no other that you could count on; the second that there was no self to count on either."

This line is really emblematic of the gloom and self defeat that is inherent in the whole story.
While the author revels in the spiritual success of the community of the "Bottom," the triumph of life over oppression and the existence of a thriving community in spite of the disadvantages levied against it, this is a personal story of self defeat that didn't need to be. How many people have had worse situations thrust upon them and still come out with a strong, or even stronger, sense of self? Sula takes two incidents that are tragic and traumatic, though not overly so compared to many I can think of, and gives them enough weight to allow them to snuff out any light she may have once had. This passage reveals how sensitive Sula really is, in opposition to the hard facade she shows throughout the story. Nel retreats into conventionality, Sula retreats into confrontation. Even as a child, Sula would over react to adversity (cutting off a fingertip?). As an adult, it was she who was afraid of losing someone to the point that she wouldn't even contemplate being one of the "spiders," suspended so high it was afraid to fall.  She chose to just stay low to the ground her whole life instead (pg 120).
_______________

--from Katlin
pages 122 & 174:

I find the key passages to be the second paragraph on page 122. There Sula tells why she
has acted the way she has and that the whole time she has been looking for loneliness. After reading that part we can understand Sula and realize that there is no need to judge her.

Another key point appears in the last four paragraphs on page 174 (the last 12 lines) as there we find Nel’s answer to the strange fur ball and her relationship with Sula.

_______________

--from Juan
pages 148-49, and page 174

Pages 148 and 149: “Several times she cried to cry out…”

Morrison creates the feeling of agony in the reader. We feel Sula dying in us, we understand that her pain is unbearable. The lines that stick up the most are the last words from Sula, who is talking when she is already dead: “Well, I’ll be damned... wait’ll I tell Nel” It is her spirit talking and displaying a default reaction by mentioning Nel like she always did. Deep inside, her bond with Nel is never broken like it is shown in the second passage that I chose.

Page 174: “Suddenly Nel Stopped”

It is the end of the novel, and Nel realizes that her thoughts of good are not the same as the thought of Sula. Criticizing her only true friend was the biggest mistake she ever did, because she was criticizing herself. “We was girls together,” Nel says rediscovering the linkage she always had with Nel.  She cries because it is too late to spend time together, by themselves, and with their own thoughts.

_______________

English 2100H is taught by Dr. Richard Nordquist.
Armstrong Atlantic State University
University Hall 297D
11935 Abercorn Street
Savannah, Georgia 31419
912-921-5991
e-mail: nordqudi@mail.armstrong.edu        

 
05 November 2002

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