1920: I was really saddened by the section when Nel and Helene are traveling to Helen's grandmother's house. They are on the train when Helene begins to realize that there are no restrooms for “Colored Women.” She asks people where the restrooms are, and there response is simply, “Yonder.” Once off the train, she even frantically searches for the door marked “Colored Women,” but simply never finds it. She then sees a family “yonder,” relieving themselves and she realizes she and her daughter have to do the same. This is simply a disturbing passage to me. It is degrading enough to have to use a separate restroom just because of one's skin color but to not even be provided with a restroom is horrifying. While, this scene is awful, I think there is something really beautiful about the way Helene chooses to carry herself. She does so with such strength and confidence, “Helene could not only fold leaves as well as the fat woman, she never felt a stir as she passed the muddy eyes of the men who stood wrecked Dorics under the station roofs of those towns.” While a situation like this should never take place, I love that Helene makes the best of it, there is something about it that just shows that strength can come from the most unbearable situations.
1922: This was quite possibly my favorite section of the ones I have read so far. I was entirely moved by the scene where Nel and Sula decide to take the shortest path home, although they may run into boys that previously bullied them. Sula pulls out a knife and cuts the tip of her own finger off and says, “If I can do that to myself, what you suppose I'll do to you ?” I am absolutely in love with Sula's strength here. Not only are her and Nel standing up against their bullies by taking this certain path home but Sula is showing quite boldly that she is simply not afraid of them. The boy's reaction is perfect, as they inch back away from her. Although it is not described, I can just picture their faces in this moment, confused, horrified, and totally surprised. I also think it shows a lot about Sula's character that she is willing to hurt herself other than these boys. I would argue that most would simply threaten the boys with the knife or go as far to cut the tip of one of their fingers off which would show dominance but I don't think that is what Sula is going for. I think she just wants to show control, over herself and a certain confidence.
I did not like the passage about the Irish boys. I thought it was horrible that a group that is already suffering from prejudice would go on to treat another group in the same manner. That section really made me think about the ways in which groups that are victims to prejudice treat each other. It really brought to mind the gang wars in California. I thought about the outrage and disappointment that blacks felt at their own race for destroying each other. I was seeing this common theme of uniting to fight the real bully instead of falling apart to fight the person that is a victim as much as you are.
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