16 June 2010: Sula

1937: I was taken back by a small passage that takes place after Sula returns, right in the beginning of the second part of the novel. I am not so sure why my attention was grabbed so quickly by this sort of overview of a passage but I found its words to be powerful and beautiful. “The purpose of evil was to survive it and they determined (without ever knowing they had made up their minds to do it) to survive floods, white people, tuberculosis, famine and ignorance. 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.” I think this is a moving strand of sentences. It shows how strong the people of Bottom really are, perhaps without even the knowledge of their strength but that it is there nonetheless. I think after reading this entire book that each character has a certain intangible strength, in their own way. I also love how evil is defined as not something to be hurtful or painful, not that it isn't, but the true purpose of evil is just to wake up the next day still breathing. Although there may be immense suffering and years of pain ahead, the hardest part is over, the surviving has been accomplished, and nothing can take that away. I think that is wonderful.

1939: I was also very moved by a passage because of a class discussion that we have previously had about scars on women and how they are viewed as a negative aspect of the body. This passage comes right after Sula has engaged in an affair with Jude and there is tons of gossip forming that Sula is a dreadful, awful woman, perhaps even a witch of sorts. “That incident, and Teapot's Mamma, cleared up for everybody the meaning of the birthmark over her eye; it was not a stemmed rose, or a snake, it was Hannah's ashes marking her from the very beginning.” I find this description of Sula's birthmark very interesting when it is juxtaposed with previous descriptions of her mark. Before, it was a sign of beauty, a rose which we have determined is a sign of delicacy and allure. The people of Bottom praised the mark because it was a physical representation of Sula's intangible, beautiful qualities. However, once the people of Bottom become convinced that Sula is a terrible person, it becomes a target and a physical representation of Sula's pure evilness. I find it really interesting the way the mark has flip flopped from something great to something disturbing, as if our physical marks can somehow change with our actions and take on a new idea with our mishaps.