Charles French Sula 1

The first passage that caught my attention when reading this first part of Sula was when Shadrack's experiences in the war are described. The narrator states that Shadrack " . . . ran, bayonet fixed, deep in the great sweep of men flying across this field. Wincing at the pain in his foot, he turned his head a little to the right and saw the face of a soldier near him fly off. Before he could register shock, the rest of the soldier's head disappeared under the inverted soup bowl of his helmet. But stubbornly, taking no direction from the brain, the body of the headless soldier ran on, with energy and grace, ignoring altogether the drip and slide of brain tissue down its back" ( Sula 8). I feel that two things about this passage are what cause it to stand out to me perticularly. The first is that it describes Shadrack losing a close companion. My grandfather, who I was very close to, passed away on October of last year. Though my grandfather didn't die in nearly so violent a manner, I still felt some deeper connection to Shadrack and his lose. I could also sympathize with his later mental instability due to the traumatic experiences that he encountered during the war. Secondly this passage stuck out to me because there is an absence of women in this scene of war. This reminds me of the popular belief that women should not be fighting on the front lines of our battles. I also think that this mindset plays into the false belief of women as being the weaker, less agressive sex.

The second passage from the first part of Sula that really struck me was when Eva is trying to explain her tough situation to Hannah saying "No time. They wasn't no time. Not none. Soon as I got one day done here come a night. With you all coughin' and me watchin' so TB wouldn't take you off and if you was sleepin' quiet I thought, O Lord, they dead and put my hand over your mouth to feel if the breath was comin' what you talkin' bout did I love you girl I stayed alive for you can't you get that through your thick head or what is that between your ears, heifer?" (Sula 69). This passage stuck me because it reminded me of my own childhood, not being able to understand why my father was gone so much, and when he was home why he was usually in his office so much. As a young child I was looking for constant attention from him and not grasping the fact that he was working so hard in order to provide for his family. Making the long commute into the city and working long days and weekends took time with him away from me and at the time that is all I could understand. I didn't understand what it was like to be a grown up with so much responsability. I think that situation is very similar to Hannah's situation with her mother. She hasn't seen that affection coming her way from her mother (at least not on the direct level) but it isn't that Eva doesn't love her child, it's that Eva is so busy providing the basic necessities for her daughter that she is unable to go above and beyond and to show Hannah that "traditional" love that Hannah is expecting.