Since its contributions to Medallion and the rest of the world must be limited and menial, and since it cannot express the resulting frustration, the community becomes enmeshed-intensely nurturing and as intensely restrictive and destructive. The Bottom is established, beautiful but unable to nourish the inhabitants…the community must direct both creative and destructive energy inward. “Sula” explores a negative situation that, once established, does not change: ''Life at the Bottom'' Universe Overall Story Throughline Nel is emotionally uplifted when she finally is able to release the hurt and anger she has felt toward Sula. Now there weren’t any places left, just separate houses with separate televisions and separate telephones and less and less dropping by. Maybe it hadn’t been a community, but it had been a place. These young ones kept talking about the community, but they left the hills to the poor, the old, the stubborn-and the rich white folks. It was sad, because the Bottom had been a real place. Failure Story OutcomeĪ future for the community of the Bottom is never realized: Nel’s only options are to keep or release her anger after she accepts her guilt in Chicken Little’s drowning and confronts Sula for the part she has played in the dissolution of her marriage and their friendship.

Action Story DriverĪfter Sula swings Chicken Little into the water leading to his accidental drowning, Nel and Sula decide to keep mum Nel decides to end her friendship with Sula after discovering Sula and Jude naked after Sula overhears Hannah confess to her friends she loves her daughter but does not like her, Sula determines she no longer can count on others after the psychological battering of the war and its resultant terrors Shadrack decides to devote only one day a year to fear Plum’s drug addiction causes his mother to decide to end his life and so forth. Nel uses Sula to creates balance within herself and environment.

105)Īfter Jude leaves Nel, she winds up her anger into an imaginary gray ball so that she may function. I am just standing here seeing it, but they are not really doing it…I just stood there seeing it and smiling, because maybe there was some explanation, something important that would make it all right. When Nel finds Jude and Sula naked in her bedroom, she thinks: Any enthusiasms that little Nel showed were calmed by the mother until she drove her daughter’s imagination underground” (Morrison, 1973, p. Be-er Main Character Approachįrom childhood, Nel copes with problems internally: Nel starts living her own life independent of hurt and anger. Nel lets go of her hatred for Sula the oppression she has allowed herself to live with is lifted. 8 of the 12 essential questions Change Main Character Resolve

Sula toni morrison sparknotes