The Joys of Motherhood - Katherine Delgado

Reading the first few chapters of "The Joys of Motherhood" has left me in Awe. This story begins with the "end" and goes back to what led it there. When Nnu Ego loses her baby, I almost cried with her. I couldn't believe that after having married Amatokwu, whom she was madly in love with, but ended up divorcing because he replaced her. Nnu couldn't bear children with him, and after marrying a man she didn't even know and despised after, she was blessed with motherhood. But her chi took him away from her after just weeks of having received him. This story hit home, because I know the pain that people go through when they lose a pregnancy that they wanted so much. But other than the sad story that Nnu Ego goes thru (up till chapter 6) there are many elements of feminism in this story. Buchi Emecheta writes about women who are suppresed and overpowered by men. The only character that possibily stands out as not being suppresed is Nnu Ego's mother, Ona. She was apparently liberal and didn't marry Agbadi. He was her lover and had him praising the ground she walked on because she was forbidden to him. Yet she was being oppressed by her father. Her father didn't allow her to marry and it was said that if she had a son, then he would have to carry on Ona's father's name. With this it almost seemed like the men held the power in the novel. Yet there was this line, said by Cordelia, "Men here are too busy being white men's servants to be men. We women mind the home. Not our husbands. Their manhood has been taken away from them. The shame of it is that they don't know it. All they see is the money, shining white man's money" (51). And so it's interesting to see that though the men think they have the power over their women, the white man has power over them. A few passages before Nnu Ego tells her husband, Nnaife, "I want to live with a man, not a woman-made man" (50). This line reminds me of Woolf's idea that a man needs to me man-womanly and a woman, woman-manly. This is an idea that I think Nnu Ego would strongly disagree.

Jasmine Nieves Second Half of Sula

I could not help but to realize that in Part two, on chapter 1937, there is a drastic change on the character Sula. This is where the reader gets the idea that she is no longer the same person as she was before. The opening chapter explains her visiting Eva, after being gone for quite a while. This is where we get an image of how many years has passed since the two have met, when Sula asks the following to Eva, “Don’t you say hello to nobody when you ain’t seen them for ten years?” This demonstrates Sula’s tone which is forward and direct. This quote also signifies the tension that will start to mount between Sula and Eva, and how Sula’s attitude shifts drastically (91).
As the chapter progresses, Sula’s and Eva’s conversation becomes more intense. Sula adds constant stabs to her remarks against Eva. She starts to fight back towards Eva’s hostile personality, “Which God? The one watched you burn Plum?” (93). This question is an attack towards Eva’s previous remark, “Pus mouth! God’s going to strike you!” This conversation between these two women is highly significant because it shows the route that Sula is taking, and that is the route to rebelliousness. It further demonstrates how Sula’s character is growing, which was a surprise because I had the idea that she was going to stay the same throughout the novel.
Another important factor in this conversation is that both women do not deny the accusations that are being thrown at them. Sula blames Eva for burning her son, whereas Eva blames Sula for watching her mom burn to death. This shows that these two women represent guilt, but that it is something that they are not able to express so forwardly, instead they blame each other for the guilt that they possess inside. Finally, this conversation signifies Sula’s end to innocence, and the beginning of her achieving whatever she wants.
That achievement is when she beds her former best friend’s husband Jude. Sula’s intention was not to end Nel’s marriage with Jude. It was to demonstrate a change in how women should feel and think, and that they should not feel pressured into the norms of marriage. They should not have constraints on what they want to do with their lives. This idea manifests into Sula’s ultimate character towards the end of the novel. She develops an intense transformation and eventually affects those that are around her.

First Half of Sula- Kathleen O'Donnell

Choice and Choosing in Sula

I’ve heard that Toni Morrison is a “love or hate” kind of author. Her simplistic writing style can either win people over or deter them from reading any other piece of her work. Halfway through Sula, I’m not convinced either way. I do enjoy the drama and characterization, but I find myself wondering why on earth people are burning to death and how it could have happened so suddenly. Despite my personal woes with Sula, I have found an interesting theme throughout Part One of the novel: Choice.

Life up in the Bottom of Medallion is not very glamorous. For years, all of the black families that live there have struggled to make ends meet. Though their circumstances are not surprising, their experiences lead to an age-old question: Do we determine our own futures or are they determined for us by society, destiny, or some other unknown force? The choice of the families of the Bottom is maybe not to change their paths, but to make the most of them. In some cases, that’s all they can do.

On a deeper level, the characters in Sula make drastic decisions throughout their histories. There are the older women, Helene’s mother and Eva,who make drastically different choices regarding their children. Helene’s mother is distant and abandon’s her daughter early in her life. Eva, on the other hand, abandons her children for a short time only to return and a build a life for them that previously seemed dismal. The ideas of sacrifice and pride are put at odds with each other with these matriarchal figures in the text.

Hannah, Sula’s mother, and Helene, Nel’s mother are also very contrasted characters. Helene runs an ordered household. Dirt and grime bother her and she is supremely happy that she only has to see her husband every once in a while. Hannah on the other hand, is more of a free spirit. Her house is the epitome of busy with tenants, stray children, and her own mother and daughter. She frequently has lovers and craves the consistent company of men. Their choices affect their families and as Part One draws to a close, it seems as though Nel and Sula’s personalities and futures have been chosen for them by their upbringings.

Nel and Sula’s decision to become friends might just be the most important choice they ever make. With all that is sure to come in part two of the book, the choices in their adult life will strongly affect their lives and those around them. Thinking of my own struggle with Toni Morrison, I choose to keep reading and find out the fate of the two heroines.

Sula by Deja Murrain

One particular part of this novel that stuck out to me was the relationship between Sula and her entire community. I found it extremely captivating how a group of people who had so much in common at the the time could be so against one person, Sula. It made me think of High School and that idea of bullying or singling a person out for some odd reason or difference. You have an outcast or that one person who refuses to conform to societies agenda and he or she is singled out as a result of it for the rest of their life! This is how I view Sula.

She is described as "evil" because she did not fit the ideal role of a woman during this time. Yes, she was very promiscuous and bold in her character but so were other characters. One example being that of Ajax, another character who slept around just as much as Sula but was never singled out or scrutinized for it. This also made me question this issue with sexism and how it still applies to our society today which also leads back to our diagram on the id and the ego.

However, I believe Sula's brazen character is a direct result of her upbringing. For an example, she overhears her mother (Hannah) confirm that she "does not like her daughter but she loves her." After hearing something as harsh as this as a child there is no wonder that Sula loses her childhood innocence and completely rebells because of it. I always believe that such instances stem from the home, the parents, the roots and Sula is a perfect example of this.

The community claims Sula to be evil but she is only evil because they raised her to be that way.

Wednesday, Oct. 26, Assignment

Dear students,

I'm sorry to report that I am home sick today. Yana said she would post a sign on the door, and I asked her to tell you to check the blog here for your assignment.

Your assignment for Wednesday is the same assignment we had for today: to finish Sula and start (get as far as you can reading) The Joys of Motherhood. BRING BOTH BOOKS. On Wednesday, we will pick up with the group discussions from last week, giving Groups No. 3-5 time to present their textual passages and discuss their viewpoints. Then, we will examine the topic of "the historical mother" -- mothers, and daughters, as cultural images -- before starting our lecture on and discussion about Buchi Emecheta's novel.

You might take this opportunity early this week to post your assigned blog entry (a journal entry on either Sula or The Joys of Motherhood). Thanks to Kimbalee for getting the process started, and for your moving testimonies on behalf of Clem and his family.

My best to all,
Prof. Hinton

1st half of Sula By Kimalee Blake

After reading the first half of Sula, I was amazed as to all the drama one person can make to a whole community. The person that captivated my attention from the beginning of the book was Sula herself. The community said, “Sula’s mother was sooty” (29) and as a result, parents do not want their children around Sula because of the reputation her mother carried. Then Nel, one of the other children in the neighborhood started to befriend Sula but her mother Helene states, “Her daughter friend seemed to have none of the mother’s slackness” (29). Meaning, Sula had manners and completely proved everyone was wrong about her especially her only friend mother.
However, as I continued the text, I began to feel as if Sula is similar to her mother but that part of her is waiting to reveal her true self. For instance, Sula’s mother states, “sex was pleasant and frequent, but otherwise unremarkable…so she watched her mother’s face and the face of the men…” (44) By her mother discussing sex with her, which is all she is around, she might be curious at some point in her life. Nevertheless, the fact that her mother behaviors might rub off on her because if someone is around another person for a long period of time, a few of their characteristics will become the other person’s characteristics without them even knowing. “…Sula, who could hardly be counted on to sustain any emotion for more than three minutes” (53), therefore one can assume Sula more than likely picked up the characteristic of not showing emotion from her mother.
As the first part of Sula approach to an end, I still have unanswered questions when it pertains to Sula. Questions such as what becomes of Sula’s and Nel’s friendship? Do the community view on Sula and her mother ever change? And finally, does Sula eventually become her mother? These are just a few questions that I hope will be answered by the end of the text.

Remembering Clem Healy by Deja Murrain

First I would like to thank Gregory, Clem's son for sharing one of the most amazing pieces of his father with us all, his mind and his soul. Clem's determination, hard work, and perseverance is something to be admired by us all, especially me. Reading his paper brought tears to my eyes at the beauty and precision in which he wrote so passionately. Clem was such an inspiration to myself and several of my classmates. The little time shared with Clem was definitely represented in the presence of his strong spirit. It was almost as if you could feel something special sitting in that room, it was your father. It was his courage, his intelligence, and his victory at fighting one battle with another. Clem's legacy and his achievements will forever be a reminder to me that in life you must go after even your wildest dreams no matter what's holding you back. If Clem did it then I too know that I can do it too. I am extremely proud and excited that Clem completed his degree, he deserves all the praise and more. In Clem's poem he worries that his passion for knowledge and the world around him will remain dead but to be honest it lives through us all, always will he be remembered.