Sula 1

"They wanted to see the joy in her face as they settled down to play checkers, knowing that even when she beat them, as she almost always did, somehow, in her presence, it was they had won something. They would read the newspaper aloud to her and make observations on its content, and Eva would listen feeling no obligation to agree and, in fact, would take them to the task about their interpretation of events."
I reacted to this passage because it personally reminded me a lot of my grandmother. She has lived in Memphis, Tennessee for about fifty years, forty years in the same house. She engages with the whole community and every time I visit her there's always someone stopping in without even knocking to say hi or do her yardwork or just have tea with her. When we go out to eat, she'll know the owner of the place and a good portion of the employees. It's weird to me how people are so magnetized toward her and i think this passage states some people's ability to gravitate people toward them by just being a good person and making others feel good just by socializing. I think my reaction emphasizes Eva's presence in the community. Whenever Eva was in trouble, people liked her and were willing to help. She's like a grandmother to a lot of people.

Another passage that I reacted to was when Hannah caught fire and Eva was desperately trying to help her and saw "Sula on the back porch just looking." It's probably bad to say or even to compare to but for some reason when Hannah was on fire and described as a "dancing figure" I thought of the wicked witch from the Wizard of Oz melting when Dorothy poured water on her. The text described her death so dramatically and the witch's death was also dramatic which I think is why I thought of it. I think my reaction contradicts the story, although it could be possible that Sula could have something to do with her mother's death, I'll just have to find out.