Sula - first half

"Her daughter was more comfort and purpose than she had ever hoped to find in this life. She rose grandly to the occasion of motherhood - grateful, deep fown in her heart, that the child had not inherited the great beauty that was hers: that her skin had dusk in it, that her lashes wer substantial but not undignified in their length, that she had taken the broad flat nose of Wiley (although Helene expected to improve it somewhat) and his generous lips" (18).

This passage struck me because I found it so odd for a mother to be silently competitive with her daughter about her looks. It's actually quite immature and silly of her to do this, but that's why some people shouldn't be parents. I thought it was quite sad for Nel to grow up with a mother whose main concern was how she appeared to others, which is also apparent in Helene's desire to be more attractive than her own young daughter. Nel aspires to be as beautiful as her mother, but she doesn't know that her mother secretly takes joy in the fact that she's more attractive than a young girl. I felt pretty sad for Nel to have to grow up in the Wright home. I think Nel's uptight mother is one of the important figures in this story, and her feelings for her daughter are important, too. When Nel grows up and marries Jude, it's not because of some undying love they have for each other, but because Nel has no spirit left. Her mother made sure to break her spirit and always keep her from being anything extraordinary (certainly not extraordinary looking) and that's precisely why Jude picked her to marry. I think this theme (Nel being suppressed, meek, simple) is important because she has a huge secret (Sula's accidental killing of Chicken LIttle). I think this will come to play later in the story.

============================================================================

"She remembered something else too, and try as she might to deny it, she knew that as she lay on the ground trying to drag herself through the sweet peas and cclover to get to Hannah, she had seen Sula standing on the back porch just looking. When Eva, who was never one to hide the faults of her children, mentioned what she thought she'd seen to a few friends, they said it was natural. Sula was probably struck dumb, as anybody would be who saw her own mamma burn up. Eva said yes, but inside she disagreed and remained convinced that Sula had watched Hannah burn not because she was paralyzed, but because she was interested" (78).

This passage really struck me because Sula does not seem the sociopathic type to just watch her mother burn to death. But then, after thinking about it for a bit, it started to make sense. She "accidentally" killed Chicken Little, but was it really an accident if she lacked enough emotion to do anything but watch her mother burn? It seemed odd to me, and I think this theme of Sula's lack of feelings for others may be important later in the story. Sula seems to either be a bit mental, or she's seen so much horror in her young life that nothing, not even witnessing the painful deaths of innocents and loved ones, can really shock her anymore. But I doubt it. I think Sula's character is a little strange, as she comes from an odd family of drug addicts, sex addicts, and triplets that aren't related. Maybe I'm judging her too quickly, but she seems to have either very bad luck or bad luck follows her. Interested to find out, though!