1. Nel asks Sula, "I was good to you, Sula, why don't that matter?" (144-145)Put into your own words Sula's answer and comment.
2. Sula makes a strange speech: "Oh, they'll love me all right . . . . " (145-146) Try to interpret this speech.
3. Sula says, "About who is good. How youknow it was you?. . . I mean maybe it wasn't you. Maybe it was me." Try to interpret this speech. (146)
4. Just before dying, Sula remembers the word "always" and interprets it. Try to explain her interpretation of "always" and comment.
5. Sula says to herself just before dying, "Wait'll I tell Nel." Comment.
13 comments:
Hey everyone.
So my answer is pertaining to question number 1. Sula's answer was very justified from my point of view. She was basically saying that you shouldn't be nice to someone just because you want them to be nice back, or to get something from them in return. Being kind or good to somone should come from the bottom of one's heart, not just because they want something. Nel was good to Sula, not because she actually loved her, but because she thought she would get some sort of reward for it. Sula was also saying that it is "risky" to be nice. Some people will return the favor and be nice back, however most people will take all the nice they can from people, and just be rude in return. I don't think that was a rude answer that Sula gave, in the end it was very profound. Everything she said was justified and mature. I am lookig forward to seeing what all of you have to say and I am also looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the rest of the blog questions.
Hey Guys
So, I will be answering question #1 this afternoon. When Nel asked the question, Sula's response was "It matters Nel but only to you. Not to anyone else. Being good to somebody is just like being mean to somebody. Risky. You don't get nothing for it." In my own words, I feel that she is trying to tell Nel that being nice and being mean can have its prices in the end. You can either be good friends or enemy's. She is essentially saying that whether or not she is nice or mean, she feels that either way it turns out, it's not worth the result. I think this was a shallow and strange, yet unsurprising thing for Sula to say. Does anyone else agree?
Mason
hi. this is for question number one. I agree with what Mason said above about how being nice, or mean to someone is a "risk" because you do not know what the end result will be. Sula is very unpredictable so this behavior was not a surprise. She does not expect anything in return if she is nice to them. There should be something behind the emotion that you are expressing, you shouldn't just do something because someone tells you to, because when you do it is obvious that your heart is not involved. You never know for sure how someone will react to your actions whether it is positive or negative.
Hey Everyone,
I will try and answer question number 5. I thought that it was really nice how Sula just before dying had mentioned Nel. Nel was her one and only true friend for most if not all of her life. It kind of shows like a childish side of Sula. Typically when children are young and have a best friend, they always tell them everything. So ending her life by not being able to wait to tell her best friend about death is in a sense kind of childish. Also, it shows a more softer side of Sula. Throughout the book she has voiced her opinions and always stuck by them and by saying this right before her death kind of says that she knows her opinion is right, but in the end she is still and will always be friends with Nel and therefore she can't let one opinion ruin her one and only true relationship. Another thing I had thought was that its almost like Sula is expecting to see Nel in heaven and that they will never be apart. It's like she is dead but is still thinking and her last thought is about her relationship with her best friend Nel. I feel like Sula will never forget her and it almost shows a softer side of Sula that we didn't really have the chance to see earlier within the book. Overall, I thought that it was kind of cute/sweet that she thought of her best friend right before she had died.
My answer is pertaining to question #3. Sula says this as if she was the one who brought joy in Nel’s life. Sula’s tone indicates that she was either justifying herself or being sassy. She remembers the time when they were little and eating ice-cream together while holding hands. When friends are no longer friends, they treat each other with disdain and disgust. Nel tells Sula that she has been “good to her,” literally stating that she had been loyal and kind to her. This antagonizes Sula since she starts to smart-mouth Nel, arguing that she was the one who “is good,” not Nel. Whenever harsh words are exchanged between friends, people tend to believe that they were way better than their friends ever were. Thus, Sula was hurt from Nel’s words and defended herself believing that she did not do anything to antagonize Nel.
5. Sula says to herself just before dying, "Wait'll I tell Nel."
Well, adressing to question number 5, the comment that Sula made "Wait'll I tell Nel" makes me think that she will tell Nel what it's like die. I only say this because of the qoute on page 149"Well, I'll be damned, it didn't even hurt. Wait'll I tell Nel." Maybe she said this because She will reunite with Nel in a afterlife or something. Sula cares about her friend.
Hey,
I thought I would comment on the last question tonight. After cuddling up with herself and slowly drifting off, Sula comments on how she can't wait to tell Nel that death is painless. It is hard to tell why she would want to tell Nel so bad. Sula's painless death leads herself to believe that death is painless. However, I think her death is painless because she was already dead. When Sula is looking back to her past she remembers being rather excited when watching her mother burn. She comes to the conclusion that words, actions, and emotions are all just something to do in life. It is quite possible that Sula had witnessed and participated in so much tragedy in her life that death didn't compare to what she had already embraced. Sula's death was indeed a closer. It was more a satisfaction than a tragedy. She realized that a life filled with such hardship is no life worth living and death took her to a better place.
Hey, Ill be answering question number 1.
"Being good to somebody is just like being mean to somebody, Riky. You don't get nothing for it." When i first read this sentence i was really confused and felt that she was making no sense. But in a way she is right. For example lets say that another person and i dont get along very well, whether we are "good" or mean to eachother we dont get along. But ultimately we are left unchaged and that relationship will not make a difference in our lives. Thus in general when you are mean to someone nothing good comes out of it and it doesnt get you anywhere. Likewise when you are good to someone the same affect happens. Also i find the word "good" to be rather peculiar in this case. I have never reffered to myself as being good to someone else. I feel that by using the word good instead of nice or kind, you are only being good to them because you have to not because you truly like them. So in the end there is no difference between being good to someone or being mean to them because in the long run your relationship never succeeds level 1.
Hello! I will answer prompt number 4, even though it is a bit peculiar. My first thought of what the "always" represented was a permanence of death that she could not find in anything else. Sula was always interested in things-- many things. She was always on the move. In last night's reading, there was even a list of all the cities she'd been to following men around. She always had a new man, and never settled down (which she was clearly opposed to, as is evident in her conversations with Eva and Nel). I think that the idea of death was almost comforting to her because it was something so permanent. Granted, she was the one who chose to make her life so hectic. Nonetheless, she repeats the word "always" as if it is almost a foreign idea to her. As much as she didn't want to die, she knew she was finally alone and in a place where she would feel comfortable dying-- doing something that would finally last forever. Also, the idea of being curled up, and floating away and being gently washed is comforting and relaxing, especially when you're in so much agony and pain. The description of the scene right before the appearance of "always" shows that dying was something that comforted Sula. I also found it interesting that she waited until she was alone, when she felt like it was ok to die, to let go. It was almost as if she was doing others a favor by just passing away quietly alone and not causing any disturbance. She had caused so many problems for everyone in the past that it was appropriate for her death to be quiet and simple. Just like the permanence of death, the simplicity of her dying moments is a contrast to the chaos of her previous life.
Maybe I am way off the mark, but I hope I made sense! Good night!!
1. Nel asks Sula, "I was good to you, Sula, why don't that matter?" (144-145)Put into your own words Sula's answer and comment.
I think that thing that intrigues me the most is that to Sula's dying day, she is selfish. Her thoughts, dreams, and over all ora is centered around her. She expresses why Nel being good to her doesn't matter, and I feel it doesn't matter because it has nothing to do with Sula; all that is has to do with is Nel being 'good' and that doesn't do anything for Sula. It does matter to "anybody." Trying to one up Nel until the very end.
That is what "Risky" got her.
In response to number 5:
Sula says to herself before dying, "Wait'll I tell Nel." This is ironic because Sula has done so many things that seem awful to Nel. She has made it seem clear that that she doesn't care about their friendship, and does things that hurt Sula without even caring. So why then does she think of Nel, as her last thought? It is strange to me, yet it sort of makes sense. It shows that Sula actually does care about Nel and just has a warped way of showing her love. She has a life motto that is basically "do what you want, because nothing you do matters anyway." When she says "Wait'll I tell Nel" it seems that she has the idea that she'll see her again. This leads me to believe that Sula loves Nel and has a belief in something to come after this life. However, she clearly doesn't believe that anything you do in life should be moral or good for other people. And as she dies, she isn't even scared. She is so set in her ways of just being, and not worrying, and not caring. Her sudden urge to tell Nel about the experience of death not hurting seems to show that she wants to justify to Nel that it was worth it. Life was worth living on edge, and without a care, because she isn't even paying for it. She is just going out nice and easily with out a hurt or pain in the world. She proved her point in the world and wants to tell Nel about it. Maybe this way Nel will understand that it wasn't maliciousness that caused Sula to take Jude, it was simply her outlook on life.
1. Nel asks Sula, "I was good to you, Sula, why don't that matter?" (144-145)Put into your own words Sula's answer and comment.
When Nel asks Sula the question that she has wanted to ask her for three years and the question she thought was burning in her mind for a solid answer, she feels unsatisfied and ashamed. This question was so important to her because she wanted to know why Sula had to cause her so much pain by sleeping with her husband when she didn't even love him, and she had been so good to Sula when they were friends. Sula's reaction was unexpected by Nel, but it was typical of Sula to be unfeeling and disrespectful. After all, Sula acted the way she did because she liked to get a reaction out of people. She certainly surprised Nel with her lack of explanation except that it was a careless decision to sleep with Jude and the result of him leaving did not make her care much or think about how Nel must have felt. AFter this explanation Nel asks again why she deserved this treatment from Sula and she responds with the thought that the way you act only impacts you and doesn't mean a thing to anyone else. You can do right or wrong and either way there is no compensation. There was no gratification in this response for Nel and it made her question whether Sula ever loved her or if they had ever been friends who trusted each other. I believe that Nel knows in her heart that Sula cares deeply for her in her own disconnected and eccentric way. I think she does care because she thought of Nel right before she died. The one thing I can't decide though, is if Sula cared about Nel as much as she cared about herself.
This is Pall for question number 4
I'm still quite unsure myself about the answer to this question, but there are some connections that i think are important to the meaning, whatever that may be. The first connection is that Shadrack, the crazy guy, "... Promised her a sleep of water always."(p. 149) after she accidently threw chicken little into the river (p.60, 61). Now what is important to note is that Shadrack did not walk up to Sula and say, 'i promise you a sleep of water always,' nor did Sula ask him "will i have a sleep of water?" Rather, Sula was wondering about this sleep of water while in Shadracks presence, who then answered with 'Always' without being asked to answer. Now why, in a time like this, is Sula thinking about whether or not she will 'have a sleep of water'? i think an important clue lies within the text as Sula approaches the front steps of shadracks house. "... Only the something newly missing back there in the river made it possible...." It could have said "only the fact that shadrack was drowning made it possible" but it doesn't. I think, therefore, that this small excerpt has the implication that something is newly missing from either Sula's knowledge, thoughts, or experience, something that had never been there but was only now made aware to her. Now if we go further along in the book, we see another connection to this 'sleep of water.' this is now the bottom of p. 118, during one of those long, deep, complicated and profound tracts of text. "hers was an experimental life... ever since her one major feeling of responsibility had been exorcised on the BANK OF A RIVER WITH A CLOSED PLACE IN THE MIDDLE.' I don't know how easily followed my next jump will be, as i have little or no evidence to go along with this, but i've just come to the conclusion as i am writing this that this closed space in the middle is within herself, and his represented as water throughout the book. on p. 131, while Sula and Ajax are having sex, she wonders to herself, "How much water to keep the loam moist? And how much loam will i need to keep my water still?" This could be seen as rather sexually explicit, but i see it as Sula wondering how much of herself she will have to give away to keep him happy, and how much of him she will need to keep herself satisfied. So now when we jump back towards the end of the book, when Sula is dying, it says, "... until she met a rain scent and would know the water was near, ... and it would envelope her, carry her, and wash her tired flesh always." p. 149. If the closed space in the middle is herself, her soul, so to speak, than the drowning of chicken little sparked her curiosity as too who she truly was, or what her soul actually was. Thought the book she is trying to figure this out, by doing everything she can to satisfy her wonderings. Then when she dies, she can feel herself going down deep into her own self, and once she is there, with the rain scent and the water nearby, she remembers that Shadrack told her that she would figure herself out, that she would find out who she really is, and she does. The fact that her death doesn't hurt or that her death doesn't seem to change anything about her proves that Sula was right all along. Nothing is actually that big of a deal. If this blog was too long and too hard to follow, i apologize.
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