Readers Notebook 2, Sula By: Toni Morrison

Archetype
&
Reader Response &much much more!

The Temptress is an archetype that is prevalent in Sula by Toni Morrison and make it an interesting book to read. Secondly I would like to talk about the representation of Sula's birthmark on her face. For a reader response I related this book to many of the problems that I have had come across in my short lifetime. To include, when Nel was on the train with her mother and got cold stares from the army men, sometimes I feel out of place like I am the only one of my 'kind' whether if it was just because I was a woman or a Native American.

The first archetype that I would like to talk about is the Temptress. I believe that there were many temptresses in the book Sula, as there was alot of sex/love present. I believe that the Peace family, Eva, Hannah and Sula were temptresses. Even when Eva lost her leg men fancied her and she had a "regular flock of gentleman callers". (41) Although she never participated in the act of love, she was still an object that men wanted. Hannah was the biggest temptress of them all. She had men at what seems like every hour of the day. And did not set a good example for her daughter Sula who followed in her footsteps of becoming a temptress or a harsher word a prostitute.

When Sula was born she had a birth mark across her face in which some said represented a rose/stem. Sula’s birthmark over one eye is perceived differently by different characters. What shape people perceive the birthmark to be says more about them than about Sula. To Shadrack, whose livelihood is catching and selling river fish, Sula’s birthmark resembles a tadpole, a symbol of Shadrack’s earthy nature and his psychological metamorphosis throughout the novel. To Jude, it looks like a poisonous snake, which recalls the serpent in the biblical garden of Eden and symbolizes the carnal sin that the married Jude commits when he has a sexual affair—however brief—with Sula. To others, including the narrator, the birthmark is a stemmed rose, adding excitement to an otherwise plain face. This stemmed-rose imagery is a positive symbol of Sula’s persevering character. She remains true to herself, which Morrison, by linking Sula’s birthmark to the image of the traditionally beautiful rose, emphasizes as the most important virtue of a spiritually beautiful person.

For my reader response I related many of the decisions that Sula and Nel made to some of my own. When Sula let go of Chicken Little in the river, and ran for Shadrack's I thought that she was running for help but didn't. There have been times in my life where I had to weigh my options for a major decision that I had to make. I represented Eva to my grandmother, I feel as though Eva was an earthly mother who made rash decisions to keep her children alive. My grandmother had lost most of her husbands (three) to car crashes or illnesses. She was left alone to fend for herself and raise her six children. She tells it like it is and doesn't care if your feelings get hurt but can also have a soft side.

I also intertwined the story of the farmer tricking the blacks into moving onto the hill because it was the bottom of heaven to Native Americans and the Trail of Tears or colonization to the west. The blacks were tricked because of an old joke, whereas the Native Americans were promised many things through treaties. Which can be a lens of post colonialism.

Readers Notebook 1, Sula By: Toni Morrison

Passage
&
Character Building
Page 118-119
In reference to Sula

"She lived out her days exploring her own thoughts and emotions, giving them full reign, feeling no obligation to please anybody unless their pleasure pleased her. As willing to feel pain as to give pain, hers was an experimental life-ever since her mother's remarks sent her flying up those stairs, ever since her one major feeling of responsibility had been exorcised on the bank of a river with a closed place in the middle. The first experience taught her there was no other that you could count on; the second that there was no self to count on either. She had no center, no speck around which to grow. . . . She was completely free of ambition, with no affection for money, property or things, no greed, no desire to command attention or compliments-no ego. For that reason she felt no compulsion to verify herself-be consistent with herself."

Throughout the beginning of the novel I didn't believe that Sula played a major role in the plot, or in fact any part of the book. It was all a mystery to me until Sula returned ten years later. After she came back from college and put her old grandmother Eva in a hospital is when her character really started to come out. I believe that it the paradox of her character resignates really well throughout this passage.

I believe that it all starts with, "hers was an experimental life-ever since her mother's remarks sent her flying up those stairs". Her mother's remarks where, "You love her, like I love Sula. I just don't like her. That's the difference." (57) She only heard those words coming from her mother's mouth. I would be devastated if I heard my mom talking like that about me to one of my good friend's mother. After this Nel and Sula run to go play and that's when the Chicken Little incident occurs. After this point in the book is when I believe that Sula had her turning point. From then on she was a mischievous person.

From Chicken Little's death, Sula is not able to feel a sense of responsibility to anyone including Nel, her best friend. Sula in her own freedom became dangerous. As her mother Hannah was burning Sula sat on the porch watching her pain and anguish, not because she was dumb struck it was because she was interested. After this point in the book I felt there was no turning back for Sula. I believe that after her watching her mother burn she was set free to do whatever she pleased.

She left go on to college and was gone for ten years. During her travels she was known to sleep with white men which outraged most of the town of Bottom when she returned. She returned a completely different person, a narcissistic human being. Sula carried her self differently and even dressed as if she were in the movies. She came back and changed the town, she taught wives to appreciate their husbands, protected their children, repaired their homes, and in general banded together against the devil (page 117).

When Sula dies in the fall of her thirtieth year, the people of the Bottom are left without a direct, evil force with which to contend. Her death, described as a "sleep of water," coincides with an early frost (suggesting that Sula does have some influence over the forces of nature), which ruins harvests and renders folks housebound. With environmental and communal warmth frozen, even Teapot's Mama, who had become doting after she feared that Sula had knocked her five-year-old down the steps, returns to beating her son.

Readers Notebook 2, In the Time of the Butterflies by: Julia Alvarez

Main Character, Minerva.

Being the oldest Minerva became more apt of what happened in her countries government. Firstly, Minerva found out all of Trujillo’s secrets through a classmate, who soon became her best friend. Consequently, she met a Manolo, an anti-trujillista. As told by Alvarez, Minerva didn’t seem interested in him, but only in his righteous ways. They soon exchanged their ideas on their government and Minerva became involved in the underground movements. While enrolled in law school, she was heavily involved in the movements. Her secret name being “mariposa” or butterfly became nationwide by the anti-trujillistas. Soon after Minerva’s youngest sister, Maria Teresa, immersed herself in the movements. Following her sisters footsteps she found herself nicknamed butterfly as well. Even though their organization was unsuccessful, they inspired others in their country including: young Dominicans and upper class Dominicans. The Mirabals became idolized for their righteousness and for their bravery against their dictator. While trying to keep their organizations a secret, a time transpired where it couldn’t be kept a secret anymore. Trujillo decided to captivate the two sisters in jail, “to learn a lesson.” After a long period of time Trujillo set them free under house arrest. The novel ends with them being alive until the epilogue, where the readers discover what happened to the Mirabal sisters. As Dede continues the epilogue she mentions: November 25, 1960; the date where Trujillo sent for the assassination of Minerva, Maria Teresa; along with their sister, Patria, and her husband.

Reader's Notebook 1 In the Time of the Butterflies by: Julia Alvarez

Biographical Information

Julia Alvarez is a Dominican-American Poet, Novelist and essayist. She was born in New York of Dominican descent, she spent the first ten years of her childhood in the Dominican Republic until her dad's involvment in a political rebellion forced her family to flee the country.


Most of her work is based up personal experience as a Dominican in the United States, and focused heavily on issues of assimilation and identity. Her diverse cultural upbringing as a Dominican and an American is evident in her personal and political tone in her book In the Time of the Butterflies. She is known for works that examine cultural expectations of women in both the Dominican Republic and the United States.


In her early life she was one of the few Latin American students to attend her Catholic school. There she faced discrimination because of her heritage and was often called a "spic" by her classmates. This caused her to turn invward and led her to her fascination with literature. Which later she deemed to be a "portable homeland". Which is indeed a cute phrase to call it. She was encouraged by many of her teachers to pursue writing. From a young age she knew that writing is what she wanted to do with her life. At the tender age of 13 her parents sent her to a boarding school after her neighborhood was deemed unsafe. She returned every summer to the Domican Republic to "reinforce their identity not only as Dominicans but also as proper young ladies". To be able to visit both of these countries extensively has shapen her understanding of different cultures, which is the basis of many of her works.


Then went on to College and attended Connecticut College and obtained a Master's degree in 1975. She traveled all over the United States and visited many schools. In her travles she discovered her love of teaching. She taught English and creative writing at California State University.


Growing up in a diverse family who went under many struggles from a politically corrupt homeland Julia Alvarez was able to grasp the concept of Post Colonialism and the different cultural assimilations. Being sent away to a boarding school when she was only thirteen helped shape the beginning of the book where Minerva was sent to a similiar situation.


The ability to understand post colonialism, which I believe, is to understand one's own heritage first. Julia Alvarez is a Dominican, her parents are from the Dominican Republic, this book takes place in the Dominican Republic. Which gives Alvarez strong ties with her heritage. Giving her the heart to really tell the story of Las Mariposas. A true story of political corruption and Anti-Trujllistas. "So what you will find here are the Mirabals of my creation, made up but, I hope, true to the spirit of the real Mirabals."