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Sula Discussion Questions
Discussion Packet Overview & Expectations:
This packet will serve as a guide for class-work, homework and discussion during
our study of Sula. In addition to answering the assigned questions in this packet you
will be expected to note key passages as well as create your own questions. The
following questions are compiled from college course syllabi (University of
Massachusetts, Georgetown University and Kansas State University) and call you to
examine this novel on multiple levels. You must have this packet with you everyday
in class. At the end of this unit I will collect the packet to check for both quality and
completeness. The culminating assessment for this unit will be a test that includes:
multiple choice, short answer and an essay. You will be permitted to use your notes
and this packet on some sections of the test.
Toni Morrison Biography
Born Chloe Anthony Wofford, in 1931 in Lorain (Ohio), the second of four children in a
black working-class family. Displayed an early interest in literature. Studied humanities at
Howard and Cornell Universities, followed by an academic career at Texas Southern
University, Howard University, Yale, and since 1989, a chair at Princeton University. She has
also worked as an editor for Random House, a critic, and given numerous public lectures,
specializing in African-American literature. She made her debut as a novelist in 1970, soon
gaining the attention of both critics and a wider audience for her epic power, unerring ear for
dialogue, and her poetically-charged and richly-expressive depictions of Black America. A
member since 1981 of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, she has been awarded a
number of literary distinctions, among them the Pulitzer Prize in 1988.
"1919" and "1920
1. Where is "Bottom"? How was the neighborhood established? How is the name symbolic?
2. How does the narrative about Shadrack and "National Suicide Day" frame the novel?
How does it set a tone for the novel?
3. Is Shadrack a prophet? Is he a madman? Or is he both? What role does he serve in the
community?
4. Explore the relationship between Nel, her mother Helene, her grandmother Rochelle, and
her great-grandmother Cecile. Why are the women separated? What separates them?
5. Why is the incident on the train between Helene and the conductor significant? What
happens as the train travels further south?
"1921" and "1922"
6. Toni Morrison is considered by many to be the greatest living American writer. She's won
the Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize in literature. The language of her novels is lush,
poetic, and rich in symbol and thought-provoking strangeness. Based on your reading of the
first few chapters, can you tell why she is such a widely admired author?
7. Why does Eva leave her children? Why does she return with only one leg?
8. Who are the "deweys" and what do they represent?
9. Why does Eva set Plum on fire? How does the narrative describe this scene? Why is the
description important?
10. What are some possible reasons Eva's decision to go downstairs and light the fire, "the
smoke of which was in her hair for years"? How does this make you feel about her
character? Was this an act of sacrifice or selfishness? Can Eva be described as 'good' or
'bad'?
11. How are Nel and Sula becoming aware of their sexuality in this chapter? How do we
sense this awareness? Do we also sense a threat of violence?
12. What does Hannah say to upset Sula?
13. Why does Sula go inside Shadrack's shack? What does Shadrack tell her and what does it
mean?
"1923" and "1927"
14. "1923" opens with the line, "The second strange thing was . . ." -- what are the other
strange things that happen? How does this line establish a tone for the chapter?
15. Why does Hannah ask Eva if she loves them, if she loved them as children? What is
Eva's answer? Does Eva love her children?
16. What is the reason Eva gives for killing Plum?
17. How does Hannah catch on fire? What does Eva do? What does Sula do? What do the
characters actions reveal about their feelings for Hannah?
18. Readers often love, hate, or love-and-hate this book. Some examples of the scenes in
Part One that tend to inspire strong reactions are:
--Eva's lost leg (pages 29-31 ff.)
--Plum's death (45-48)
--Nel and Sula playing with sticks (58-9)
--Nel and Sula playing with Chicken Little (60-61)
--Eva's response to Hannah's question about love (67)
--Hannah and the yard fire (75-78)
Why would these scenes inspire such a strong response? Think about each one of these
scenes. What is disturbing or provocative about it? What does it make you think about?
What is its relationship to the novel's important themes, plots, and characters? What is your
own response to or your own ideas about each of these scenes?
19. Track down the biblical origin of as many of the names as you can. Some will be
obvious, others less obvious. Which names seem appropriate to their biblical origin? Which
names don't seem to fit? If any biblical name doesn't seem appropriate, why do you think
Morrison uses it in Sula. Have you been able to spot any other Christian or biblical
symbolism? If so, what are some examples?
20. Sula seems to be a novel that's filled with symbolic references: place names, character
names, repeated images (mirrors, skin color, fire, water, wind, birds, etc.). Choose any one
symbol or repeated image and track it through the novel. Think about the meanings of this
symbol in relationship to the novel's plot, characters, and themes. Can you think of other
symbols that are important to the story?
21. Sula contains some adult language and mature themes (racism, sexuality, and more). Is
Sula appropriate reading for high school students? Why or why not?
22. Morrison says that Sula has no center, no speck around which to grow. What is this
center that Sula lacks?
23. One reviewer commented that Sula is "a complex story of friendship and
disappointment, death and sex, desperation and vulnerability" (Gayle Sims, Knight-Ridder
Newspaper). How would you characterize the novel?
24. The novel takes place over the course of 45 years. How do relations between the races
change over the course of the novel? How are the inhabitants of the Bottom and Medallion
changed by what's going on in the world around them?
25. What did you think of the novel’s ending?