Discussion Topics

 

1.  What motivates Sula other than her quest for superiority over men?  

2.  What does the Mrs. Jackson, the infamous ice-chewing woman, symbolize about the people of the bottoms?

3.  What is Shadrack prophesizing with the word ‘always’ in his scene after Chicken Little’s death?

4.  What does the confusion of Nel and Sula by Eva represent relating to the relationship between the two?

5.  What does Sula hope to find, considering that she says everywhere else was the same with different people, when she comes back to ‘The Bottoms’?

6.  Does Morrison want her readers to understand the motivations of Sula, and therefore sympathize with her?

7.  What does the shape of Sula’s birthmark symbolize, and what, if any, does the change in color represent?

8.  Why does Morrison name the first male character that we actually see Nel and Sula interact with Chicken Little, and what is the importance of Sula causing his death?

9.  How does the dominance of the females in the novel affect the plot?

10.  What insecurities might Shadrack have in order for him to need to display his phallus in public?

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