The Community In Toni Morrison's Sula

447 Words2 Pages
Toni Morrison’s opening scene of Sula begins as a nice community of The Bottom where the local folk gathered, but then Morrison changes the community to a “nigger joke”. While Morrison can easily immerse us into the community of The Bottom, she is also able to beautifully set the stage for the people who live there. Describing minor characters down to the smallest details. Morrison begins by establishing Medallion, a run down place that has seen better days. “There will be nothing left of The Bottom” illustrates to the reader that The Bottom had passed its golden days. From this we can come to the conclusion that The Bottom has reached hard times, however we do not know what happened. This open question that the reader has in mind allows Morrison to elaborate on the community and how different it really is. While reading one can also come to the conclusion that The Bottom is a racially diverse community. Morrison references a “black bottom” or “the black…show more content…
For example,before the Medallion and The Bottom were established, the white farmer who gives his slave land in The Bottom, which is actually the top of the valley. This farmer is able to then make the community of The Bottom a joke to God. Morrison's use of the farmer to create a joke on the black people of the community helps to further characterize the people in the community. Morrison also states “it was lovely in the bottom,” this is after the black community worked together to build it up. Then looking back the black people “Sometimes wondered in private if maybe the white farmer was right after all. Maybe it was the bottom of heaven”. These black folk never believed this to be true but as a reader we question if The Bottom and the people of The Bottom are all part of a joke. Morrison then mentions the other issues on the black communities side like Sula ot Shadrack mention on page

More about The Community In Toni Morrison's Sula

Open Document