Throughout the novel, Morrison uses foreshadowing to imply the significance of events that occur later on. Morrison continues this method with the birds, specifically the robins—they work to foreshadow Sula’s return to the bottom. Morrison describes “a plague of robins”, and how the townspeople come to recollect this time in their history as “the evil days” (Morrison 89). These days foreshadow the consequences of Sula’s return and her evil nature--the way in which the people view her as an evil plague upon them. Her return marks a change in the town—she breaks up Nel’s family, and many of the Bottom’s other families, and later gets rid of Eva. This causes families in the bottom to become closer; wives of the townsmen become more intent on protecting their husbands and keeping their families together, overall causing the townspeople to better themselves due to their common enemy, the evil known as Sula. The actions Sula takes are parallel to the evil the robins first bring with them to the bottom (their waste, their deaths, and the darkness of the cloud that overall convey evilness), thus the birds are significant because Morrison uses them to highlight Sula’s ever growing evil nature.
In the beginning of the 1937, Sula returns to Medallion like all the characters in the novel, Shadrach and Helene. Morrison uses the plague of robins as a representation that nature attracted Sula back to Medallion. Morrison uses the word “Accompanied by a plague of birds” (89) can signify that robins led Sula back into Medallion. The significance of the robins being in a flock rather than a individual is that the sky is filled with red because of the massive number of robins. Such illuminating view must have attracted Sula’s attention, therefore causing her to remember the intriguing sight of her mother burning. Leading Sula to return the Medallion cause she was “…accustomed to excesses in nature” (89). Being a regular effect of Medallion, everyone is always pulled back into Medallion after departing. Like Shadrach, after his rehabilitation from the war, he is forced back to Medallion like Plum was. In conclusion, the robins brought back memories that occurred in Medallion that attracted Sula back to her birth place.
Before Sula arrives back at Medallion, Morrison describes the birds as a natural phenomenon that excited "very small children away from their usual welcome into a vicious stoning"(89). This is a foreshadowing of how the townspeople later react to Sula coming back to Medallion, as if she is something they'd want to get rid of in a violent way. Sula sleeps with Jude, Nels husband, which is more or less like "stepping in their pearly shit" (89). Sula is a force that no one in the Medallion community can ignore,like the robins, and the community accepts Sula "with an acceptance that bordered on welcome"(89). With Sula in town, the community slowly yet surely starts to better its morals. Therefore, they won't succumb to the same evil that Sula is or seems to bring with her.
Toni Morrison uses the robins at the beginning of 1937 to represent both Sula’s return to the Bottom and Sula herself. Morrison explains that Sula returns at the same time the robins “plague” the Bottom with what the people call “evil days” (89). Both the robins and Sula provide the Bottom with events that are considered a nuisance and, to many, evil. The people of the Bottom find the robins’ defecating and dying very inconvenient for their everyday life, just as they feel with Sula. But just as they are with the birds, they “do nothing to harm her” (114). Not only does Sula “coincidentally” arrive simultaneously as the robins, but even Eva says “I might have knowed them birds meant something” to Sula when she returns to Medallion (91). It’s as if Eva was well aware that the robins coming to Medallion meant Sula’s return to the Bottom, just as Morrison was possibly trying to represent.
Toni Morrison use of the robins is to foreshadow death or misfortune. As Morrison describes Sula's return, Sula is "Accompanied by a plague of robins" (89). Now a plague is a terrible disease that leads to death, and having Sula being accompanied by a "plague" of robins may indicate that she is bringing death/misfortune to the Bottom. Morrison also stated that these robins excited small children, and as Sula returns she seems to excite almost every man in the Bottom, so one can see that these robins and Sula herself, are fairly related to one another. This is also proven later on as Sula stays at the Bottom. For example, Mr. Finley was sitting on his porch, saw Sula and suddenly choked on a chicken bone and died. (114). As well as having Teapot having a fracture after falling down the steps. (114). Other misfortunes were those who slept with Sula and was later left behind by her. Having these events occur, Sula became a living roach or a "devil" in the Bottom because her actions were equivalent to the "plague of robins".
I also agree with Netta -- robins do represent upcoming death or misfortune. Like when Eva was "being carried out" (94) of her house by force due to Sula's actions, or when the townspeople of Medallion recalled the arrival of the birds as the "black" sky or the "evil days" (89), the robins were a warning. But the robins' significance can also be the arrival of Sula. For example, Eva said "I might have knowed them birds meant something" because "there were four dead robins on the walk" at her house (91). This means that upon Sula's sudden appearance after 10 years, this was the only warning Eva was given. Another example of the significance of the robins as Sula's arrival is when Nel realized the coming of the birds were "all due to Sula's return...home" (95). Morrison uses the symbolism of robins to foreshadow that something dark and possibly tragic is going to occur in the Bottom.
Throughout society, robins have represented happiness, joy and warmth due to the robin showing up after wither and during spring. Toni Morrison called it a "plague of robins," which can signify quite literally the start of spring; Morrison states that plagues "were as 'natural' as springtime" (Morrison 89, 90). After spending the harsh winter, Spring was in view when Sula showed up. Having the robins "plague" the city, perhaps Morrison is symbolizing the birds as a double edge sword; Sula brings both good fortune and happiness as well as evil and sadness (Morrison 90). The birds leaving may signify the change if seasons, and the prospect of the following summer when the heat beats down on every one. Jude and Sula was caught naked with each other; Sula's action brought tremendous pain to Nel, Sula's best friend. Although robins signify joy and happiness, plagues bring distraction and pain. The birds signify both good and evil, and perhaps the chaos that lies between good and evil.
Toni Morrison uses the plague of robins as a metaphor for how the inhabitants of the Bottom instinctually return to Medallion. Morrison states "nobody knew why" the robins came to Medallion, signifying the way that none of the citizens could explain what caused people to return to the neighborhood (89). The people of Medallion "fear" the birds, as they feel they must "protect themselves from" them (89), which is mirrored in their reception of Sula upon her return. The birds can symbolize Sula's waywardness: she has a free spirit, yet ultimate returns to the community she left behind, the same way birds can choose to fly away yet are bound to their instincts to migrate back during the changing seasons.
Toni Morrison uses the plague of birds to represent Sula’s return to and departure from Medallion and the effect it had on her community. The first sentence of 1937 stated that “Accompanied by a plague of robins, Sula came back to Medallion” (Morrison 89). Although the townspeople viewed the flock of robins as a plague, robins actually symbolize renewal and the return of spring. Due to the fact that Sula arrived with the robins shows that she is giving the Bottom a taste of change, which they fear because they are so accustomed to their old fashioned ideals and superstitions, so they guiltlessly connect their misfortunes to Sula’s homecoming. However, after Sula’s death, a stray robin wandered into Shadrack’s shack, but “the bird found the window and flew away” (Morrison 156). Thus, the robins symbolically left with Sula such as how they arrived with her showing that change is not permanent. As soon as Sula died, the townspeople returned to their old habits of mistreating one another as if they never witnessed the destructive actions Sula committed. Change is a constantly evolving cycle yet people fail to realize it and end up struggling adjusting to the change.
Throughout the novel, Morrison uses foreshadowing to imply the significance of events that occur later on. Morrison continues this method with the birds, specifically the robins—they work to foreshadow Sula’s return to the bottom. Morrison describes “a plague of robins”, and how the townspeople come to recollect this time in their history as “the evil days” (Morrison 89). These days foreshadow the consequences of Sula’s return and her evil nature--the way in which the people view her as an evil plague upon them. Her return marks a change in the town—she breaks up Nel’s family, and many of the Bottom’s other families, and later gets rid of Eva. This causes families in the bottom to become closer; wives of the townsmen become more intent on protecting their husbands and keeping their families together, overall causing the townspeople to better themselves due to their common enemy, the evil known as Sula. The actions Sula takes are parallel to the evil the robins first bring with them to the bottom (their waste, their deaths, and the darkness of the cloud that overall convey evilness), thus the birds are significant because Morrison uses them to highlight Sula’s ever growing evil nature.
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning of the 1937, Sula returns to Medallion like all the characters in the novel, Shadrach and Helene. Morrison uses the plague of robins as a representation that nature attracted Sula back to Medallion. Morrison uses the word “Accompanied by a plague of birds” (89) can signify that robins led Sula back into Medallion. The significance of the robins being in a flock rather than a individual is that the sky is filled with red because of the massive number of robins. Such illuminating view must have attracted Sula’s attention, therefore causing her to remember the intriguing sight of her mother burning. Leading Sula to return the Medallion cause she was “…accustomed to excesses in nature” (89). Being a regular effect of Medallion, everyone is always pulled back into Medallion after departing. Like Shadrach, after his rehabilitation from the war, he is forced back to Medallion like Plum was. In conclusion, the robins brought back memories that occurred in Medallion that attracted Sula back to her birth place.
ReplyDeleteBefore Sula arrives back at Medallion, Morrison describes the birds as a natural phenomenon that excited "very small children away from their usual welcome into a vicious stoning"(89). This is a foreshadowing of how the townspeople later react to Sula coming back to Medallion, as if she is something they'd want to get rid of in a violent way. Sula sleeps with Jude, Nels husband, which is more or less like "stepping in their pearly shit" (89). Sula is a force that no one in the Medallion community can ignore,like the robins, and the community accepts Sula "with an acceptance that bordered on welcome"(89). With Sula in town, the community slowly yet surely starts to better its morals. Therefore, they won't succumb to the same evil that Sula is or seems to bring with her.
ReplyDeleteToni Morrison uses the robins at the beginning of 1937 to represent both Sula’s return to the Bottom and Sula herself. Morrison explains that Sula returns at the same time the robins “plague” the Bottom with what the people call “evil days” (89). Both the robins and Sula provide the Bottom with events that are considered a nuisance and, to many, evil. The people of the Bottom find the robins’ defecating and dying very inconvenient for their everyday life, just as they feel with Sula. But just as they are with the birds, they “do nothing to harm her” (114). Not only does Sula “coincidentally” arrive simultaneously as the robins, but even Eva says “I might have knowed them birds meant something” to Sula when she returns to Medallion (91). It’s as if Eva was well aware that the robins coming to Medallion meant Sula’s return to the Bottom, just as Morrison was possibly trying to represent.
ReplyDeleteToni Morrison use of the robins is to foreshadow death or misfortune. As Morrison describes Sula's return, Sula is "Accompanied by a plague of robins" (89). Now a plague is a terrible disease that leads to death, and having Sula being accompanied by a "plague" of robins may indicate that she is bringing death/misfortune to the Bottom. Morrison also stated that these robins excited small children, and as Sula returns she seems to excite almost every man in the Bottom, so one can see that these robins and Sula herself, are fairly related to one another. This is also proven later on as Sula stays at the Bottom. For example, Mr. Finley was sitting on his porch, saw Sula and suddenly choked on a chicken bone and died. (114). As well as having Teapot having a fracture after falling down the steps. (114). Other misfortunes were those who slept with Sula and was later left behind by her. Having these events occur, Sula became a living roach or a "devil" in the Bottom because her actions were equivalent to the "plague of robins".
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Netta -- robins do represent upcoming death or misfortune. Like when Eva was "being carried out" (94) of her house by force due to Sula's actions, or when the townspeople of Medallion recalled the arrival of the birds as the "black" sky or the "evil days" (89), the robins were a warning. But the robins' significance can also be the arrival of Sula. For example, Eva said "I might have knowed them birds meant something" because "there were four dead robins on the walk" at her house (91). This means that upon Sula's sudden appearance after 10 years, this was the only warning Eva was given. Another example of the significance of the robins as Sula's arrival is when Nel realized the coming of the birds were "all due to Sula's return...home" (95). Morrison uses the symbolism of robins to foreshadow that something dark and possibly tragic is going to occur in the Bottom.
DeleteThroughout society, robins have represented happiness, joy and warmth due to the robin showing up after wither and during spring. Toni Morrison called it a "plague of robins," which can signify quite literally the start of spring; Morrison states that plagues "were as 'natural' as springtime" (Morrison 89, 90). After spending the harsh winter, Spring was in view when Sula showed up. Having the robins "plague" the city, perhaps Morrison is symbolizing the birds as a double edge sword; Sula brings both good fortune and happiness as well as evil and sadness (Morrison 90). The birds leaving may signify the change if seasons, and the prospect of the following summer when the heat beats down on every one. Jude and Sula was caught naked with each other; Sula's action brought tremendous pain to Nel, Sula's best friend. Although robins signify joy and happiness, plagues bring distraction and pain. The birds signify both good and evil, and perhaps the chaos that lies between good and evil.
ReplyDeleteToni Morrison uses the plague of robins as a metaphor for how the inhabitants of the Bottom instinctually return to Medallion. Morrison states "nobody knew why" the robins came to Medallion, signifying the way that none of the citizens could explain what caused people to return to the neighborhood (89). The people of Medallion "fear" the birds, as they feel they must "protect themselves from" them (89), which is mirrored in their reception of Sula upon her return. The birds can symbolize Sula's waywardness: she has a free spirit, yet ultimate returns to the community she left behind, the same way birds can choose to fly away yet are bound to their instincts to migrate back during the changing seasons.
ReplyDeleteToni Morrison uses the plague of birds to represent Sula’s return to and departure from Medallion and the effect it had on her community. The first sentence of 1937 stated that “Accompanied by a plague of robins, Sula came back to Medallion” (Morrison 89). Although the townspeople viewed the flock of robins as a plague, robins actually symbolize renewal and the return of spring. Due to the fact that Sula arrived with the robins shows that she is giving the Bottom a taste of change, which they fear because they are so accustomed to their old fashioned ideals and superstitions, so they guiltlessly connect their misfortunes to Sula’s homecoming. However, after Sula’s death, a stray robin wandered into Shadrack’s shack, but “the bird found the window and flew away” (Morrison 156). Thus, the robins symbolically left with Sula such as how they arrived with her showing that change is not permanent. As soon as Sula died, the townspeople returned to their old habits of mistreating one another as if they never witnessed the destructive actions Sula committed. Change is a constantly evolving cycle yet people fail to realize it and end up struggling adjusting to the change.
ReplyDelete