Sula by Smith week 2

I have always been told never to use SparkNotes for assignments. I was told that if we were caught using SparkNotes or plagiarizing from SparkNotes then we would get in a lot of trouble and we would receive a zero for the assignment or project. However, I disagree with this approach; I believe that students should be encouraged to use SparkNotes after they finish the book or passage. Despite its negative stereotype SparkNotes actually is very beneficial in aiding a reader's knowledge and understanding of the events that occurred. If used properly then SparkNotes will allow readers to analyze the book and it’s features better, as well as give them additional information they otherwise would have missed.

Most recently I used SparkNotes after I finished reading Sula by Toni Morrison. While reading through the SparkNotes to enhance my understanding of the novel, I came across several tidbits of information that I had not picked up on the first time.This extra information allowed me to make better connections between my understanding and SparkNotes analysis of the events. For example, there was a drunk man who lived with Sula named Tar baby, I always assumed he was black when he actually was white, or that Plum (Sula’s uncle) was addicted to heroin when Eva set him on fire in his bed. This information helped me to understand certain situations that were confusing the first time I read it.

It became clear throughout the novel that there were characters who were connected to each other with a special bond that although they were different people they made one person. The most obvious example is the three boys Eva “adopted” and called them all Dewey. SparkNotes analysis of the Dewey brothers was consistent with what I had believed in that they had grown so attached to each other they became the same person. In the Dewey’s case this may have been what prevented them from fully maturing both physically and mentally as they were always  mischievous. This relationship is more importantly seen between Nel and Sula. I believe that they became so attached to each other because they were complete opposites. Sula always had an unstable situation at home, her mother had affairs with many men, her grandma had several boarders stay at their house, and a drunk white man lived with them. While Nel grew up in an oppressive and strict home. Her mother went to the most conservative church, was well respected, and would smother any imagination that Nel tried to express. It was these polar opposite lifestyles and feelings that allowed the two girls to become one. SparkNotes continued to say that “as they spent more time together they began to grow together because Sula allows Nel to express individuality, and Nel helps Sula think and process information better” (SparkNotes).

After I completed the book, and read through the SparkNotes there were two major differences between their analysis and my understanding. First was the topic/ theme of love. I had concluded that the bottom was a place of no love. It was a place where a mother could light her son on fire and watch another one burn, a place where husbands would have affairs with other women, a place where people would tolerate but ignore those who are different (Shadrack and the Dewey brothers), and lastly the bottom was a place where people were constantly drunk. On the contrary to my beliefs, SparkNotes assessed that the bottom was a place of intense love, but the conditions prevented people from expressing it. Eva disappeared for 18 months, and never played with her kids because she loved them and was spending all of her time trying to feed and take care of them. SparkNotes also concluded that Eva killed Plum not out of hatred for his addiction but out of love, as she could not watch him suffer and deteriorate back into a child. SparkNotes even goes to say that it is possible that Eva killed Hannah in the ambulance to end her misery from the burns she received, as well as the loneliness she felt. After reading the SparkNotes I have a new perspective and respect for Eva and the others who struggled to survive but still took care of their children. The other major difference is the central theme of the story. I had taken it to be that you never know what you have until it is gone, and that social norms are not enough to live by, but after reading the SparkNotes I now realize that it's not that. It actually is that good and bad come hand in hand, and that things are not always as they seem. The reason I had different themes is because there were times the it was hard to see both sides good and bad. For example white people building the golf course allowed the black to live better lives which is good, but it also made them live in solitude which was hard to see. Even when it was told that there was good and bad it was only short lived, so to me it was the end of the importance not a whole other set of good and bad (Sula’s death). The information I received from SparkNotes paired with the analysis offered helped me to realize that my original judgement was incorrect, and allows me to correctly comprehend the book.

Overall Sula has taught me that things aren’t always as they seem, that just because something is bad doesn’t mean that no good can come out of it, and that love is a complex emotion that can’t be fully understood from the outside. Without the helpful insights from SparkNotes I would have misinterpreted a large part of the book, and would have the wrong takeaways from it. SparkNotes when used properly give reader the little bit of extra knowledge that allows them to fully comprehend and use what they just read/ learned.