Welcome to the Bottom

The hills above Medallion was called the Bottom. The irony in the name is evident as the author discusses how the Negro people were tricked into living in the Bottom by the white men. Even though the Negro was a free man, the white man still treated him as an ignorant slave and tricked him into excepting wasted land that he promised was the thumbprint of God. That moment on marked the beginning of the painful Bottom history, "...the laughter was part of the pain," (pg 4). Recounting the history behind the Bottom helps the readers understand what type of story the reader is about to dive into. By the title, "Sula," I believed that Sula would be quickly introduced in the story and explained in detail, but that is not so. Instead, she does not appear until a quarter of the way into the book. I am still learning about her role, and who she is, but the description of the Bottom from the beginning has helped me visualize the setting, the area, and the people that inhabit the Bottom before it was going through it's urbanized changes. It's amazing that even the smallest town could house such great accounts of personal life histories. The Bottom is only the beginning. The Bottom is where we begin, it is where I begin, and I am sure it is inevitably where I will end.