Finley is a resident of the Bottom. Not long after Sula returns to the Bottom after a ten year absence, he chokes to death on a chicken bone. Ajax is the oldest of his mother's seven sons. Ajax has many lovers who often fight over him in the streets. He is always nice to his lovers, but he finds them uninteresting. The only true loves of his life are his mother, a conjure woman, and airplanes.
At age twenty-one, he is a beautiful, graceful "pool haunt. The daughter of Helene, in adolescence she develops an intense friendship with Sula. Nel marries Jude, and is later abandoned by him. BoyBoy Peace was Eva's husband.
He abandoned her when their three children were small. Eva Peace was abandoned by her husband, BoyBoy, when their children were young.
She struggled to keep her family away from starvation, but she succeeded only through the kindness of her neighbors. Eva later became the vibrant matriarch over a busy household, which included Hannah, Sula, Ralph, Tar Baby, the Deweys, and a constant stream of boarders. Hannah Peace is Eva's oldest child. She moved back in with her mother after her husband, Rekus, died when their daughter, Sula, was three years old.
Like her mother, Hannah loves "maleness. Many women resent her, but they don't hate her. Why are these characters important? Well, these are the people who surround Sula as she's growing up, sharing her home and table. They aren't the most emotionally stable bunch, and this likely has an impact on Sula. They are perhaps one reason she loves Nel's house so much. There aren't any neighborhood boys or drunks there, and Sula can just enjoy the peace and quiet.
It is possible that Shadrack's assurance of her permanence relieves her fears that Chicken Little's accidental death has changed her good nature in any essential way. Nel's guilt arises partly from her upbringing.
She has been raised not to question authority, and authority is that which judges. Later in the novel, we learn that she was thrilled when she saw Chicken Little sailing through the air. She remained calm while Sula became distraught. It is likely that she feels guilty about her lack of reaction, or her lack of the socially approved reaction, to the accident. Although Sula and Nel's actions following Chicken Little's death may seem reprehensible, it is necessary to remember that they are still children.
They did not intend to harm the boy. They were too afraid to tell anyone about the accident for fear they would be blamed for intending to kill him. The incident seems on the surface not to have affected them much, but later chapters reveal that his death had a profound influence on them.
Instinctively, they know it is possible that society will misunderstand the incident and blame them for something they didn't really do. In contrast, the reaction of the white world to Chicken Little's death is clearly reprehensible. The white officials consider the matter of returning the boy's body to his family an annoyance.
If we compare their attitude toward the boy's death to that of Sula and Nel, there is a clear difference between them. Sula grieves and Nel feels guilt while the white men feel nothing at all. Sign in. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. Literature Poetry Lit Terms Shakescleare.
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