Shadrack

            Shadrack epitomizes a man that was all about the façade, and not about action.  He walked around with his phallus sticking out, when really he was no real man.  He has so little self-confidence, that he needs to show the world how big a man he is.  He has little power over anyone except little girls because he is worthless to society.  When the fish are not biting, he has nothing to offer society.  He lives alone, and his measly profession is the catching and selling of fish.  The only reason he can live with himself is because he thinks he is a sexual dominator.  However, his persona demonstrates how he only wished to be a sexual dominator.  In the Bottoms, the women were the sexual dominators.  To find his niche, Shadrack makes everyone believe he is a sexual predator.  In reality, he is a weak little man who sells fish for his means of survival.

  Hannah

            Hannah demonstrates how the lack of a father figure affects the way a woman interacts with men.  She searches for male comfort from men, because she never felt the comfort that a father can give to his daughter.  Her father ran off before she could love him in a meaningful way.  Through this need for physical contact, she also shows her attitude towards sexual dominance.  She controls men through sex.  She was unable to control her father, but now she can control any man she wants.  She can ruin a family just with one liaison, as her father did to her mother.  Hannah also has a strong sense of womanliness about her.  She controls when and how she seduces the men.  She wants to be treated like a woman and not a whore.  Hannah is in total control.  She not only controls men through sex, but also the men’s wives.  However, Hannah thrives so much on sex, that her character sometimes neglected the fact that she had a daughter.  She had motherly like qualities, but because of her absurd behavior towards sex, her own daughter Sula would follow the same path as her mother.  This behavior unfortunately leads to a lack of respect by the people of the Bottoms.

Deweys

            The three boys named Dewey show how needy Eva was for companionship, but also how accepting she was.  She took three stray boys into her home, regardless of their health, skin color, or anything, and treated them like her own sons.  The boys were so different that “one was deeply black with a beautiful head and the golden eyes of chronic jaundice.  Dewey two was light-skinned with freckles everywhere and a head of tight red hair.  Dewey three was half Mexican with chocolate skin and black bangs” (Morrison 38).  The Deweys looked nothing alike, and were three different ages.  However, slowly they became like brothers and “They spoke with one voice, thought with one mind, and maintained an annoying privacy” (Morrison 39).  Eva brought three shy little boys together under her care, so that they could form a friendship and a brotherly bond that would be difficult to break.  Eva cared about all three of them, even though they were children who had been cast out of their homes, and left to fend for themselves.  Eva became their mother.  The Deweys give Eva more sense of motherliness that she never wants to lose.  Eva lost Plum, and then Hannah.  Therefore, when Sula left, she had absolutely no one to care for.  She had cared for people her whole life.  Therefore, the Deweys brought back Eva’s passion mothering children even in her old age. 

Eva

            Eva’s selfless nature protrudes in her many sacrifices for her children. She gives up her leg and resorts to prostitution in order to have an income and provide for her family. She also jumps out of her window with no hesitation in an attempt to save Hannah. Her overflowing love and perseverance aided her survival through poverty and hardship. Killing Plum and removing his bowels, prostituting in order to enlarge her house, all contributed to her need for comfortable children. Though she had a willingness to do anything for her children, she presented herself a poor role model for them. Her promiscuous behavior effected not only herself, but passed down among the next generations (Hannah, Sula). They both preformed the same acts, such as prostitution. Eva possessed a strong and sacrificial mother but ironically failed in providing healthy morals and values.

Nel

            Growing up without a father, Nel received no fatherly love or influence.  Her character possesses a weakness; (she took the harassment for the boys and allowed Sula to take a stand). She carried a very feminine nature due to lack of a stable male figure. She grew up well behaved and mannered, allowing herself discipline. Nel was devoted and loved her husband and desired a strong, close family, unlike the one she had.

Plum

            Plum lacked ambition and self-worth.  After leaving for war, his body and soul returned altered.  She did nothing but sit around and waste away.  He had no purpose for living and drank himself in a blunder.  He depended solely on his mother, and remained in his room locked in misery.  He presented someone without reason and remained better off when gone.