Chapter 8

The black community rallies to defend itself against Sula. She has done the unthinkable: She has put her grandmother, Eva Peace, in a nursing home — for this, she is labeled "roach." In addition, she has had some type of sexual encounter with her best friend's husband and then moved on to other lovers — for this transgression, she is labeled "bitch." Everyone remembers the plague of filthy robins associated with Sula's returning to the Bottom, and they resurrect the old anecdote about Sula's passively watching her mother burn to death; they decide once and for all that Sula's birthmark is really Hannah's ashes. But the most heinous of her crimes is that she has slept with white men. The strong damnation of such an indictment is derived from the racism under which the entire community has suffered. Subtleties of institutionalized racism, coupled with the accepted Jim Crow laws of segregation, remind everyone of the separation of the races. Sula's alleged interracial affairs are perceived as an affront to all of the black people living in the Bottom.

Sula's every move becomes suspect, and even random occurrences of bad luck are attributed to her. Her apparent defiance of physical and moral laws galvanizes the black community against her. Sula is unnatural: she doesn't age, has lost no teeth, never bruises, refuses to wear underwear at church suppers, has never been sick, and doesn't belch when she drinks beer. When she bewitches Shadrack into tipping his imaginary hat to her, the community is convinced that Sula is both the devil and evil personified. Fully aware that she is the town's pariah, Sula does as she pleases, when she pleases.

At the age of twenty-nine, Sula is reunited with Ajax, who, at thirty-eight, becomes her lover. Ajax has heard all of the stories about Sula but is not uncomfortable rebelling against public opinion. The two lovers are drawn to each other's free-spirited independence. For the first time in Sula's life, she realizes that she can express love in terms of permanence and possession.

Sensing a change within Sula as she begins sliding into easy domesticity, Ajax leaves her. Afterward, Sula discovers his driver's license and learns that his name is Albert Jacks — A. Jacks — Ajax. She begins to crumble under the realization that she never really knew him. She crawls into bed holding the crumpled license and dreams a melody, one that states that Sula has sung all of the songs there are to sing.