The Bottom was a black neighborhood on a hill above the fictional town of Medallion, Ohio, set to be bulldozed at the beginning of the novel for the creation of a golf course. The Bottom originated as an agreement between a white farmer and his black slave. The farmer had promised freedom and a piece of valley land to his slave should he complete some difficult chores. Upon the completion of the chores the farmer regrets his end of the bargain, no longer wanting to give up the land. In order to get out of the arrangement, the farmer feigns regret to the slave over having to give him valley land rather than "Bottom" land. The farmer claimed that "Bottom" land (actually located on top of a hill) would be better than valley land because it was closer to the bottom of heaven.
The story is organized by chronological chapters labeled with years. In "1919," the first named character, handsome Shadrack returns from World War I a shattered man, suffering from shell shock or PTSD and unable to accept the world he used to belong in. As a way to compartmentalize the unpredictable nature of death, Shadrack invents a National Suicide Day to be held annually on January 3. Shadrack proposed that Medallion citizens could kill themselves or each other on this day and be free from death for the rest of the year. The town begrudgingly accepts Shadrack as a part of their community despite his outbursts.
In "1920" and "1921," the narrator contrasts the families of the children Nel Wright and Sula Peace, who both grow up with no father figure. Nel, the product of a mother knee deep in social conventions, grows up in a stable home. Nel is initially torn between the rigid conventionality of her mother Helene Wright, who dislikes Sula's family instantly, and her inherent curiosity with the world, which she discovers on a trip. Though she vows to explore more of the world, she ultimately never leaves The Bottom again. This experience ultimately prompts Nel to begin a friendship with Sula. The Peace family is the opposite: Sula lives with her grandmother Eva and her mother Hannah, both of whom are seen by the town as eccentric, loose, yet Hannah was genuinely loved by all men, and Eva was very respected by all women. Their house serves as a home for three informally adopted boys and a steady stream of boarders. The extremely strained relationship between Hannah and Eva is revealed.
Despite their differences, Sula and Nel become fiercely attached to each other as adolescents. They share every part of their lives, including the shared memory of a traumatic event. One day, they playfully swing a neighborhood boy, Chicken Little, around by his hands. Sula loses her grip, and he falls into a nearby river and drowns. They do not tell anyone of their role in his death. Though Sula grieves with guilt, Nel feels relief after deciding that the event is primarily Sula's fault. Shadrack lives in a shack by the river's edge, and the girls are uncertain if he witnessed Chicken Little's death. To determine if he saw, Sula visits the shack alone and is surprised at its orderliness. Sula is unable to confront Shadrack through her tears. He comforts her and she runs away, accidentally leaving behind her belt. Shadrack hangs the belt on his wall in memory of his only visitor.
One day, Hannah tries to light a fire outside and her dress catches fire. Eva sees this happening from upstairs and jumps out the window in an attempt to save her daughter's life. Sula, who was sitting on the porch, simply watched her mother burn. An ambulance comes, but Hannah dies en route to the hospital, with Eva injured as well. Other residents of the Bottom believe Sula remained still because she was stunned by the incident. Eva believes that Sula stood and watched out of curiosity.
As an adult, Nel chooses to get married, breaking the childhood promise of the girls to share everything. Sula lives a life of ardent independence and total disregard for social conventions. Shortly after Nel's wedding, Sula leaves the Bottom for 10 years. She has many affairs and attends college. When she returns to the Bottom and to Nel, who became a conventional wife and mother, they reconcile briefly.
The rest of the town grows to resent Sula, in part because of her many affairs with married men. The husbands start a rumor that Sula slept with white men, worsening the town's opinion of Sula. The town's hatred of Sula gives them the impetus to live harmoniously with one another, as well as treat each other better. Sula's affairs give the wives a reason to soothe the bruised egos of their husbands, while Sula's lack of family at her age is scorned by all the women and causes them to be better mothers. Though Shadrack is typically vulgar and shocking to other townspeople, he treats Sula with respect.
Nel and Sula end their friendship after Sula has an affair with Nel's husband Jude. Just before Sula dies in 1940, they reconcile half-heartedly. With Sula's death, the harmony that had reigned in the town quickly dissolves. Sula dies alone with no one to attend her funeral. Shadrack, whose PTSD has faded enough for loneliness to crawl back in, is the only one saddened by her death.
Nel never remarries and becomes an overbearing mother. The Bottom slowly dissolves after Sula's death, becoming a different place. Nel visits Eva in 1965 in an elderly care facility, where Eva tells her that she knew about the death of Chicken Little. Nel replies that the blame was just on Sula but remembers her old promise to Sula to share everything.
Nel says goodbye to Sula at her gravestone, realizing that her loneliness was not from missing her ex-husband but from missing Sula. She cries in grief as she recalls the years spent without her.[2]
