The novel starts out as introducing a man named Shadrack. He served in WWI, and returns to his hometown of the Bottom. The Bottom is a black community in Ohio that rests in the hills above the white community of Medallion. The Bottom was originally given to a former slave who was promised that the hills of the community provided its citizens with a closer connection to God. The trick though, led to the growth of a vibrant community. After returning from the war however, Shadrack was unable to create order in his life. Eventually the citizens of Bottom unthinkingly accept him.
             The beginning of the novel in my opinion, should have been taken out, and included Sula and Nel considering they are main characters and Shadrack is not mentioned at all after the beginning. Morrison in my opinion did a poor job introducing the novel and what it is about. A good introductory paragraph should introduce its readers to the novel and provide a little bit of insight into future events. The only good and useful information the author Toni Morrison gives in the introductory, is the back round and beginning of the black community of Bottom, where the story itself takes place. I felt that the part where Bottom is introduced was an eminent inclusion.
             In the next chapter of the novel, we are introduced to the best friends, Nel ands Sula, and their very different families. Nel is a part of a stable home that deeply enjoys social conventions, and altogether a little bit rigid, Nel has a conventional relationship with her mother Helene and her grandmother Rochelle. Sula's family is the complete opposite, and acts totally different from Nel. She lives with her mother Eva and her mother Hannah, whom both run loose in the small town of Bottom.
             Despite their family differences, Nel and Sula become fiercely attached to one another during their adolescence. However, a traumatic accident changes their relationship for the worst
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