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War Shadrack And Plum By Toni Morrison

485 Words2 Pages

I believe that the leading event that changed gender roles was the absence of males in the community. Society had not yet realized how vital a father figure is to the upbringing of the next generation. The book shows several men that were not in their families lives and as a result, it noticeably creates future problems for mothers and their children. The novel enlightens us on some of the causes for fathers to abandon their families. One of these causes is lack of work for African American males. One example of this is Wiley Wright, Helene’s husband. According to Toni Morrison, “[Wiley] was a seaman (or rather a lakeman, for he was a ship's cook on one of the Great Lakes lines), in port only three days out of every sixteen” (17). The lack …show more content…

Two characters from the book have been to war Shadrack and Plum. Shadrack, a World War 1 veteran that returned to the Bottom after the war. Majority of the citizens do not know much about Shadrack which makes him mysteries, however, we know about his war times and how it affected him. He suffers from PTSD, post traumatic stress disorder which affects the mind. PTSD for a soldier is usually caused by traumatic or life-threatening events, such as combat and in Sula, Shadrack had an event during the war. According to Sula, “Wincing at the pain in his foot, he turned his head a little to the right And saw the face of a soldier near him fly off. Before he could register the shock, the rest of the soldier’s head disappeared under the inverted soup bowl of his helmet” (8). It is obvious why Shadrack suffers from PTSD, watching someone you have to spend an abundance of time with getting killed in such a brutal and horrific way would affect your psychic. We see evidence of Shadracks PTSD in the hospital when he tries to grab his cup and, “ ...his fingers, they began to grow in higgledy-piggledy fashion”(9). PTSD plays games with the mind. Shadracks heads are regular normal hands yet, he believes they are more than that. Even when he leaves the hospital he has trouble walking and tying his shoes. Although Shadrack does not have any family in the novel, he represents males

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