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Jude Greene
A group of boys who are given the same name by Eva Peace when they’re born: “Dewey.” Over time, the deweys (always lowercase!) remain a tight-knit group, to the point where they refuse to do anything alone. Despite the fact that the deweys are all different ages, they’re treated as one unit by the people of the Bottom: the deweys are sent to school at the same time, and when one dewey is bad, they’re all punished equally. In a touch of magical realism, the deweys do not age physically. It’s as if their refusal to be individuals—only a group—means that they cannot develop and become adults. As a result, they’re children for the rest of their lives.
The deweys Quotes in Sula
The Sula quotes below are all either spoken by The deweys or refer to The deweys. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
1921
Quotes
Slowly each boy came out of whatever cocoon he was in at the time his mother or somebody gave him away, and accepted Eva's view, becoming in fact as well as in name a dewey—joining with the other two to become a trinity with a plural name... inseparable, loving nothing and no one but themselves. When the handle from the icebox fell off, all the deweys got whipped, and in dry-eyed silence watched their own feet as they turned their behinds high up into the air for the stroke.
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Explanation and Analysis:
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The deweys Quotes in Sula
The Sula quotes below are all either spoken by The deweys or refer to The deweys. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
1921
Quotes
Slowly each boy came out of whatever cocoon he was in at the time his mother or somebody gave him away, and accepted Eva's view, becoming in fact as well as in name a dewey—joining with the other two to become a trinity with a plural name... inseparable, loving nothing and no one but themselves. When the handle from the icebox fell off, all the deweys got whipped, and in dry-eyed silence watched their own feet as they turned their behinds high up into the air for the stroke.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
