Relationship Between Nel And Sula in Toni Morrison's Sula Essay

Commensalism is when one species can benefit from a relationship and not hurt the other. There are four different main types; chemical, inquilinism, metabiosis and phoresy. Chemical commensalism is most often observed between bacteria. It involves the species of one bacteria feeding on the chemicals produced or the waste products of the other bacteria. Inquilinism involves one species using the body of another organism as a platform or living space while the host does not benefit or is harmed. Metabiosis occurs when one species unintentionally creates a home for another species through one of its normal life activities. A phoresy takes place when one organism attaches to another organism specifically for the purpose of gaining transportation. An example of commensalism (inquilinism) is barnacles and whales. Barnacles are non-moving and they rely on currents to bring them food. Some barnacles attach themselves to whales in order to help them live. They can benefit as they are then transported over the ocean which exposes them to more feeding oppurtunities. The whale neither benefits or is harmed by the barnacles.

Only two characters, Nel and Shadrack, maintain a static interpretation of Sula’s birthmark, revealing their alienation from society at large. Nel’s unchanging perception of Sula’s birthmark as a stemmed rose highlights her own need for consistency.

Their attraction toward each other grows stronger every year, eventually becoming so strong that they become one. "Their friendship was so close; they themselves had difficulty distinguishing one's thoughts from the others" (83). The positive and the negative melts together, making a perfect neutral that becomes impossible to separate or determine what's positive and what's negative. Throughout the book we see Sula and Nel as one, as do the people who know them. Even Eva at some point says to Nel, "You. Sula. What's the difference?" (168). Eva makes a reference to the perfect example of Sula and Nel being one, the time when Chicken Little drowns in the river. At that point, it seems that Sula and Nel swap personalities. Very unlike her, Sula panics and breaks down crying when she accidentally lets go of Chicken Little's hand, while Nel suddenly becomes the more collected one, calming down her other half.

The climax of the story is when Nel finally confronts Sula. Each girl carried demons, guilt, and frustration over their lives and their choices. Nel finally vents her anger and pain and asks for an explanation from Sula. Nel's " thighs were truly empty and dead too, and it was Sula who had taken the life from them" (Morrison pg. 110-111). After leaving Eva at the home, Nel is so upset that she heads to Sula's grave. She sadly thinks about how none of the townspeople mourned her death. Nel calls out for Sula and it is then she finally forgives her for cheating with Jude. She starts crying, for the first time in years. Nel finally finds peace by grieving for Sula. When reading that part I think it was then that she realized it was Sula who she was missing & not Jude. When reading the story I couldn’t help but feel mixed emotions for Sula. It was a combination of sadness for all

Nel and Sula’s relationship is a complex one, which allows for the novel to become incredibly in depth and driven by interesting characters. Sula’s relationships with her mother and grandmother are opposite of Nel’s relationship with her mother. This is, perhaps, why their personalities differ so much once they reach adulthood. Both become their mothers.

Sula says “I did not hold my head stiff enough when I met him and so I lost it just like the dolls”(136). For a second, she became the woman that the Bottom wanted her to be. The Bottom saw Nel as good because she conformed to this standard, and saw Sula as evil because of her promiscuous and non traditional lifestyle. However, here Sula is showing that she too can show these traits that the people in the Bottom see as correct and virtuous. The fact that Sula and Nel both possess the traits that defined them as either good or evil, shows that they actually cannot be defined as either, just as Eva describes “Just alike. Both of you. Never was no difference between you two”(169). Their similarity erases the harsh line drawn by the people of the Bottom as to what good and evil looks like, making it apparent that morality is not black and white but more ambiguous. Good cannot be the direct opposite of evil, if those who represent good and evil are both good and evil themselves. The idea that Sula is evil while Nel is good is torn down in Nel’s mind as well, as near the book 's end she reflects on the death of Chicken Little. Morrison writes “All these years she had been secretly proud of her calm, controlled behavior when Sula was uncontrollable...Now it seemed that what she has thought was maturity, serenity, and compassion was only the tranquility that follows a joyful stimulation. Just as the water closed peacefully over the turbulence of Chicken Little 's

After getting married, Sourdi and Mr. Chhay moved a state away to Iowa, putting an even larger strain on Sourdi and Nea’s relationship. Sourdi did not want to get married to Mr. Chhay as she was still in love with Duke, but it wasn’t in Sourdi to fight back and go against her mother’s wishes— something Nea would have easily done. Nearly two years after Sourdi got married, Nea picks up a call from Sourdi one evening

During the story, Chai paints a picture of two extremely close sisters who have been put to the test. The pair has been relocated, put to work, and expected to mature quickly in their harsh new world. Nea is the narrator of the story, and she shares: ”We used to say that we’d run away, Sourdi and me.” (72) The sisters would whisper their secrets back and forth at night, and lock themselves in the bathroom together and hide away together. As children the girls were inseparable but soon the age difference comes between them. Sourdi finds comforts in her first romance with a dishwasher, Duke, and slowly but surely Nea is left by the wayside. This distance is increased when Mr. Chhay is introduced and Nea quickly realizes that her sister is being severed from her life: “It was the beginning of the end. I should have fought harder then. I should have stabbed this man, too.” (75)

During this time of their separation, the strength of their friendship appears evident. They both long to still be friends, to talk again. However, Nel sees this event as a true betrayal of friendship from Sula, while Sula sees what happened as casual and not a big deal.

Their attraction toward each other grows stronger each year, eventually becoming so strong that they become one. “Their friendship was so close; that they themselves had difficulty distinguishing one’s thoughts from the others” (Morrison 83). Throughout this book we see Sula and Nel as one, as the people did that knew them. Even Eva at some point says to Nel, “You. Sula. What’s the difference” (Morrison 168)? Eva makes this reference to Nel and Sula being as one when she is taking about Chicken Little drowning in the river.

This behavior is seen when Nel attempts to recreate the relationship that she and Sula share with someone else, instead of maintaining her relationship with Sula. Now instead of Nel and Sula joined to make one person, Nel and Jude "together would make one Jude." (Page 83) Another of Nel’s negative qualities was how dependent she was on what other thought of her. The only reason Nel ended her relationship with Sula was because she felt she needed to be "needed by someone who saw her singly." (Page 84). Initially this statement appears to state that Nel wishes to become more of an individual, when in actuality it is only further proof that she is completely dependent on what others think of her.Nel’s want to be an individual while still

 Organisms in nature rely on one another for their well being.  However, sometimes those organisms become greedy and decide to take in the relationship, instead of sharing with their symbiotic partner.  Through this action, it takes on parasitic characteristics.  In Toni Morrison's work, Sula, Sula Peace and Nel Wright demonstrate how a symbiotic relationship goes awry.  When one partner betrays the other, by taking instead of giving, the other partner suffers.  Nel and Sula's relationship suffers because Sula unfortunately takes actions that lead to partaking in a parasitic relationship where she begins to wither away.  Nel refuses the parasitic lifestyle and

For Sula, there is no "other" against which she can then define herself. Having rejected her community and her family, she wanders, trying somehow to define who she is. Sula turns to Shadrack, the local madman, at first because she worries that he saw what happened to Chicken Little, but then because his words truly do comfort her.

Unlike all the other women in the story, Sula is tough and does not let others interfere with her. She lives her life by her own rules and standards. The people in the town notice that "except for a funny-shaped finger and that evil birthmark, she was free of any normal signs of vulnerability" (115). Again, the rose symbolized Sula's growth and carefree way of life.

While society's view of evil is really based on the disapproval of anything that would break down way society works, Sula's view of evil is based on a different goal and she acts according to a different set of standards. In other words, "Sula was distinctly different" (118). Sula "had been looking all along for a friend" (122) and that is the goal she is really trying to reach. In sleeping with many men, she is sort of looking for a release for her "misery and...deep sorrow" (122). She is trying to find a friend who she can