Sula Essay

Rather than being connected with a rose, an inanimate object of classical femininity, she is now paralleled to “a copperhead”, a poisonous snake with clear negative connotations. Sula is a snake in the Garden of Eden that constitutes the conventional black community of the Bottom, the embodiment of vice. This association robs her of any redeemable or human qualities.

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.

Sula wanted nothing to do with a husband that would betray her and cheat on her and come home and just be horribly mean to her.  I think the biggest emotional obstacle Sula endured was watching her mother burn to death. Sula went through an obstacle course of emotions and relationships.  Poor choices were made, which led to her ultimate demise, however, her demise was her own choice. It was pretty ironic how the dislike for Sula brought the community together. With their dislike for Sula they forgot about the problems they had with each other.

Her mother and grandmother, who obviously favor her brother, essentially ignore Sula. Hannah, her mother, is a very sexual woman who enjoys the company of many men in town to the disapproval of Sula. Because of her mother’s actions, Sula views her with an indifferent and callous sense of hostility. Still, Sula reacts in a negative way when hears her mother say, “‘I just don’t like her’” in reference to her daughter. (57) The difference between loving someone and liking someone is made clear here. It develops the idea of a mother’s ambivalent love. When a child is aggravating, it can be frustrating to love them. But for Hannah, she simply does not like the person Sula is becoming. This realization, for Sula, removes her from

In the novel Sula, by Toni Morrison we follow the life of Sula Peace through out her childhood in the twenties until her death in 1941. The novel surrounds the black community in Medallion, specifically "the bottom". By reading the story of Sula’s life, and the life of the community in the bottom, Morrison shows us the important ways in which families and communities can shape a child’s identity. Sula not only portrays the way children are shaped, but also the way that a community receives an adult who challenges the very environment that molded them. Sula’s actions and much of her personality is a direct result of her childhood in the bottom. Sula’s identity contains many elements of a strong, independent feminist

Despite being presented as opposites of good and evil, Nel and Sula are actually quite similar, as both Nel and Sula posses the traits that defined the other, effectively blurring the lines between good and evil. As young girls, Nel pushed herself to become friends with Sula in the first place as “Nel, who regarded the oppressive neatness of her home with dread, felt comfortable in t with Sula, who loved it and would sit on the red-velvet sofa for ten to twenty minutes at a time… As for Nel, she preferred Sula’s wooly house”(29). As a child, Nel yearned to be free and independent, and to be her own individual self separate from who her mother expects her to be. Sula however already lives this life of living in a non-traditional home and

she had” (Morrison 83). In the book Sula by Toni Morrison, Nel represents the women who follow all the social conventions and normative expectations. Nel and many women in our society are taught how to survive in this patriarchal society and their desperation for freedom and equality are rubbed down when they were young. On the other hand, the main character Sula is a self-defined woman. Sula is a representation of extreme individualism since she remains single and has sexual relations with countless married and single men. She also sends her grandmother to an elderly home and does not care about the feelings of the people around her. Morrison uses Sula to

Being isolated from one's peers is not an easy thing to handle. Rayona spends her days alone, wondering about her mother and blaming herself for her troubles. This enhances her feelings of inadequacy. Rayona pulls inside herself by keeping her worries private. When others inquire about Ray's condition, she conceals her problems with lies. By lying she dismisses her difficulties; denies their existence to herself. Inside, she is falling apart; the stress she has to deal with brings her near to a mental collapse.

Sula dislikes her disheveled house, and wishes that she could live in a household as clean as that of Nel. Sula?s positive view of Nel?s home challenges Nel to see it in a new light, teaching her to appreciate. This concept stays current throughout the early years of their relationship, each opening the other?s eyes to new idea and ways of living and as they do their friendship grows stronger. The two become practically inseparable, living completely symbiotically and depending on each other for everything. However, this relationship is destined to change.

In the novel Sula by Toni Morrison, the idea that Sula and Nel are different is proven multiple times. Throughout the entire novel, the stark contrast between Nel Wright Greene and Sula Peace is shown, starting from their childhood, when they first met. From even before the two friends had met, the difference was clear; the household that Nel lived in was overly clean and strict, while the household Sula lived in was entirely the opposite, with it being noisy, busy, and messy. As little girls, Sula and Nel create their own rules for their friendship; "In the safe harbor of each other's company they could afford to abandon the ways of other people and concentrate on their own perceptions of things” (55). However, their close friendship is tested when Sula sleeps with Nel’s husband, Jude, which stops Nel’s relationship with Jude and her friendship with Sula.

Being oppressed by her mother, Nel has an attraction to Sula’s carefree environment, which, unlike her own lacks any oppression. Likewise, Sula has an attraction to Nel’s peaceful and orderly environment. They both desire something that the other has, and that’s where such a strong attraction comes from. Together, they are perfect. Nel finds in Sula the youthfulness and the fun she’s missing, and Sula finds order and stability in Nel.

In Toni Morrison's Sula, the reader meets the protagonist, Sula, and her friend Nel when both girls are roughly twelve years old. Both girls are black, intelligent, and dreaming of

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.

Because of the sexual confidence Hannah Peace has, Sula must disguise her difference, just like her grandmother Eva had too. Eva’s drastic measures were repeated by Sula an act of survival and denial of powerlessness and vulnerability. Nel and Sula are regularly picked on by the same group of boys, causing Sula to take matter into her own hands. At one point, Sula takes out a knife and cuts off part of her finger saying, “ ‘If I can do that to myself, what you suppose I’ll do to you?’ ” (54-55). This severe act if Sula’s moment of self-recognition of her connection to her grandmother Eva. Here, Sula realizes that she has to fight against her own vulnerability, and establish her identity, hereby following her grandmother Eva’s example. Though this moment shows Sula’s inner strength, it can never disguise her enough of being different from the rest of her community. Just as Eva and Hannah, Sula continues the unpreventable, mature line of breaking past the typical gender roles of the time. Eva’s overly independent attitude and removal from caring and mothering a daughter correctly, leaves her daughters with unlearned, societal caretaking skills. This results in Sula’s highly inappropriate and unnecessary act of clumsy caretaking within her relationship with Nel. Yet, it is understandable because Sula has never been taught normal and conventional means for problem solving. The denial of motherly love from

Writers use setting to reveal the hidden emotions of characters. Characters react differently when placed in particular environments. Morrison used this technique, when in a single chapter she portrayed Sula in two distinct moods. In chapter 1922, Sula is introduced as upfront and tough when “she slashed off only the tip of her finger” (Morrison, 54) to intimidate her bullies. A young girl who is not terrified, “if I can do that to myself, what you suppose ill do to you?” (Morrison, 55) is later on placed in an environment of comfort and viewed as