Category: Sula

When it comes to Friendship, one might think of playing a game or two with someone you care about. However, in Toni Morrison’s novel, Sula, Friendship is not always so black and white. Sula’s and Nel’s relationship are the wildest roller coaster any amusement park could ever hope to have. Sula is a book that sometimes leaves a bad taste in one’s mouth when it comes to how friendship is treated. Sula and Nel’s friendship go through it all, especially when it comes betrayal and forgiveness when it comes to the death of Chicken Little, the affair of Jude and Sula, and ultimately, Sula’s inevitable death.

Firstly, The Death of Chicken Little. This occurrence put Sula’s and Nel’s friendship to the test. “The water darkened and closed quickly over the place where Chicken little sank.” (Morrison, pg. 61) The tragedy of this incident severely glued the two girls together, as they were forced to become adults at that moment. Chicken Little’s death would soon become a strong foundation (although a terrible one) When it comes to them trying to cover up what had happened, they confronted Shadrack, as he does lives by the river that chicken Little drowned in. It seemed that Shadrack did not know anything, however, he did reply to Sula saying, “always,” which was a foreshadowing for what would happen later in the book. Later, Nel and Sula were at the grave of Chicken Little, holding hands, knowing that this secret could not be let out between them. This left them with a deep bond that was unbreakable, or so we thought…

Later, it is revealed that Nel is getting married to a man named Jude in 1927. The two girls were much older and mature, but obviously still best friends. Sula was present at Nel’s wedding, as she should, after that, it would be a long 10 years before the two young women would see each other again. However, their meeting would soon turn from sweet to sour. 10 years has passed since Sula has left the Bottom as she finally comes back on the day that robins swarm the place, which is symbolism for how just like the Plague of Robins, Sula was a plague for the town’s people. It was clear it was too long for the two girls to be apart, they hit it of just like they were young girls again. In the book, Toni writes that, Nel was laughing so hard that she had tears in her eyes and she almost peed herself. This proved that not even separation could keep the two ladies apart, nothing at all besides betrayal. As explained earlier, Sula had an affair with Nel’s husband, Jude. “But they had been down on all fours naked, not touching except their lips right down there on the floor where the tie is pointing to, on all fours like (uh huh, go on, say it) like dogs.” (105) This specific betrayal reminds me of one from a specific article by Rosie Millard. Millard says, “Just over ten years ago, it emerged that Harold Pinter and Joan Bakewell had had a seven-year affair that began in the 1960s, she while married to the TV producer Michael Bakewell, he while married to the actress Vivienne Merchant” (Millard) Because of this betrayal, it would be 3 years before the two would talk again, on Sula’s death bed.

After 3 years of not seeing each other, Nel decides to finally visit Sula after she falls helplessly ill. If I were Nel, I would have not forgiven Sula. It is not an easy thing to forgive the person who ruined your life. Nel does not forgive Sula, at least not in life. An article from Jonathon Aitken says, “FORGIVING ENEMIES IS ONE OF THE hardest commandments in Jesus’s teachings. Most of us struggle with it personally at some period in our lives.” (Aitken) Their meeting started off easy but soon turned violent as Nel was angry and wanted an answer on why Sula did what she did, as she should. When Sula dies at first, Nel is not sure how she feels. Much later, Nel cries finally for the death of Sula, realizing that it was not the loss of her husband that made her feel that way, but the loss of her now late best friend.

Sula and Nel’s friendship have gone from togetherness to betrayal, and then forgiveness. In the end, Nel never hated Sula, and even shed tears for her as soon as she realized she did not. Toni Morrison’s book goes into a very fragmented version of friendship that no one wants to hope to have. Sula and Nel’s friendship are not like most, unlike normal friendship where friends would get into a normal fight, Sula’s and Nel’s reason for their separation was far more severe. Although Sula and Nel friendship did end on a bad note, they never stopped loving each other and ultimately never stopped caring for one another.

References

1. Aitken, Jonathan. ‘Acts of forgiveness.’ The American Spectator, vol. 43, no. 1, Feb. 2010, p. 62+. Gale Literature Resource Center, https://link-gale-com.db16.linccweb.org/apps/doc/A219076997/GLS?u=lincclin_mdcc&sid=GLS&xid=f5591ca 9. Accessed 20 Apr. 2020.
2. Millard, Rosie. ‘The end of the affair: thirty years on, Pinter’s study of adultery remains as poignant as ever.’ New Statesman, vol. 136, no. 4849, 18 June 2007, p. 50. Gale Literature Resource Center,https://link-gale-com.db16.linccweb.org/apps/doc/A166351286/GLS?u=lincclin_mdcc&sid=GLS&xid=8a6133 11. Accessed 20 Apr. 2020.
3. Morrison, Toni. (1973) Sula. New York: Alfred A. Knopf

Sula by Toni Morrison develops a story with Medallion’s women, especially Sula Peace and Nel Wright in the 20th century. The part one is talking about Sula’s childhood and character’s background, and Part two is talking about Sula’s comeback and her ‘evilness’. Readers can find many themes in this novel kinds as Racism, community identity, or gender role and motherhood. This paper will focus on the gender role with Sula Peace’s challenge. Sula always acts opposite to traditional gender role and act like a man at that time. While Morrison suggested that Sula and Nel’s arguments about gender role, it also implies that how hard to survive as a challenging woman like Sula.

First of all, Morrison suggests two concepts to describe traditional gender roles via Nel Wright and the culture of Medallion. The first one is a sacrifice. In chapter 1923, Ajax said that “all they want, man, is they own misery. Ax em to die for you and they yours for life.” (83). Also, in chapter 1940, Nel said that spends her life to support her husband is worth to do; “Spend my life keeping a man?” “They worth keeping, Sula.” (143). Ajax and Nel’s statement shows this concept directly. They thought that spend women’s life for their husbands is worth it and the natural one. The second one is freedom. Nel thought that it is natural for women doesn’t have any freedom. In chapter 1940, Nel said that Sula can’t act like a man since she is a colored woman; “You can’t do it all. You a woman and a colored woman at that. You can’t act like a man. You can’t be walking around all independent-like, doing whatever you like, taking what you want, leaving what you don’t.” (142). Nel’s statement shows how women’s life was controlled at that time well. Nel said that since Sula is a colored woman, she cannot act like a man. This colored woman cannot walk around independently, do what they want, and take what they want. People thought that women, especially colored women have to be controlled and that’s the natural one like Nel did. These two concepts are closely connected to describe gender roles. Since people had a prejudice that women have to bring up children in the house and support her husband at home, they thought women like to do sacrifice and stay at home. “The traditional view of the male as breadwinner and the female as homemaker has shifted over time.” (Kristin, Stephen, and Vance). Morrison suggests Nel Wright as a representation of this gender role concepts.

At next, Morrison suggested Sula’s challenge to traditional gender roles via contrast Sula’s attitude with Nel. In the whole story, Sula simply acts like a man and do what man did. Sula disappeared for a decade to travel the world, and she also slept with Jude Greene like her grandfather’s ‘womanizing’. (quotation for evidence). These kinds of actions show her incompliant attitude and challenging; “Sula does what she likes; she challenges the traditional gender roles and acts in ways that are associated with men.” (Khamsa, Mazhar, and Uzma, 2012). This is opposite what Nel’s did. She married early and take care of her children like other women in Bottom did. Morrison clearly shows this difference via Sula and Nel’s argument. While Nel said they don’t have freedom and Sula have to stop acting like what men did, Sula said she has her freedom and mind; “Girl, I got my mind. And what goes on in it. Which is to say, I got me.” (Morrison, 143). Morrison emphasize her challenge to traditional gender role via contrast with Nel’s perspective; “Through opposite and contrasting ideas, writers make their arguments stronger, thus making them more memorable for readers due to emphasis placed on them.” (Literary Device, 12). While Nel has traditional thought like other people in Bottom that women have to stay in the home and bring up children, Sula thought that even black females also had their freedom and independence like other people.

At last, Morrison expresses how hard to survive women at that time via Sula’s bullying and death. Sula is a challenging woman. She acts like a man and all the people in the Medallion blamed her and called her ‘evil’ (evidence quotation for evil) She was blamed for all the bad events that she has nothing to do with her in town. Although Morrison described that she was blamed because of her adultery with her best friend, actually it implies that people in Medallion couldn’t accept her challenging to the traditional gender role. Morrison described women’s life as dying stump via Sula; “Dying. Just like me. But the difference is they dying like a stump. Me, I’m going down like one of those redwoods. I sure did live in this world.” (143). Morrison suggested that colored women in that century dying like a stump with nothing. Sula said they are left and no freedom in their life. She also said that she is lonely, but that lonely also her mind and thought that she has her freedom, unlike other people. However, while Sula said that she dying like one of the redwoods, readers can see that she died alone in her room silently. Morrison described her as a typical woman in the country.

Lisa William said, “her death is emblematic of the many unrecorded death of black women” (27). Sula’s dream also implies the same thing. “she disintegrated into white dust, which Sula was hurriedly trying to stuff into pockets of her blue-flannel housecoat.” (147). Her dreams show her challenging to freedom and independence collapse into ‘dust’.

Work Cited

1. Toni Morrison. (11.1993). Sula. Vintage International.
2. Kristin M. Perrone, Stephen L. Wright, and Z. Vance Jackson (N/A) : Traditional and Nontraditional Gender Roles and Work-Family Interface for Men and Women : https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kristin_Perrone-Mcgovern/publication/ 247762743_Traditional_and_Nontraditional_Gender_Roles_and_Work- Family_Interface_for_Men_and_Women/links/53f94b360cf2e3cbf5603aa0/ Traditional-and-Nontraditional-Gender-Roles-and-Work-Family-Interface-for- Men-and-Women.pdf
3. Khamsa Qasim, Mazhar Hayat, and Uzma Asmat (5.2012) : Black women and racial stereotypes: a black feminist reading of Morrison’s novels https://go-gale-com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/ps/i.do p=AONE&u=embry&id=GALE%7CA290418494&v=2.1&it=r&sid=summon
4. Lisa William, Introduction, Artist as Outsider in the Novels of Toni Morrison and Virginia Woolf. (Westport: Greenwood Press 2001)
5. Literary Device. (N/A). Literary Devices: Definition and Examples of Literary Terms. https://literarydevices.net/contrast/

Toni Morrison’s novel ‘Sula’ demonstrates the bond between the two main characters. It’s both implicit and silent, as though the two girls can read each other’s minds. Through the unspoken actions between the two main characters, Morrison introduces one of the main themes of the novel, that though the girls have completely different personalities and familial backgrounds, yet together they are two halves of one whole but different person.

The passage begins with Sula lifting her head, which suggests that as she had been looking down, she hadn’t been watching Nel and so was merely responding to her own sense of Nel’s actions. Morrison refers to the activity in the passage as “grass play”, suggesting that the girls routinely engage in other types of play and have a implied understanding of any rules. This idea is being reinforced by the next two words, “in concert”, which bring up other nonverbal senses of listening and hearing. The two girls are behaving as if they were in a concert, Nel being the conductor while Sula follows her lead “without ever meeting each other’s eyes”. In the same sentence, Morrison describes more nonverbal communication, this time with obvious sexual connotations; “they stroked the blades up and down, up and down”. Here the idea of sex becomes an important topic that that signifies the end of the girls’ innocence. This implied sexuality continues in the following sentence when Nel finds a “thick twig” to use as a tool. The twig symbolizes a male’s genitalia, which Nel uses in a masculine way, poking it “rhythmically and intensely into the earth”, stripping it of its bark, “until it was stripped to a smooth, creamy innocence”. Sula follows her lead and continues to “undress” her own twig. These lines continue to foreshadow the girl’s own impending loss of innocence.

After stripping the twigs, Nel goes on a tear up a patch of earth of its grassy covering. Morrison sets up the dichotomy of Nel’s action by describing the clearing she makes as “generous”, using a positive adjective to describe a destructive act. Sula uses her twig as a sort of paint brush “trace[ing] intricate patterns in [the bare spot of earth] with her twig”. Nel follows Sula’s lead “at first”, and grows impatient “poke[ing] her twig rhythmically and intensely into the earth”. It’s intensity and rhythm evolks obvious sexual connotations, as it makes the “small neat hole that grew deeper and wider with the least manipulation of her twig”. Nel’s actions feel automatic, almost instinctual. Because Nel was raised in a very strict and religious environment, and this behaviour suggests a rebellion on her part against the repressive attitudes of her family and society. Sula’s family is the opposite of Nel’s, with little structure or care for societal expectations. But Sula copies Nel, and together the girls dig two small holes. But then something causes Nel to dig more strenuously, “and, rising to her knee, was careful to scoop out the dirt as she made her hole deeper”. Her actions here are both careful and aggressive. Morrison implies that Sula again follows Nel’s lead, stating that “they worked until the two holes were one and the same”. The holes the girls create also have a sexual symbolism, only this time it’s a feminine sexuality instead of masculine. This combination of masculinity and femininity reflects the sense of the girls broken identity, that neither is whole without the other.

Even without an understanding for the reason of their actions, together they have dug a small grave in total silence. The final line of the passage stands alone, disattached to the rest of the paragraph, further emphasizing the bond between the two main protagonists. Morrison writes that “Neither one had spoken a word”. Nel and Sula might have had different familial structures and expectations, but their shared experiences, along with their ability to understand each other without speaking a word, set them apart from everybody else in the world. Together they become two halves of a person that is simultaneously both and neither of them. They are stronger together than they were as individuals, and only together can they be ready.

Abandonment is defined as leaving completely and finally or to forsake utterly. Sometimes in the case of abandonment it causes women to switch roles with males and become the head of the household. Women can use sex as a means of switching roles also and that is what we see in the book ‘Sula’. Men use sex as a way for pleasure and now since the roles have switched women have taken control of their bodies and gained pleasure of their own. Additionally, as a result of being abandoned the females had to take on the role of a male and provide for the household. In the novel ‘Sula’ by Toni Morrison, five of the female characters experienced the problem with abandonment and this resulted in the females switching roles with men.

The first female character who experienced abandonment was Helene Sabat Wright. In Sula at the beginning of 1920 we see Helene marrying Wiley Wright who is a seaman. Toni Morrison says “he was a ship’s cook on one of the Great Lakes lines in port only for three day out of every sixteen” (Morrison 17). The newlywed couple then move to Medallion where he puts her in a home. His long bearable absences were quite bearable for Helene wright, especially when, after some nine years of marriage, her daughter was born (Morrison 17). Basically, Wiley was only the sperm donor in their marriage because he was barely home and this led to Helene taking control of the household and raising her daughter on our own for most of the time. The second female character who is struck with abandonment is Eva Wright. After five years of a sad and disgruntled marriage BoyBoy took off (Morrison 32). Again another female is left to take over and provide for their children. However, Eva could not completely provide her children until her last child was nine months. She then left her children with a neighbor for eighteen. This action that was taken may have been mistaken to be abandonment but the difference is Eva came back to her family. Although Eva returned her daughter Hannah Peace is affected by the abandonment of her father and mother and it later changes her. In Hannah’s adulthood she had a daughter named Sula and because of the abandonment she endured she ended up repeating the cycle with her own daughter.

In 1937 Morrison says “So how could you leave me when you knew me?” (Morrison 104). This question was asked by Nel to Jude her husband right before she caught him in the act of kissing her best friend. Nel could not fathom ever being left by the person she loved so much. To lose Jude and not have Sula to talk to it about because it was Sula that he had left her for (Morrison 110). Nel did not know how to feel but yet again she had to take care of her children on her own because not too long after Jude left her, he left the city as well. These three females were faced with the same fate and they each handled their fate the same way. They had no time to sit back and cry of sit back and process what had happened to them. They had to find ways to now take care of their children on their own.

Another female character that was abandoned was Sula, however, her situation is a slightly different from the other females. Sula Mae Peace started a sexual relationship with Ajax whose real name is Albert Jacks. That’s all their relationship was supposed to be, sexual. Despite this Sula started to develop feelings for Ajax and he did not want any part of that. Morrison says “He dragged her under him and made love to her with the steadiness and the intensity of a man about to leave from Dayton” (Morrison 134). Although Ajax left Sula she was happy. Why would someone be happy if they are left by someone they love, you may ask. Sula was happy because she would’ve only killed Ajax. The emotions and love she felt for him was something she had not expected but she could not control her emotions. As a result, she just let him go. Additionally, Sula did not have a child or children to take care of when Ajax left compared to the other women. It was just herself that she had to look after.

Role reversal is defined as a situation in which two people exchange their usual duties or positions. After each of these females experienced abandonment it took a toll on them and their mindsets, actions and personalities switched. Normally in the society we live in men are supposed to provide for their household, yet after BoyBoy leaves Eva we see that she has to now find a job to provide for her household. “Two days later she left all of her children with Mrs. Suggs, saying she would be back the next day” (Morrison 34). Eva had to leave her children and find a source of income to make ends meet. When she returned she had money but she also only had on leg. Her leg was more than likely sacrificed to make money or she lost it in an attempt to make money.

Another way the roles switched is biblically. In the Bible, we see God who is the creator of life and he is the one that takes it away as well. Also, found in the Bible is Adam the founder of the creation story. He is the one that names the animals. In Sula Toni Morrison gives a swing on the creation story. Eva is similar to the name Eve and Eve was the wife of Adam. In the novel Sula Eva gives life just as God does and she takes it away. “She rolled a bit of newspaper into a tight stick about six inches long, lit it and threw in onto the bed where the kerosene-soaked Plum lay in snug delight” (Morrison 47). Moreover, Eva gave three boy characters one name and the forced them to become one character. There are numerous ways that role reversal could take place.

Women also switched roles with men through sex. You would hear stories about men having sexual intercourse with multiple people and this is exactly what Hannah did. Hannah also had male tendencies because she hated when the men she would have sex with fell asleep in her bed. She paid little attention to any details regarding the men she had sex with including if they were married or not. Morrison says “She would fuck practically anything…” (Morrison 43). This showed that Hannah had no remorse to messing up relationships she did what and who ever she wanted. This shows how abandonment affects women in different ways.

Sula followed into her mother’s footsteps concerning sex. Sula saw the way that her mother was with men and how happy having sex with men made her so she followed in her footsteps. Morrison says “Seeing her step so easily into the pantry and emerge looking precisely as she did when she entered, only happier taught Sula that sex was pleasant and frequent, but otherwise unremarkable” (Morrison 44). Therefore, Sula started to have sex with any man that she chose to. When she left and came back to the Bottom there were rumors that she had sex with white men and she was hated for it. Sula even slept with her best friend’s husband and she saw absolutely nothing wrong with it. Sula was cold hearted just like some men are today. She only had sex with men to fill her desire for sorrow and misery. Sula was a female but she surely had a male’s mindset and it showed in everything she did. She lived her best life with no regrets.

Is the novel ‘Sula’ by Toni Morrison a male bashing story? Yes I do believe it is. All the males in this story have a childish name such as Tar Baby, BoyBoy and Chicken Little. Furthermore, the males in this story don’t have a position. For example, when Helene got pregnant with Nel Wiley was only the sperm donor because he wasn’t there for the majority of Nel’s life. The males in this story have bad habits as well. BoyBoy was best at womanizing and drinking alcohol. He also abused Eva whiles they were together. Tar Baby was locked up twice in this book. Morrison says “I bet you ain’t even missed Tar Baby, have you? He asked. Missed? No. Where is he? Jail” (Morrison 132).

Two families, two viewpoints, two destinies. Seemingly, the Wrights and the Peaces are discrepant, conflicting, contrasting, antithetical families. In ‘Sula’, a 1973 novel by African-American Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison, two opposing universes the conventional Wright’s home and the Peaces’s liberal household work unintentionally together to build up strength and entitle women to explore sexual, economic, and mental freedom.

On the one hand, Helene Wright is the archetypal woman who wants to be accepted and respected by the community, perhaps as a reaction to Rochelle, her prostitute mother. The overbearing Helene brings up her daughter Nel in an atmosphere of obsessive, suffocating cleanliness and order: “Under Helene’s hand the girl became obedient and polite” (Morrison 18). Therefore, Nel Wright is taught to sacrifice her feelings to conform to societal norms. The author describes Nel’s personality by noting, “…she had no aggression. Her parents had succeeded in rubbing down to a dull glow any sparkle or splutter she had” (Morrison 83). Nel is full of common sense, has the qualities of a good administrator, and is ready to act in stressful situations _the virtuous girl who grows up to be the flawless, nourishing spouse and mother. Nel turns out to be the model of gender expectations.

Conversely, Hannah Peace is a permissive mother who enjoys her body and never bothers to scold Sula, her daughter. Hannah nearly floats around 7 Carpenter’s Road, the vibrant, lively Peace household, run by Eva, the all-powerful matron, “The creator and sovereign of this enormous house…was Eva Peace, who sat in a wagon on the third floor directing the life of her children, friends, strays, and a constant stream of boarders” (Morrison 30). In this unrestrained environment, Sula grows, believing that there are no limits to her desires, irrespective of other people’s feelings. Sula becomes sexually free, impetuous, sassy, passionate, and disruptive. As the author puts it, “Eva’s arrogance and Hannah’s self-indulgence merged in her and, with a twist that was all her own imagination, she lived out her days exploring her own thoughts and emotions” (Morrison 118). Sula is the modern girl who leaves her hometown to attend college, who does not feel the need to marry or to be a mother, defying the women’s prescribed role. Sula invents herself and, by doing so, paves the way for the new world black women to come. Finally, Sula is the heroine who dies alone at a young age, from a disease that Morrison does not clarify. Is she punished for her excesses? No doubt, Sula pays a dire price for daring to be herself.

Due to their convergences and divergences, Sula and Nel feel that they are the perfect match, sheer soul mates, counterparts that balance each other. Both girls were born in Medallion in 1910, both attend Garfield Primary, and both are the only child of “…distant mothers and incomprehensible fathers”, the author writes (Morrison 52). As Al-Saidi and Alqarni observe, “Sula and Nel complement each other; Sula animates Nel’s will to power, while she finds in Nel the opposite of her own nature. One is meek while the other is fierce” (1223). Moreover, according to Rosetta and Nye, “…Nel acts passively, and Sula acts spontaneously and aggressively, always doing the unexpected. Whereas Nel’s behavior is solid and consistent, Sula’s is unpredictable and disturbing” (64). Throughout the novel, both characters are attracted and repelled. Nel belongs to a traditional, conservative family, as Sula inhabits the most unforeseeable world: the Peace planet. Neither Sula nor Nel are supposed to have opportunities because they were born black and women, in the early XX century. Whereas Nel tries to accommodate to her destiny, Sula fights against it.

In conclusion, although looking antagonistic, the Wright and Peace women are two sides of the same coin. The Wright women represent the pillars of family and, hence, society. The Peace women, with their liberty, spontaneity, and courage, act as a beacon for the rest of women, a locomotive of emancipation. While there are many families like the Wrights, the Peace women stand out because of their uniqueness, opening a path for the next generations of women to liberate themselves and take control over their destinies. Both styles of women cooperate to uplift the role of women. Overall, in ‘Sula’, Morrison shows that communities are supported thanks to families like the Wrights and make a leap on account of women like the Peaces.