PART ONE In this passage Morrison gives the reader a sense of why Sula behaves in a way that is upsetting to others and why the women in Bottom treat her so unfairly. The passage begins, “In a way, her strangeness, her naiveté, her craving for the other half of her equation was the consequence of an idle imagination” (Morrison, Sula, 121). This description of Sula paints her as being offbeat and childlike. Sula is not simply wanting to find her other half, she is “craving” to find it. Using the word craving gives us a sense of the desperation that Sula feels to find her missing piece. It is a word filled with desperation and hunger. Morrison then goes on to say that Sula’s lack of her other half is a “consequence” for having an idle mind. …show more content…
. .” (121). Paints, clay, dance, and strings are all kinds of creative expression that Sula could use as a release. The use of the word “anything” is significant because it calls back to the “craving” described in the previous line. Like the word “craving,” “anything” evokes a sense of desperation. Sula is so desperate to fill the void inside of her that she will accept any method of creative expression as a release for the longing she feels to find her missing piece. Morrison describes Sula as having a “tremendous curiosity” and a “gift for metaphor.” “Tremendous curiosity” can be defined as a strong desire to gain knowledge. A metaphor is a figure of speech that involves symbolism and can be thought of as a quick-witted way of speaking. A “gift for metaphor” can be interpreted as the possession of a sharp tongue. The second half of the line states, “. . .she might have exchanged the restlessness and preoccupations with whim for an activity that provided her with all she yearned for” (121). By stating that Sula is restless and caught up in momentary desires, we get the sense that Sula’s idle mind manifests itself in these ways. Putting the line together, we see that Morrison is saying that if Sula had a creative outlet to appease her mind, she would no longer feel restless or get …show more content…
Ovens and steam kettles bring back the concept of domesticity and housework. These women have had the “sweetness” taken from them by this domestic lifestyle. “Sweetness” here can be understood to mean youth, happiness, or passion. The text then states that for these women, “Their children were like distant but exposed wounds whose aches were no less intimate because separate from their flesh” (122). The children are described as “distant but exposed wounds.” The children are distant because they are longer residing in their mother’s womb. Their existence in the world outside of their mother’s uterus makes them exposed. They are wounds because their existence reminds their mothers of the loss of their “sweetness” due to living a lifestyle centered around domesticity and motherhood. This reminder is painful in the same way that a wound is. The pain is described as being “no less intimate because separate from their flesh,” meaning that just because these children are no longer physically inside these women doesn’t mean that the reminder of what they lost hurts any less (122). Finally, Morrison writes that, “They had looked at the world and back at their children, back at the world and back again at their children, and Sula knew that one clear young eye was all that kept the knife away from the throat’s curve” (122). While I’m not sure
Toni Morrison’s novel Sula is rich with paradox and contradiction from the name of a community on top of a hill called "Bottom" to a family full of discord named "Peace." There are no clear distinctions in the novel, and this is most apparent in the meaning of the relationship between the two main characters, Sula and Nel. Although they are characterized differently, they also have many similarities. Literary critics have interpreted the girls in several different ways: as lesbians (Smith 8), as the two halves of a single person (Coleman 145), and as representations of the dichotomy between good and evil (Bergenholtz 4 of 9). The ambiguity of these two characters allows for infinite speculation, but regardless of how the reader interprets the relationship their bond is undeniable. The most striking example of their connection occurs right before the accidental death of Chicken Little. In the passage preceding his death, Nel and Sula conduct an almost ceremonial commitment to one another that is sealed permanently when "the water darkened and closed quickly over the place where Chicken Little sank" (Morrison 61):
Kim Addonizio’s “First Poem for You” portrays a speaker who contemplates the state of their romantic relationship though reflections of their partner’s tattoos. Addressing their partner, the speaker ambivalence towards the merits of the relationship, the speaker unhappily remains with their partner. Through the usage of contrasting visual and kinesthetic imagery, the speaker revels the reasons of their inability to embrace the relationship and showcases the extent of their paralysis. Exploring this theme, the poem discusses how inner conflicts can be powerful paralyzers.
Sula, the second and the only chronicled novel of Morrison, describes how the Harlem Renaissance influenced the common blacks in a little community of Medallion. They keep the black tradition of "the ancient properties", taking care of the orphans, the old, and accept even the prostitutes as their neighbors. The protagonist, Sula, enjoys her free life without marrying and concentrates on her own pleasure unlike the other villagers to criticize the community spirit of her village. As a result, they turn their backs on Sula and exclude her from all relationships, accusing her a devil.
The lack of support and affection protagonists, Sula Peace and Nel Wright, causes them to construct their lives on their own without a motherly figure. Toni Morrison’s novel, Sula, displays the development of Sula and Nel through childhood into adulthood. Before Sula and Nel enter the story, Morrison describes the history of the Peace and Wright family. The Peace family live abnormally to their town of Medallion, Ohio. Whereas the Wrights have a conventional life style, living up to society’s expectations.The importance of a healthy mother-daughter relationship is shown through the interactions of Eva and Hannah Peace, Hannah and Sula, and between Helene Wright and Nel. When Sula and Nel become friends they realize the improper parenting they
In examining the two distinct characters of Nel (Wright) Greene and Sula Peace from Toni Morrison's Sula, a unique individual soul emerges from the two women. This soul takes into account good, bad, and gray area qualities. They gray area qualities are needed because, while Nel exhibits more of the stereotypical "good" qualities than Sula, the stereotypes of good and bad don't fit the definition completely. Nel and Sula combined create a type of ying and yang soul, each half including some of the other half. While at times the two women are polar opposites of one another in point of view, they arrive at their opinions with the help of the other. The two characters need each other in order to exist to the extent that they become "two throats and one eye" (Morrison 2167). A physical example of how connected the two girls are is seen when they line up head to head forming a straight, continuous, and complete line (2124).
Sula by Toni Morrison is a compelling novel about a unique, self-confident woman. As in many other books, each secondary character in the story serves as a vehicle to explain the main character. Hannah, Sula's mother, is dominated by the element of air; she is free spirited, frivolous and child-like. On the other hand, the element of fire is prevalent in Sula, who is impulsive, hot-tempered and passionate. Despite the differences between the two, Hannah's lifestyle intrigues and influences her daughter. The effect Hannah has on Sula is reflected in many of her daughter's perspectives and actions. As a result of the ubiquitous presence of fire within her, in contrast to her mother's blithe spirit, Sula carries all of Hannah's immorality and actions to a more extreme level. Both women have promiscuous tendencies, do not have close friendships with women, and become easily irritated by Eva. The difference is that Sula's fiery character leads her to act more cruelly than her mother.
Sula by Toni Morrison is a very complex novel with many underlying themes. Some of the themes that exist are good and evil, friendship and love, survival and community, and death. In Marie Nigro's article, "In Search of Self: Frustration and Denial in Toni Morrison's Sula" Nigro deals with the themes of survival and community. According to Nigro, "Sula celebrates many lives: It is the story of the friendship of two African-American women; it is the story of growing up black and female; but most of all, it is the story of a community" (1). Sula contains so many important themes that it is hard to say which one is the most important. I agree with Marie Nigro when she says that Sula is a story about community. I believe that community and how the community of Bottom survives is an important theme of the story. But I do not believe that it is a central theme of the story. When I think back on the novel Sula in twenty years, I will remember the relationship and friendship between Nel and Sula. I will not remember the dynamics of the community.
There are many aspects of story that come together to create a complete narrative. A lot of the tools used by writers are intentional and serve the purpose of driving home certain aspects of the story or creating and engaging, and entertaining narrative. Toni Morrison—the author of Sula—is no different. Morrison employs many writing techniques and tools in her narrative Sula. It is important for the reader to be aware of and understand some of these narrative tools that the author uses because it allows the reader to gain a better understanding and appreciation for the narrative. In Sula a few narrative techniques that allow for the argument of women experiences to shine through are the use of a third person narrator, and gaps; throughout the story these tools allow the reader to become interested in and focus in on women experiences.
Sula has a feminist spirit and refuses to melt into the typical mold of a woman. She "discovered years before that [she was] neither white nor male, and that all freedom and triumph was forbidden to [her]" (52). Because of this she decides to lead her life on her own terms. Sula encounters both racism and sexism and is placed in a situation in which she has no release for her wild spirit. She cannot live out in the world with the freedoms of a man, but doesn't want to live as a stereotypically sheltered woman either. In attempting to break these boundaries she is hated by the town and viewed as an "evil" person by the community in which she lives.
Bishop’s use of imagism in “One Art” helps the reader to comprehend the ability of the speaker to move on from lost items such as a mother’s watch or loved houses.
It should be understood that Morrison's novel is filled with many characters and many examples of racism and sexism and the foundations for such beliefs in the black community. Every character is the victim or an aggressor of racism of sexism in all its forms. Morrison succeeds in shedding light on the racism and sexism the black community had to endure on top of racism and sexism outside of the community. She shows that racism and sexism affect everyone's preconceived notions regarding race and gender and how powerful and prevalent the notions are. Within the community, racism affects how people's views of beauty and skin can be skewed by other's racist thoughts; sexism shapes everyone in the community's reactions to different forms of rape.
Given the title of the novel, Sula Peace is a complex and thought provoking character in Toni Morrison’s, Sula. Her thoughts and actions often contradict, leaving the reader unable to decipher whether Sula should be praised or demonized. As a child, Sula grows up in a chaotic household that is run by strong-willed women. Because of this constant commotion, Sula loves quiet and neat settings, which is shown through her behavior at Nel’s home. In the novel it says, “She had no center, no speck around which to grow” (Morrison 119). This quote points out how much her home life as a child affects her behavior as an adult. Her mother, Hannah, has almost no sense of right and wrong. Her promiscuous behavior is observed by Sula and sets the foundation
First there is the presence of the old stereotypical woman character, a woman split between the conventional and nontraditional roles of women. No differences are apparent initially between Morrison's Sula and any other women's literature in the past. Women are depicted either as docile servants to men, like Nel, or ball-busting feminist monsters like Sula. The hidden aspect of the novel lies underneath these stereotypical surface roles, in the incomprehensible and almost inappropriate bond of the two women. In the final scene of Sula, Nel comes to the realization that the emptiness inside her is due to the loss of Sula, not Jude (Morrison 174). Her friendship with Sula is all that matters.
In Toni Morrison’s novel Sula, the theme of the story is good versus evil. It’s embodied into the story in various forms to question what defines right and wrong. Good versus evil is presented in forms that are understood on the surface and beneath the surface which gives it multiple meanings. The relationship between Sula and Nel is the main expression of this theme, however, there are also many other contributors such as color schemes, gender and race differences, and life and death. This theme sheds light on the significance and interpretation of issues of everyday reality which includes controversies related to identity struggles, super natural forces, the impact and relevance of upbringing on development, family structure, and racism. Morrison demonstrates the importance of good versus evil with her writing in the way that she overlaps them and interprets them as products of one another. The friendship of Sula and Nel creates a presence of good and evil within their relationship to each other and their community.
... conflicting desires towards women, which stemmed from his Catholic upbringing. As a catholic, Stephen had been taught to view women in one of two ways: as whores, which was in reference to Mary Magdalene, or as Madonna’s, reminiscent of the Virgin Mary. However, his transformation into an artist disproved this theory and allowed Stephen to judge women solely on their artistic beauty. The women within the novel pushed Stephen towards his true calling, each revealing to him the necessary steps required to become an artist. In the final lines of the novel, Stephen proclaims his desire to become an artist: “I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience and to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race” (Joyce 224). In a sense, art is Stephen’s “ideal woman,” for nothing on earth can match its purity or ability to transform.