Sula Relationships

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Throughout the novel Sula, women are seen having complicated relationships with men and with other women. These relationships cause drama as women fight each other and the men in their lives. These relationships are especially seen between the four main female characters: Eva, Hannah, Nel, and Sula. Eva is seen as the matriarch of the family and houses many kids and visitors. She was once married to BoyBoy, who abandoned her and her three kids. BoyBoy cheated, drank, and even beat Eva from time to time (Morrison, 32). Eva was left alone with her children and she struggled to keep them alive and well fed. She was dependent on BoyBoy’s income and she now had to learn how to make it on her own. Breaking free from the confines of her abusive marriage, …show more content…

Nel and Sula’s friendship is still existent and Nel feels happy to be able to laugh with her friend again. However, their friendship is put to the test when Nel walks in on Sula and Jude naked and engaging in sex (Morrison, 104). Jude comes in between the friendship of the two girls, causing it to fall apart. Nel loses her husband and her best friend in the same day and struggles with her sadness over the appalling event. Sula follows in her mother’s footsteps and has countless affairs with married men to cope with her enduring loneliness. However, unlike her mother, she is hated by the women of the town and she is seen as an extremely evil …show more content…

Her conversation with Eva forces her to confront her unfair judgement against Sula. She ultimately realizes the even though she did everything society asked of her, she was abandoned by Jude regardless of Sula’s actions (Morrison, 104). Nel determines that she made an unfair judgement against her best friend and she is finally able to mourn for her. Nel and Sula are like two halves of one whole. Nel always saw herself as the “good half” of the friendship and Sula as the “bad half”. Nel realizes that this is not the truth. They are two halves of the same thing; neither of them are the better or worse half. Nel also apprehends that is was not Jude she has missed all these years. She missed her best friend and her other half. Nel grieves for the death of her friend and she begins to see all of the positive things about Sula (Morrison,

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