The Character of Sula as a Rose
Authors developed the canon in order to set a standard of literature that most people needed to have read or to have been familiar with. The works included in the canon used words such as beautiful, lovely, fair, and innocent to describe women. The canonical works also used conventional symbols to compare the women to flowers such as the rose and the lily. Thomas Campion depicts the typical description of women in his poem, "There is a Garden in Her Face." He describes the women by stating, "There is a garden in her face/ Where roses and white lilies grow,/ A heavenly paradise is that place,/ Wherein all pleasant fruits do flow" (1044-5). The roses and lilies are used to portray beautiful, frail women who are admired by all and placed high on a pedestal for all to adore. Going against the canon, Toni Morrison still uses flowers to describe the women in her novel Sula. The women Morrison describes are not fair, pure, or innocent. Sula, the main character compared to a rose, is not admired by all in society. Society looks down upon her because of her promiscuity and her carefree attitude.
In Sula, Morrison depicts Sula as having a birthmark in the shape of a stemmed rose over one eye. Sula's birthmark "spread from the middle of the lid toward the eyebrow, shaped something like a stemmed-rose... [that] gave her other wise plain face a broken excitement" (52). At first, when Sula is young and inexperienced, the mark is the "same shade as her gold-flecked eyes" (53). The light shade of the mark represents the time before Sula goes to college and experiences men and her sexuality. When Sula returns from the outside world to the Bottom, Sula's best friend Nel notices that "[the mark] was dark...
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...and does not need the approval of the Bottom.
Toni Morrison clearly depicts an opposing view of the traditional symbolization of the rose. Although Sula is not frail and beautiful, she is still set on a pedestal. Instead of people admiring her, they fear her and the life she leads. The use her as an excuse to lead better lives. However, when she dies, the Bottom falls apart. The people no longer have a common bond of hatred towards Sula. Reality befalls the community with Sula's death. At first, the Bottom seems content with Sula's death, however, "[people of the Bottom] returned to a steeping resentment of the burdens of old people. Wives uncoddled their husbands; there seemed no further need to reinforce their vanity" (153-4). The town no longer has a rose to blame their mishaps. Instead, they must face up to their reality and their misfortune.
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):
In the short story “The Possibility of Evil,” Shirley Jackson uses several symbols to tell the story about Miss Strangeworth. One symbol she uses consist of the roses that Miss Strangeworth treasures. The roses represent the love and perfection of Miss Strangeworth. As we know, Miss Strangeworth believes that the world is horrible and unclean and that she is the only perfect person. She loves her roses dearly which emphasizes her needs for everything to be perfect just like her. She values her roses so much because only she takes care of them making them a symbol of perfection and becomes one of the items that Miss Strangeworth loves and sees as superior to other roses. Another symbol Jackson uses compose of Pleasant Street, the street that
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 the book Sula by Toni Morrison, Morrison’s ambiguous link between good, evil, and guilt, she is able to show that these terms are relative to each other and often occur mutually. In her comparison of good and evil, Sula states that "Being good to somebody is just like being mean to somebody. Risky. You don't get nothing for it" (145). Good and evil are being compared as if they are equal and that is how the book is structured. For instance, Eva's burning of Plum is a complex conjunction of motherly love and practicality and cannot be described as simply being a good act or a bad one. The killing of Chicken Little is a similarly ambiguous situation from which Sula and Nel's feelings are unclear. Lastly Sula, upon her death bed, questions what it means to be good and suggests that it what may be considered bad could in reality be good. Both in the syncopated style of Morrison's writing and the morally ambiguous portrayal of characters, cause the reader to question morals and think about them on a larger scale.
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.
... The reader is expected to go above and beyond simply reading a book. Everything an author does is purposeful and intentional, it is up to the reader to recognize these things and get the most out of the book they can. Although Morrison employs many other narrative techniques within Sula being able to recognize the narrator, the cruxes and the themes the reader can gain a better understanding and appreciation for the narrative they are reading and the argument (in this case) that Morrison is making for women experiences.
“Schizophrenia is Greek and comes from the words ‘split’ (skhizein) and ‘mind’ (phren) which was introduced by Eugen Bleuler. Schizophrenia is a devastating psychotic disorder that may involve characteristic disturbances in thinking (delusions), perception (hallucinations), speech, emotions, and behavior” (Barlow and Durand, page G-17, 470). It is sometimes categorized as prophets, witches, and devils (Kaplan and Sadock, page 1432). “Schizophrenia is a serious and lifelong mental disorder that affects one percent of the population worldwide. The onset is occurs mainly in adolescence or early adulthood” (Minzengberg and Yoon, Chapter 10). Though it mainly occurs in adolescence and early adulthood, it is also common in late adulthood.
Schizophrenia is a life-long illness that requires a person and their family to really care for them. Many advances have been made in treatment and many patients can now live satisfying and significant life in the community.
There are a number of ways that schizophrenia can develop through a person. There can be even more factors that contribute to the development of the disorder. Scientists are still observing and researching anything they could possibly find out, whether that is gene related or environment related. It is still a disorder that confuses everyone in our society today.
Schizophrenia affects men and women equally and occurs at similar rates in all ethnic groups. Symptoms will usually start between the ages of 16 and 30 but men tend to start experiencing symptoms earlier than women. Schizophrenia is rarely diagnosed after age 45 and rarely occurs in children however the rates of child-onset schizophrenia are increasing.
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder in which brain functioning is disrupted. People suffering from Schizophrenia are often unable to decipher what they are experiencing from reality. Although the person suffering from this particular illness could be highly educated and well spoken, their symptoms can make it near impossible to understand what is happening in the world around them. Some people suffer from intense audio and visual hallucinations, while others may experience slight delusions and are able to recognize the onset. Signs that usually indicate the onset of schizophrenia are not only audio and visual hallucinations, but also include delusions, thought disorder, and an inability to convey ideas and thoughts clearly to family and friends (Spearing, Melissa). The following is a look into the mindset and delusions of Susan K. Weiner, a woman who has suffered the affects of schizophrenia.
In the novel Sula, there were other important characters besides Sula. The character in this book I would like to focus on most is Eva Peace. Eva is a woman who has a disability but remains strong, and this will be the focus of this paper since it wasn’t focused on so much in the book.
As the above information has shown, schizophrenia is a treatable disease that affects 1 -- 2 % of the world's population. The symptoms can be managed through medication but as of yet there is no cure. The cause is unknown but there are several plausible theories. Researchers can only hope that future work will shed a brighter light on this debilitating disease.
According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, schizophrenia is characterized by the development of two or more symptoms in a one-month period. At least one of the two symptoms must be delusions, hallucinations, or disorganized speech. Schizophrenia has always been a disorder shrouded in mystery. There have been many hypotheses from varying perspectives offering up causation for it and some have research, while some lack support. It is important when trying to comprehend and appreciate the disorder that its history is taken into consideration. This way the full extinct to which each branch of the disorder has developed can be absolutely understood. Learning from the past is the only way to proceed towards the future. With schizophrenia, it starts in the dark and works it ways towards the light.
Often in nature organisms rely on one another to survive. Relationships in which each partner gives equally are called symbiotic. The two partners live harmoniously along side one another depending on each other but still have the ability to stand and act alone should they need to. However, these perfect relationships do not always exist. Sometimes, certain organisms take more than they give and as a result the other organism suffers. Those that do this are called parasites. In Toni Morrison's novel, Sula, Sula Peace and Nel Wright demonstrate a symbiotic relationship gone awry. The two start off learning from each other and giving to each other equally, but as they spend more time together Sula seems to thrive and Nel seems to wither away. The relationship does not continue in this manner for Nel realizes that in order to survive she must remove Sula from her life and reverse the negative effect of their relationship. Using the relationship that she develops between Nel and Sula, Morrison implies that codependence can be compromising to oneself, suggesting that if one cannot stand on their own the result will be fatal.