American Literature

Toni Morrisons Sula lives in a society in where African American women significantly dominate the private and public life. Even so, Morrisons message in her portrayal of her central character supersedes the questions of race and gender. Given that Sula is conceived out of the limitations normally experienced by the women in her society, her position as a woman is merely a minor element of how she sees herself and how the readers of Toni Morrisons literature view her. Whereas the almost non-appearance of white people in the work of literature compels an acknowledgment of the contrast within race, Sulas black colour, like Toni Morrison delineates it, also rises above the race issue altogether. Morrisons Sula is plainly too much of a riddle to be fairly representative of either women or African Americans. As Morrison points out, her new black world is not just the melanin in her skin it is something internal, individual and elemental, manifested in disagreement to the ongoing social traditions and a development of the experimental and the untried. Just like in her other novel the Beloved, Toni Morrison shows how a single womans dismissal of all existing societal code of conduct produces significant community tension.

In spite of any actual or supposed constraints put on her by family, her society, or the period during which she is lives, Sula refuses to place any particular limits on herself. Nevertheless, her typical black nature separates her from a society that endorses an absolutely unfavourable moral code. Sula turns out to be instructive to the readers specifically for the reason that she is believed not to be constructive by the others in the work of fiction. A youthful lady coming of age in the Ohio countryside through the time between the first and second World Wars, Sula is plainly and symbolically marked by her singularity of meditation and execution of the thought. She departs her hometown for a whole decade, for the period of which she journeys transversely through the nation and attends college. On her return home, she declines to uphold the family residence in the style and method of her grandmother and later mother, before her. Sulas sexual feats do not lead her to a monogamy state, collective domesticity, or yet a stable companionship except for a solitary and unforgettable exception, her liaisons with men are wilfully predetermined. Despite her eminence as the novels central character-the work of fiction does, in any case, use Sula as its name-Sula engages a moderately petite number of pages. Sula in fact dies two complete chapters just before the narratives end. This relative nonattendance from a book that maintains to be about her, in addition to the moral meandering of her character, makes Sula equally complicated to like and know.

Two events in the book figure importantly in Sulas growth and development the initial one being a dialogue wherein she eavesdrops on her mother, Hannah, concluding, . . . I love Sula. I just dont like her( Morrison 114) the subsequent one, her accidental involvement in the drowning of Chicken Little. It is remarkable that Sula and her friend Nel chose to tell nobody about the fatal drowning of Chicken Little, even though they recognized their moral responsibility to inform the community of the incident. After the drowning incident, Sula and her friend Nel begin to slowly drift apart and their drifting apart eventually causes Sula to leave home. Toni Morrison encapsulates the general end product of these episodes in a concise passage. He writes, ...she Sula lived out her days exploring her own thoughts and emotions, giving them full reign, feeling no obligation to please anybody unless their pleasure pleased her (Morrison 118). These words give the reader Sulas piece of mind and expose her contemplations in the light of her mothers remark. The author continues, ...hers was an experimental life-ever since her mothers remarks sent her flying up those stairs, ever since her one major feeling of responsibility had been exorcised on the bank of a river with a closed place in the middle (Morrison 118).  Distinctly, Sula felt a compulsion to experiment with the emotion of others because she felt hers was being taken for granted. She feels her mother kept up with her only because of the maternal connection. This is evident from the authors dissection of Sulas situation she writes, The first experience taught her there was no other that you could count on the second that there was no self to count on either. She had no center, no speck around which to grow (Morrison 119).

Morrison as well offers a written description for her concept of a new world woman. The written passage communicates how Sulas character takes shape, and, bizarrely, in the formlessness of this shape, the irony of Sula is exposed. The basic foundation of Sulas disposition is according to Morrison a shortage of foundation and structure that encroaches on each thought, all actions, and all interactions that she has. Shaped from a creative shapelessness, the protagonist takes only her own guidance, making her insensitive to or unresponsive to every kind of ethical decency. She is selfish. Given that she harbours no ambition she ultimately does not chart her actions with an eye on the future. She was completely free of ambition, with no affection for money, property or things, no greed, no desire to command attention or compliments-no ego. For that reason she felt no compulsion to verify herself-be consistent with herself. (Morrison 119)

Facing this kind of a protagonist many readers of Sula are mortified. Sula experimental streak continues when she abandons the conventional custom of marrying and settling down with a husband. Instead she engages in sexual fling without seeking any kind of meaningful commitment in her life. It can be said that she is involved in sexual experimentation, as the purpose of the associations that she initiates with men clearly appear to be sexual. While she is in the business of casual and non-committal relationships, her once fierce friend Nel gets married and settles down. Just after Nels wedding Sula decides time is ripe for her to seek a new course in her life so she leaves Bottom for college. She spends a decade out of Bottom and is enchanted by the prospect of dating white men, she being an educated African American woman. Apparently her experimentation with the white men does not appeal to her eventually as she notices that there are other girls who have as well chosen the same kind of lifestyle. She finds the lifestyle boring so later contemplates going back to Bottom, something that she does.

Back in Bottom Sula finds Nel still married to Jude and it is not long before she offers the readers another controversial gig she sleeps with her best friend husband. It becomes a little hard for the readers to sympathize with Sula, given her streak of woeful errors of judgment. The readers might empathize with her decision to hide the truth about Chicken Littles accidental drowning, or her disappointment at listening in on her mothers unfortunate comments about her love for her. Better still, readers might forgive her for leaving Bottom to sexually experiment with the white men, but sleeping with her best friends husband and causing Nel and Jude to break up leaves her with less sympathizers. Unavoidably, this ultimate betrayal generates the moral question from the readers How could she betray her best friend Nel and sleep with Jude The query is instructive for the reason that it discloses the protagonists experimental nature.

The naming of the novel after Sula is in the end justified by her exploits, even though she played the villain. Sulas experimental nature with life right form her youthful years until she grows into a woman keeps the readers riveted to the novel even though characters like Nel get most of the empathy. Even though not so dominant in all the pages, it is her actions that drive the storyline and keeps the story alive. The consequences of her actions leave ripple effects that affect almost all the characters, mostly in a negative way. She is regarded by other characters in Bottom as the personification of evil. Her demise brings to a close a controversial life full of sympathy, pity and mortification.

There is a stark contrast in the life Sula lives and the one her best friend Nel lives. Nel is very conventional and does not resort to rushed decisions in the manner that her friend does. The author uses Nel as the perfect character to personify a typical conventional African American woman who toes the community line. Every decision she makes in her life is in line with the accepted values her community expects of her. She does not go away across the country to pursue her desires in the manner Sula did. She stays in Bottom, gets married to Jude and becomes a good wife to him. Whereas Sula is the villain of the story, Nel is the readers darling always doing what a good woman will do. She settles down to have children, a good indication of her maternal instincts. She does not experiment with the unknown but becomes herself a victim of Sulas sexual experimentation when Sula goes behind her back to have sex with her husband.

Toni Morrison as well offers other characters that are not experimental but conservative. Eva and Hannah are good examples of women who live lives according to the norms bestowed upon them by the societal customs. It can therefore be argued that Toni Morrison chose Sula as the name of the novel because of the characters unique role in the novel. She offers traits that the other characters do not have and presents questions that only the very liberal can dare sympathize with.