Toni Morrison’s novel Sula follows the lives of two women, Nel Wright and Sula Peace, and the struggles they and their friendship face through sexism, racism, and the fault of each other and their community. Sula Peace, the character chosen to be analyzed in this essay, is a very brave, independent feminist woman who is not well-liked by her community. Sula is the best friend of Nel Wright, the protagonist. In a way, Sula Peace creates a sense of community in her town, the Bottom, which is lost after her death. I have chosen to analyze the antagonist of Sula because Sula was a very complicated but interesting character with several flaws, she never meant to cause harm, her birthmark was symbolic, she had a reason for every action, her central
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Eva, Sula’s grandmother, thinks that Sula is an embarrassment to the family because she refuses to settle down and have children. Hannah, Sula’s mother, does not like Sula but claims to love her. Nel, Sula’s best friend, loves Sula more than anything despite their troubled friendship. Sula has several positive traits, such as her loyalty to Nel, her braveness and her independence, that are unfortunately all overlooked by her hateful community. The Bottom instead focuses on Sula’s negative traits and actions such as her argumentativeness, her insensitivity, and her sleeping around with married men and white men. What the community of the Bottom fails to realize is that each of Sula’s flaws were created by specific events in her childhood. For example, Sula’s argumentativeness is part of her sense of independence. Sula’s insensitivity was caused when she heard her own mother say she did not like Sula, which led Sula to not want trust anyone, which in turn led to her ultimate need of an independent lifestyle. Sula also believed it was not a big deal to sleep with several different men, married or not, because that is what her mother and grandmother did throughout her childhood. Sula Peace never meant to offend or hurt anyone throughout her life, but she was still villianized by her community and
Eva, Sula’s grandmother, thinks that Sula is an embarrassment to the family because she refuses to settle down and have children. Hannah, Sula’s mother, does not like Sula but claims to love her. Nel, Sula’s best friend, loves Sula more than anything despite their troubled friendship. Sula has several positive traits, such as her loyalty to Nel, her braveness and her independence, that are unfortunately all overlooked by her hateful community. The Bottom instead focuses on Sula’s negative traits and actions such as her argumentativeness, her insensitivity, and her sleeping around with married men and white men. What the community of the Bottom fails to realize is that each of Sula’s flaws were created by specific events in her childhood. For example, Sula’s argumentativeness is part of her sense of independence. Sula’s insensitivity was caused when she heard her own mother say she did not like Sula, which led Sula to not want trust anyone, which in turn led to her ultimate need of an independent lifestyle. Sula also believed it was not a big deal to sleep with several different men, married or not, because that is what her mother and grandmother did throughout her childhood. Sula Peace never meant to offend or hurt anyone throughout her life, but she was still villianized by her community and