Fire And Evil In Sula Essay

In Sula by Tony Morrison, Sula has been portrayed as the antagonist who affects the entire community with his “evil actions.” The book offers an intriguing exposition into the aspect of humanity through Sula who is the main character. The book also offers insight on the elements of fire and evil mainly through the elements of fire and water. In Sula, fire and water are used as symbols for good and evil respectively. In the contemporary society, water is viewed as a positive aspect of life because it bestows life. On the other hand, fire often destroys everything and is supposed to, therefore, denote evil. As a result, one could postulate that Sula’s character has been used to bring out the theme of fire and evil in the Bottom community. In …show more content…
According to Sula, ‘doing good’ involved doing what pleases someone, and not what the society views as ‘good.’ In an attempt to satisfy herself, she did many things against the society’s expectations. These angered the society and made it to deem her as evil. On one hand, one could argue that self-fulfillment should be the ultimate desire of any individual. This argument implies that the result of an action is the most important element of that action. Despite this argument, it is what one does towards self-fulfillment that defines whether they are evil or good. As a result, determining whether something is evil or good is quite difficult. This is because what appears good for one person appears as evil for another person or the community. In this light, it is important that people act in their best interests as long as they do not harm or affect the functioning of the society. On the other hand, one could argue that the actions that lead to the result determine whether the action is evil or good. Despite these arguments, it is significant that people try to act in the community’s best interests. In other words, people should use their rational minds while making decisions and, not do things because others are doing it. Basically, the rational mind provides one of the most viable ways of doing the right