Talk To Sula Feminist Analysis

In the novel Sula, we have three examples of women coming from three different generations: Sula, Hannah and Eva. Three economically and sexually independent ladies who survive in the absence of the male member. Sula receives the sense of sexuality and self from her grandmother, Eva. Contrary to Eva, Helena teaches her daughter, Nel, to be a traditional and conventional lady. In her novel, excepting the racial and oppression problems, Toni Morrison explores the friendship between two women, Sula and Nel, from the moment they're little girls until the moment they're grown women. Through Sula and Nel, Morrison illustrates the multiple forms of oppression applied to African American women. In her 'Foreword' to Sula, Morrison identifies the some questions that mattered the most to her as a black female writer: "What is friendship between women when unmediated by men? What choices are available to black women outside their own …show more content…
This friendship helps Nel and Sula face challenges related to race, class and gender oppression and leads to physical and psychological recovery, even survival. "Their friendship was as intense as it was sudden. They found relief in each other‘s personality" (Morisson, 53). The friendship between Nel and Sula demonstrates that the friendship between women provides help, care and responsibility for each other, even beyond the self-concerns and the self-care issues. We can see Sula sacrificing a piece of herself in order to help Nel and we can also see Nel alongside Sula, when she accidentally killed the boy named Chicken Little, by throwing him into a river. They both took responsibility for the accident, even though Sula was the only participant. At Chicken Little's funeral, Sula and Nel "held hands and knew that only the coffin would lie in the earth; the bubbly laughter [...] would stay aboveground forever" (Morrison