Toni Morrison’s novel, Sula, tells the story of two girls, Nel Wright and Sula Peace, who grew up in a Black neighbourhood known as “the Bottom” in the town of Medallion, Ohio. There, they were influenced by the severe results of double marginality from being both Black and a woman in 1919 to 1965, a time when racism and sexism was extremely prevalent in America. And, it was this double marginality that impacted the mother-daughter relationships, which debatably was the biggest influence over the formation of these two female characters’ identities.
Two Matriarchal Households:
In Sula, the reader sees the dichotomy between the two matriarchal households in the Bottom. The Peaces were an unorthodox family that did not necessarily follow traditions …show more content…
Like her grandmother, an amputee, Sula has a physical flaw – a birthmark on her eye – that separates her from others; and like her grandmother who had to acknowledge her own vulnerability when her husband abandoned her, Sula has to do the same when faced with the neighbourhood’s prejudice against her and her family. Sula’s household was the opposite of what her community member’s saw as the norm, due to her mother’s well-known promiscuity. Sula also took drastic measures – like Eva did when she had to leave for eighteen months and returned with a missing leg to provide for her children – when he cut off a part of her finger and told the boys that had regularly threatened her and Nel that, “If I can do that to myself, what you suppose I’ll do to you?” (54-55). Here, Sula recognizes her inner strength, but also sacrifices her individual identity. Sula now is unable to escape the maternal pattern of rebelling against the gender norms, and consequentially loses her capability of emotional nurturing and developing kinship. Eva began the cycle of independence which left her daughter and granddaughter very limited motherly skills. As a result, Sula does not know how to take care of her relationship with Nel, which at times can be seen as inappropriate. However, this is understandable when one takes into account that Sula has not learned the conventional methods in responding to things. Also, although Sula may act similarly to her mother and grandmother externally, internally she feels disconnected from them. Because in order for one to establish one’s identity in this family, one must also emotionally distance themselves from the family, which results in the inability to care and be cared
Two Matriarchal Households:
In Sula, the reader sees the dichotomy between the two matriarchal households in the Bottom. The Peaces were an unorthodox family that did not necessarily follow traditions …show more content…
Like her grandmother, an amputee, Sula has a physical flaw – a birthmark on her eye – that separates her from others; and like her grandmother who had to acknowledge her own vulnerability when her husband abandoned her, Sula has to do the same when faced with the neighbourhood’s prejudice against her and her family. Sula’s household was the opposite of what her community member’s saw as the norm, due to her mother’s well-known promiscuity. Sula also took drastic measures – like Eva did when she had to leave for eighteen months and returned with a missing leg to provide for her children – when he cut off a part of her finger and told the boys that had regularly threatened her and Nel that, “If I can do that to myself, what you suppose I’ll do to you?” (54-55). Here, Sula recognizes her inner strength, but also sacrifices her individual identity. Sula now is unable to escape the maternal pattern of rebelling against the gender norms, and consequentially loses her capability of emotional nurturing and developing kinship. Eva began the cycle of independence which left her daughter and granddaughter very limited motherly skills. As a result, Sula does not know how to take care of her relationship with Nel, which at times can be seen as inappropriate. However, this is understandable when one takes into account that Sula has not learned the conventional methods in responding to things. Also, although Sula may act similarly to her mother and grandmother externally, internally she feels disconnected from them. Because in order for one to establish one’s identity in this family, one must also emotionally distance themselves from the family, which results in the inability to care and be cared