The Glass Half-Empty In Toni Morrison's Sula

Is the glass half-full or half-empty? The novel, Sula by Toni Morrison, sees the glass half-empty. Morrison constantly depicts the evils in the 1920’s black community in her story, and for that she teaches her characters that goodness does not normally exist. All of characters have a relationship with another, be it mother-daughter, husband-wife, friends or family, and many of those relationships end in disaster. Toni Morrison’s pessimistic nature is the reason behind the many failed loving relationships throughout the novel; ultimately, she is trying to communicate that love is not happy, rather it is filled with despair.
Early on in the novel, Eva’s relationship with BoyBoy, her ex-husband is unsuccessful and combative. BoyBoy left his wife …show more content…
Hannah is gossiping with her freinds about their children when Sula runs into the house to go to the bathroom and overhears a private conversation. The women are talking about their children and if they really do love them. As Sula runs by, she hears her mom saying to her friends, ‘“You love Hester like I love Sula. I just don’t like her. That’s the difference’”(57). These words crushed Sula. She runs upstairs with “a sting in her eye” (57), and the only thing that kept her from sobbing is Nel’s sweet call floating through Sula’s bedroom window that, “pull[s] her away from dark thoughts” (57). Sula loved her mother up until this point, she believed a mother’s love is never ending, but these few moments destroyed her childish beliefs. Sula lost all respect for Hannah after her careless and cruel comment. When Hannah accidentally catches herself on fire Eva accuses Sula of “watch[ing] Hannah burn, not because she was paralyzed, but because she was interested” (78). Sula watched her mother die without batting an eyelash. She lost all connection with her mother when Hannah dismissed her as simply a burden that she has to take care of. She does not try to help her mother; she just stands there and watches her