"Sula" Is A Novel by A Nobel Prize-Winning Wordsmith Toni Morrison About A Youthful Black

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Sula
Introduction
“Sula” is a novel by a Nobel Prize-Winning wordsmith Toni Morrison about a youthful black
girl who grows into a strong-willed woman in a difficult situation of misfortune, distrust, and
hatred by her black community in which she resides in. It begins with the publication of the
assembly of a golf course in a site known as the bottom, a place that used to be the home of a
black community. The bottom was originally owned by a white man who gave it to one of his
slaves for accomplishing a difficult task for him.
Morrison examines the strong female relationship between Sula and Nel, who have been
best friends since they were little although brought up from two different backgrounds. Later on,
they take different paths of life where Nel gets married and Sula leaves the neighborhood to a
college in Tennessee where she leads a different life from the norm. Morrison sightsees, the
ideologies of social norms grounded on human life and if sometimes the norms can be
challenged, the influence of American society and the experience of black women in America.
The Bottom
The bottom is a black community on the hill overhead an imaginary town in Ohio known as
Medallion (Gooch and Catherine 2021). Initially owned by a white man, it was later on given to
a slave as a gift for accomplishing a challenging task for the master. The master tricked his slave
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by making him believe that the land was valuable and since it was hilly, it was more close to
heaven. This led to the growth of a lively black community.
Shadrack, a fighter in world war1 returns a devastated man who is unable to accept the
complications brought about by people in the world. He lives in the suburbs of town trying to put
his life in order. He comes up with his ritual and names it “National Suicide day” to
compartmentalize his fright of passing away. At first, the town is cautious of Shadrack and his
ritual but later on, impetuously accepts him.
Nel and Sula
Morrison compares the life and families of Sula Peace and Nel Wright who grew up with no
father figures in their life. Nel was brought up by a mother who was deeply into social
conventions and grew up in a steady household. Helene Wright Nels's mother dislikes Sula’s
family. Sula lives with her mother Hannah and grandmother Eva who are considered loose and
strange by the community. Hannah was loved by all men, Eva was respected by all women, later
on in the novel, a strained liaison is revealed.
Friendship
Despite coming up from different families, Nel and Sula form a great friendship in their
adolescent stage of life (Ahmad and Shabir 2020). They share every experience of their lives as
well as a reminiscence of an accident that happened when one day while playfully swinging
Chicken Little a neighborhood boy, Sula loses her grip and the boy falls in an adjacent river and
loses his life. Sula mourns with onus while Nel feels nimble happiness because in her heart she
believes it was Sula’s fault and mistake. The situation gets complicated because Shadrack has an
unswerving view of the occurrence. Nel and Sula never tell anyone about the incident although
they never intended to harm the boy.

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Afterward high school, Nel decides to marry, which leads to the breaking of a bond,
which the girls had promised to stake everything. Sula on the other hand leads a wildly different
track of life where she lives a life of zealous individuality and total neglect for social
conventions. Shortly after Nel gets married, she leaves town for 10 years to attend college where
she has many affairs.
Social Conventions
The community living at the bottom believes people should live according to the rules and norms
that govern everyone's behavior daily. When Sula returns, the bottom community regards her as
the very epitome of immoral because of her neglect of social conventions. Their hatred mainly
rests upon Sula a black woman having interracial relationships but is crystallized when Sula has
an affair with Jude, Nell’s husband. Paradoxically, the town's classification of Nell as evil
progresses their lives. Nell's presence in the community gives them the impulse to live in
coherence with one another in the community. Nel halts her friendship with Sula but later on,
before the death of Sula, they half-heartedly reunite.
When Nel visits Eva in the nursing home, Eva blames sharing the guilt of the loss of life
of Chicken littles death (Kimberly 2017). Nel, later on, apprehends that she had hastily stuck to a
social convention to define herself as good and goes to the graveyard and grieves at Sula’s grave,
shouting out Sula’s name in grief.
Conclusion
Sula, a novel about indistinctness examines and questions the terms “evil” and” good”,
repeatedly signifying that the two habitually take after one another. The unclear mysteries of
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human relations and emotions are addressed in the novel eventually concluding that social
conventions are insufficient as a foundation for living your own life. While exploring the various
ways people try to make meaning of their lives filled with differences over race, femininity, and
simple distinctive opinions of views, Sula exhibits beauty, ambiguity, and terror of life in both its
triumphs and horrors.

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Work Cited
Ahmad, Shabbir, Neelum Almas, and Muhammad Iqbal. "Illness, Care, Love and Today’s
American Family: A Comparative Study of the Novels “Miss Janie’s Girls and
Sula”." Research Journal of Social Sciences and Economics Review (RJSSER) 1.4
(2020): 307-313.
Gooch, Catherine D. "“Shall we gather at the river?” the folklore and trauma of Toni Morrison’s
landscape in Sula." Comparative American Studies An International Journal (2021): 1-
17.
Idol, Kimberley. "Contemplating the Void: How Narrative Overcomes Anonymity in Toni
Morrison's Sula." Interdisciplinary Literary Studies 19.1 (2017): 48-68.

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What is the novel about?

What is the relationship between Nel and Sula like?

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slaves for accomplishing a difficult task for him.

heaven. This led to the growth of a lively black community.

ritual but later on, impetuously accepts him.

Nel and Sula

on in the novel, a strained liaison is revealed.

they never intended to harm the boy.

she has many affairs.

before the death of Sula, they half-heartedly reunite.

shouting out Sula’s name in grief.

triumphs and horrors.

Sula”." Research Journal of Social Sciences and Economics Review (RJSSER) 1.4

landscape in Sula." Comparative American Studies An International Journal (2021): 1-

Morrison's Sula." Interdisciplinary Literary Studies 19.1 (2017): 48-68.

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