Sula 803human dilemma rather than a limited and limiting
black American experience.
Gulshan Taneja
morriSon, Toni Sula (1973)
Sula (1973) is Nobel laureate Toni Morrison’s sec-
ond published novel. Spanning the years from 1919
to 1965, the story centers on the childhood friend-
ship and later estrangement of two women living in
a black community called the Bottom, near the town
of Medallion, Ohio. Sula Peace, the only daughter of
a young and attractive widow, Hannah Peace, lives
in the labyrinthine house of her grandmother, Eva
Peace, who is a fiercely protective but emotionally
distant matriarch. Nel Wright is the only daughter
of lakeman Wiley Wright and beautiful and morally
impeccable Helene, whose mother, Rochelle Sabat,
is a Creole prostitute in New Orleans. Meeting in
1920, when they are both around 10 years old, Sula
and Nel become inseparable. After Nel marries a
local man, Jude Greene, in 1927, Sula leaves town,
presumably to attend college. Upon Sula’s sudden
return 10 years later, their friendship revives but
quickly dies when Sula seduces Jude. Years later, in
1965, Nel realizes that she has actually been miss-
ing not her husband but Sula, who has been dead
25 years. The novel’s other major characters include
Shadrack, a World War I veteran who founds an
enigmatic annual ritual called National Suicide
Day; Plum, Sula’s uncle and another traumatized
war veteran; and Ajax, Sula’s lover who is attracted
to her fierce independence, which separates her
from all other women of the community. The major
themes of the novella include race, gender, sexual-
ity, freedom, alienation, grief, individual and society,
love, parenthood, community, oppression, violence,
and religion.
Tomoko Kuribayashi
Gender in Sula
In Toni Morrison’s second novel, gender issues can-
not be separated from issues of race and racism.
The legacy of slavery has left its mark on Morrison’s
black characters, who live in a rural Ohio commu-
nity called the Bottom. The many serious conflicts
that exist between the black women and men, as well
as their traditional gender roles and expectations,
need to be considered in light of this legacy and
its aftereffects. All the male characters in Sula, for
example, seem defeated, unable to become respon-
sible adults in a society that will not grant them full
manhood. Eva Peace’s husband and the father of her
three children is a prime example of stunted male
growth, as his name, BoyBoy, clearly indicates. Nel
Wright’s husband, Jude Greene, also suffers from
the sense that his masculinity is inadequate; he and
other young black men of the Bottom are extremely
disappointed and frustrated when, fully capable
physically and eager to contribute hard labor, they
are denied road construction jobs in favor of skinny
white men. Even Ajax, a much admired local
Lothario, yearns for a white man’s job, the privilege
of flying airplanes. The three Deweys, adopted by
Eva as young boys, are healthy and active, but never
grow beyond four feet and remain childish in behav-
ior. Plum Peace and Shadrack, both traumatized
World War I veterans, cannot function normally;
though their major problems may stem from battle
fatigue, arguably some of the trauma was caused by
the army’s racism and the black soldiers’ treatment
upon their homecoming.
The Bottom’s black women are given the respon-
sibility of caring for black men who suffer from the
sense that they are not “man enough.” While Eva
wholeheartedly hates BoyBoy for deserting his fam-
ily, she, and other Peace women, simply love male-
ness. Despite missing one leg, Eva has a steady flow
of male visitors admiring her as if she were a god-
dess, even though they share no sexual intimacy. Her
daughter Hannah, a young widow, has many lovers
who appreciate her natural beauty and easy-going
manners. Helene Wright, in contrast, suppresses any
expression of female sexuality—or any spontaneous
self-expression, for that matter—in herself and her
daughter, Nel. Helene fears the blood of her prosti-
tute mother, Rochelle Sabat, should be manifesting
itself in them. Raised by her grandmother, a devout
Catholic in New Orleans, Helene believes in wom-
en’s spiritual and moral superiority. For the Wright
women, as for the Peaces, taking care of men’s vari-
ous needs forms the core of a woman’s life: Helene
prides herself on her impeccable housekeeping and
Nel devotes herself to meeting her husband’s and,