Sula by Toni Morrison

Sula

Marie Nigro states of Toni Morrison's novel, "Sula celebrates many lives: It is the story of the friendship of two African-American women; it is the story of growing up black and female; but most of all, it is the story of a community." Community, its form and function, is one of the main motifs and themes in Sula. Although race, gender, and sexuality powerfully influence the lives of the novel's protagonists, Nel and Sula's fundamental belief systems were forged in Bottom. The contrast between conventionalism and progressivism are universal community conflicts. Usually the conflict between old-fashioned and progressive elements is a generational conflict, but in Sula, the title character and her childhood friend Nel demonstrate that the pull of the past even affects young people. In fact, both Sula and Nel are haunted by their past throughout their adult lives; the fateful day of Chicken Little's death would drive a wedge between the two girls and exacerbate their growing differences. The tensions between Sula and Nel reflect the tensions within the community of Bottom as a whole. Faced with the changing times and the further encroachment of white value systems and political power, Bottom residents must struggle to remain a united front. Morrison uses symbolism and poignant character development to underscore the parallels between Sula's personal evolution and the evolution of her hometown Bottom. Sula's characters and communities change irrevocably through the novel's course of events, bringing to the surface common drives for self-respect and self-definition.

Tragedy and the perception of evil can unite a community and offer its residents a chance for healing as well as for collective identity formation. Similarly, tragedy can unite individuals and solidify the bonds of friendship and love. On the other hand, tragedy can bring to light fundamental differences of opinion, dissolving communities and friendships. Tragedies punctuate Morrison's novel and serve the purpose of clarifying community identities and defining social boundaries. In Sula, the tragedies faced by the community at large include the encroachment of Medallion's whites into Bottom territory; economic hardship; and morality. The latter, community definitions of morals and ethics, is elucidated and almost single-handedly defined through the negative examples of Sula and her female relatives. Of these three main crises facing Bottom, the one that most notably defines the character of the community is ethics.

A mainly conservative town, Bottom's conventional social values thwart free spirits like Eva, Hannah, and Sula, three generations of relatively progressive African-American women. The community's conscientious effort to scorn and isolate women viewed as promiscuous demonstrates how morality is one of the key defining factors of Bottom. Conservative townspeople such as Nel and Helene embody community values, whereas women like Sula are deemed as being deviant. As a result, Bottom residents discovered common ground when reacting to Sula's indiscretions, her ten years gallivanting, and especially her affair with Nel's husband Jude. The townspeople of Bottom believe that Sula represents evil and that "the presence of evil was something to be first recognized, then dealt with, survived, outwitted, triumphed over," (118). Whereas the crisis of white encroachment could not result in any clear consensus or community-building, Sula's behavior and its corresponding moral indignations did solidify Bottom, at least for a short time.

If Bottom created community identity through its dealing with the "problem" of Sula, it could not so definitively do so through the equally as divisive problem of Medallion. The most tangible tragedy facing the community of Bottom is economic and political pressure from the neighboring white town Medallion, most notably its ambition to slice through Bottom and create a golf course. Whereas the pristine manicured lawns of the course might seem to be a boon for Bottom, the encroachment of white culture onto African-American culture will prove devastating. The golf course signifies white control over newly-gained black property, the imposition of white culture on that of African-American culture, and also the reclamation and reformation of land, something that African-Americans had only recently been permitted to own. While it would seem that such a tragic possibility would serve to strengthen the tries between Bottom residents, by the end of the novel, black families are slowly edging their way out of Bottom and into Medallion, destroying the integrity of the African-American community. Added to the moral and ethical conundrums symbolized by Sula, the problem of American race relations threatened to shatter Bottom's fragile identity.

Sula becomes an unwitting martyr for her community. "In Sula, the character of Sula must sacrifice her 'self' completely in order to define the community," (174). Her death brought to light the depth and nature of the divisiveness that unfortunately plagued Bottom residents. Death also helped to define the individual identities and relationships between the novel's main characters. Early in the novel, Sula and Nel's is threatened and challenged by the death of Chicken Little. Both girls were present when the boy drowned by accident, but Nel and Sula reacted differently to the tragedy. Their respective reactions contributed to their growing senses of self as the girls entered adolescence. Nel's tendency toward convention and tradition contrasts sharply with Sula's passionate and adventurous nature. Their outlook on life, their self-respect, and their self-definitions are all shaped by the community: Nel's in conformity to community values and Sula's in rebellion to them. Nel becomes traditional housewife and Sula follows in no one else's footsteps, in search of a unique identity.

Nel reacted to her personal growing pains much as Bottom did. Just as Nel sacrificed the difficult duty of self-assertion through independence, so too did Bottom sacrifice the same type of self-assertion over Medallion. The inability of Bottom's residents to take a clear, decisive stand against Medallion demonstrates the difficulty by which communities can come together and respond to external or internal crisis. Comprised of different people with different personalities, beliefs, and worldviews, communities like Bottom do not necessarily fare well in times of crisis. Even though many of Bottom's residents united under common ethical, economic, and political causes, the collective attempt to dichotomize good and evil ultimately failed. Only Sula, who laughed in the face of conventional morality, succeeded in creating a clear self-concept, Her personal boundaries were created in opposition and antagonism to others, but they were nevertheless unequivocal.