Sula by Toni Morrison

Good and Evil Explored in Morrison's Sula

Toni Morrison explores the theme of good and evil in her novel, Sula. Throughout the story, we believe that Nel is the better of the two because of what her life represents. Nel's life is prettier than Sula's could ever be and this fact shapes the perspective of the town, Nel, and Sula. As the novel progresses, we begin to see that perception can be misguided and what appears to be good might actually be bad and vice versa. Sula takes us down this rocky path over decades and lifetimes, exposing the headlong opinions of others. Morrison reveals that good and evil are not always easy terms to define in Sula and we are best to stop and think before we judge.

Morrison focuses on one's perceived notion of good and evil by examining the lives of Sula and Nel. Morrison structures the novel in such a way that we, as well as the characters in the novel, perceive Sula to be the darkest, or more evil, of the two. This begins with presenting the girls as total opposites beginning with how each girl was raised. Sula grows up in a "household of throbbing disorder constantly awry with things, people, voices and the slamming of doors" (Morrison 52). On the other hand, Nel lives in a more structured household. As a child, she sat on the back porch "surrounded by the high silence of her mother's incredibly orderly house, feeling the neatness pointing at her back" (51). With these scenes, Morrison prepares us for how the girls grow up and why and are perceived the way they are. History is only one aspect that forms this perception.

Events, history, and childhood form the other reasons behind this type of thinking. The most significant event being the death of Chicken Little. While it was Sula that threw the boy into the water, it was Nel that encouraged her to run away. It is significant to note that while Sula stood in shock, it was Nel that told her it was not her fault. While the impact of Chicken Little's death seems minute, it comes into play later in the novel. The incident shapes Sula's perception of herself and of the world. From her upbringing, she learned that she could count on no one and from Chicken Little's accidental death, she learned that:

There was no self to count on either. She had no center, no speck around which to grow... She was completely free of ambition, with no affection for money, property or things, no greed, no desire to command attention or compliments - no ego. For that reason she felt no compulsion to verify herself. (119)

Here we see that Sula's foundation is that she has no foundation. Her perception of who she is has a profound effect on her. Her lack of center made the majority of her life an empty search because she did not know for what she was looking.

Lifestyle is another aspect that causes people to form opinions. Sula and Nel live the most opposite of lives. Sula is perceived as the wild child because she does not live a conventional life. She moves away from Bottom, has numerous affairs with many men, and when she returns, she is recognized as evil. Sula is called a "roach" (112) and a "*****" (112). Her death is a welcome relief in Bottom. Her affair with Nel's husband does make matters any better. All of this makes Nel look almost like an angel in comparison. Sula did not live a nice, neat little life. Unlike Nel, she did not marry and have children and she did not regret it. She was pessimistic and sarcastic while Nel was controlling and composed. However, do these facts make perception real? Barbara Lounsberry does not think so. In fact, she writes that Morrison "uses the lives of the major character in Sula to demonstrate both the variety and futlity of human attempts to order and contain experience" (Lounsberry). As we see, perspective is everything but perspectives can be wrong.

It takes death to reveal the truth behind everything. When Nel goes to see Sula on her deathbed, she is lead there from her sense of duty. Sula asks Nel how she knows if she was the good one. The visit with Eva also plants doubt in Nel's mind. When she realizes that she enjoyed watching Chicken Little fall deep into the water more than Sula did (for Sula was terrified), she understands that Sula was the good one. Her psychic break allows the truth to set in. Nel's tears at the end of the novel reinforce her loss and her realization that sometimes good lies behind the veil of evil and she knows that she will mourn the loss of her good friend for the rest of her life.