Character Development of Nel in Toni Morrison's Sula

Introduction: Nel in the Context of Sula

"The friendship was as intense as it was sudden. They found relief in each other's personality."
— Toni Morrison, Sula, "1922"

Toni Morrison is an African American female author with a well-respected reputation in literary and academic circles. The main characters of her novels are often African American women caught in normative yet arduous life circumstances. Her novel Sula is the focus of this paper. Among the many accolades of her career, Morrison was nominated for the National Book Award for Sula and won the Nobel Prize in Literature for Beloved. The primary characters of the novel belong to the Peace family, who live in a mostly Black neighborhood called The Bottom, in Ohio. The novel traverses several decades in this town and in the lives of a number of its inhabitants. While Sula is the main character, as the title indicates, her relationship with her female friend Nel is equally significant. This paper examines the character development of Nel with reference to both her own character and the relationships she has with other characters in the novel, primarily through her best friendship with Sula.

Nel's Childhood and the Roots of Her Identity

Nel was not raised with much freedom or love. Her upbringing is moderately typical of the African American community, both historically and in more recent times. There is a long tradition of strict upbringing in African American families, particularly when one or more adults in the household are deeply religious and likely conservative. Nel did not experience the kind of childhood that many other children did — Sula's in particular. She lived under many restrictions, with a mother who lived by the adage that children should be seen and not heard. In Nel's case, her mother preferred she was neither seen nor heard. Nel's childhood is therefore defined by order and propriety: she is always clean, always neat, and always following the rules.

Despite her restrictive upbringing, Nel retains an independent spirit. She is largely aware of and in control of her own identity, and part of her confidence stems from the closeness and trust she shares with Sula. In the early sections of the novel — certainly before the girls become adults — readers may wonder about the depth of Nel's independence or her reliance on others. Her orderly childhood, however, has a profound influence on the kind of woman she grows into later in the novel.

Nel's Adult Life: Marriage, Betrayal, and Transformation

While Sula departs from The Bottom in pursuit of her own adventures, Nel remains in the town. She marries a man named Jude and starts a family. She attends church regularly — yet another sign of her traditional lifestyle and background — and appears to stay within the narrow confines of what an African American woman was expected to be. The readers recognize a great change in her when Jude leaves Nel and their children for Sula. At that moment, Nel undergoes a kind of rebirth. The independent spirit within her ignites, and readers become aware of a fiery inner strength they may not have believed her capable of before.

It is reasonable to conclude that because Nel was so systematically repressed as a child, those qualities within her were long suppressed. Readers may also recognize the logic in how a person who lives through prolonged oppression develops a deep-seated capacity to rebel and defy. Up until Jude's departure, Nel reads as a simple, quiet, orderly, and dependent woman. She later reveals herself as a self-reliant, fiery, and complicated single mother who continues with her life despite the betrayal inflicted by both her oldest friend and her husband. The deeper wound, however, comes from Sula, because the relationship between Nel and Sula is the most important relationship of her life. Morrison's exploration of this betrayal is central to the novel's ethical and emotional architecture.

Conclusion: Nel's Complexity and Unresolved Legacy

Nel is also fascinating as she is one of the characters for whom there is no definitive resolution. Readers are left wondering what happened to her or what will happen to her. If her actions following the dissolution of her marriage are any indication, she will somehow find a way to carry on — yet she will remain somewhat incomplete, because she and Sula never fully resolved their conflict before Sula's death. Nel's relationship with Sula is a meditation on most of the major themes of the novel: friendship, ethics, and compassion. Nel proves herself to be just as dynamic and complex as the title character, as her development demonstrates both Morrison's extraordinary craft as a writer and her deep understanding of women, friends, African Americans, mothers, and the human spirit.