sula
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CHAPTER SUMMARY / NOTES: SULA BY TONI MORRISON
OVERALL ANALYSIS
CHARACTER ANALYSIS
Sula Peace
Sula is a dark character, emotionally defined by a sense of evil and physically defined by her black coloring, as well as the darkening birthmark in the shape of a rose that adorns her eye. As a child, she is strange, mysterious, somewhat defiant, and definitely different from those around her. Her life is shaped by two occurrences in her youth: the death of Chicken Little, which she blames on herself, and the overheard conversation of her mother when she says she does not really like her daughter. Sula grows up feeling guilty and unloved. Her only joy is spending time with her best friend, Nel Wright. The two of them become inseparable, even though they are totally different in background and personality.
Sula is determined to live without commitments and independent of others; she inherited this attitude from Hannah, her mother. She violates this independence only twice in the novel, and both times she is devastated by the relationship. Only once does Sula fall in love. When she realizes that she genuinely cares for Ajax, she becomes devoted to him and demanding; her attachment frightens Ajax away, leaving Sula in misery for a long time. More important is the attachment that she forms with Nel. Sula wraps her life up so completely in her friend that Morrison indicates they have almost become one; therefore, when Nel decides to marry Jude, Sula feels totally betrayed. As soon as the wedding is over, she leaves Medallion for ten years. When Sula returns, she and Nel try to be friends again, but Sula ruins it by having an affair with Jude, Nel’s husband. It is almost as if she were subconsciously striking out at Nel for having married Jude, making Sula feel abandoned.
When Sula returns to The Bottom after her ten-year absence, it is obvious that she has definitely changed. She
Downloadable / Printable Version
CHAPTER SUMMARY / NOTES: SULA BY TONI MORRISON
OVERALL ANALYSIS
CHARACTER ANALYSIS
Sula Peace
Sula is a dark character, emotionally defined by a sense of evil and physically defined by her black coloring, as well as the darkening birthmark in the shape of a rose that adorns her eye. As a child, she is strange, mysterious, somewhat defiant, and definitely different from those around her. Her life is shaped by two occurrences in her youth: the death of Chicken Little, which she blames on herself, and the overheard conversation of her mother when she says she does not really like her daughter. Sula grows up feeling guilty and unloved. Her only joy is spending time with her best friend, Nel Wright. The two of them become inseparable, even though they are totally different in background and personality.
Sula is determined to live without commitments and independent of others; she inherited this attitude from Hannah, her mother. She violates this independence only twice in the novel, and both times she is devastated by the relationship. Only once does Sula fall in love. When she realizes that she genuinely cares for Ajax, she becomes devoted to him and demanding; her attachment frightens Ajax away, leaving Sula in misery for a long time. More important is the attachment that she forms with Nel. Sula wraps her life up so completely in her friend that Morrison indicates they have almost become one; therefore, when Nel decides to marry Jude, Sula feels totally betrayed. As soon as the wedding is over, she leaves Medallion for ten years. When Sula returns, she and Nel try to be friends again, but Sula ruins it by having an affair with Jude, Nel’s husband. It is almost as if she were subconsciously striking out at Nel for having married Jude, making Sula feel abandoned.
When Sula returns to The Bottom after her ten-year absence, it is obvious that she has definitely changed. She