Analysis Of Toni Morrison 's Sula

Their outwardly pristine appearance juxtaposes with the drab, unkempt town with peeling paint and rusty fences, where spousal rape, adultery and paedophilia lie just below the surface. Through this leverage of the ability to transform and astound, Tilly is able to gain ‘information’ to achieve her objective of discovering the truth behind the events of her past. The promise to transform Gertrude into the ‘most striking girl in the room’ and Marigold’s] dress looking ‘better than everyone else’ are the beginnings of the truth being unravelled and ‘rubbish’ revealed.

Toni Morrison’s Sula revolves around the relationship of her two main characters, Sula and Nel. The childhood friends grow apart with age. Although it is indicated that their friendship is the most important relationship they participate in, they eventually betray each other and lead dishonest lives. Throughout the novel, we see their constantly deteriorating relationship as a result of absence of a family life. Sula is a novel about the influence family may have on the make up of someone’s personality. In particular, the novel examines the effect parents can have on their children and the conscious effort the main characters make to be unlike their mothers.

Toni Morrison, the infamous novelist, took the stand as a concerned citizen of the United States when she wrote a public letter to presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama. At the time, the country was divided with contrasting opinions on George W. Bush, which seemed to block the focus of the candidates’ elections. Morrison mentioned this issue as one of her reasons for writing the endorsement, when she wrote, “One reason is it may help gather other supporters; another is that this one one of those singular moments that nations ignore at their peril.” Morrison addressed her personal thoughts on the two presidential candidates, and gave reasoning as for why she chose Barack Obama rather than Hillary Clinton. Overall, Morrison created a very concerned tone regarding the United States and its political future, using phrases such as “multiple crisis facing us” and “peril” to describe the issues that faced the country. Furthermore, when describing Obama’s political future, the tone was much more optimistic and light. Morrison used phrases such as

In the novel Sula, by Toni Morrison we follow the life of Sula Peace through out her childhood in the twenties until her death in 1941. The novel surrounds the black community in Medallion, specifically "the bottom". By reading the story of Sula’s life, and the life of the community in the bottom, Morrison shows us the important ways in which families and communities can shape a child’s identity. Sula not only portrays the way children are shaped, but also the way that a community receives an adult who challenges the very environment that molded them. Sula’s actions and much of her personality is a direct result of her childhood in the bottom. Sula’s identity contains many elements of a strong, independent feminist

Characters lose their innocence throughout American literature. What exactly does “losing their innocence” mean? Losing one’s innocence can be seen as a character maturing. A character may lose his/her innocence in ways including the viewing of a traumatic event, especially one that will scar his/her life forever. Losing one’s innocence can also be caused by losing one’s trust in someone whom he/she once trusted, catching a glimpse into the “real world”, or performing an act of immorality. The recurring theme of loss of innocence, as seen throughout American literature and reality, can affect a person and the people around him/her both negatively and positively. As a result, the audience can see the character mature through losing hope of dreams, becoming an outcast of society, gaining a new perspective of ideas, or gaining confidence. Negative and positive effects falling onto characters as a result of a loss of innocence can be found in works such as The Scarlet Letter, The Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird, Of Mice and Men, and The Hunger Games; this theme can also be seen in real life through the effects of children exposed to violent video games.

In her novel Beloved, Toni Morrison spins an intricate web between names and numbers for the reader to unravel. The deep connection that lies between names and numbers is a direct correspondence to the identity and worth of black people during slavery. Beloved begins with the identity of the house which is characterized by a number. The house is given a temperament as if it is a living, breathing entity and yet it still referred to as a number. The significance of this is symbolic to the plight of the black slaves. Regarded as little above the common animal, slaves were defined by their selling price, essentially they were reduced to a number. Viewed as nonbeings they nevertheless feel and suffer their place in the south. The character Beloved is similar in this regard as well. All that defines her is an age and a name that remains unfluctuating through time. In an insufferable and cruel world, names and numbers play a critical role in understanding the identity of black existence in the South. To uncover the implications and nuances that names and numbers play will be instrumental to delving into the lives of black slaves. Beloved contains a vast amount of names and numbers and the connections between them deepen the novel and provide mammoth insight into understanding and interpreting Morrison’s work and purpose for juxtaposing such elaborate bonds between names and numbers.

In Toni Morrison’s Sula, gender heteronormative relationships are demonstrated in a very punishable manner. The two main characters Sula Peace, and Nel Right share a very strong, well connected friendship. The two of them are a mirror reflection of each other, with the same desires. Heteronormative institutions in the book do not seem to be stable for the most part. Hannah Peace, the single mother Sula, lives a disordered life in her household while Helene Wright belongs to a conservative and peaceful life, but her husband is never around. With the two daughters of both families being part of each other’s lives, they create a friendship that shows the privilege for female-female bonds over male-male bonds.

     The theme of the loss of innocence covers the entire essence of the book. There are many cases in the story where people had lost their innocence of life and it was lost to them

Innocence in life is always hard to keep and is usually not wanted back until it is too late. We are always in want of knowing more but when we finally reach that point of knowledge we finally realize that we have lost our innocence doing so. The theme of loss of innocence in this novel is well portrayed and is given many angles. The novel really shows the bad reality of losing one’s innocence to time and curiosity. Although it is all a part of growing up and maturing through living, I really do have to think back and make the conclusion that innocence is

 Organisms in nature rely on one another for their well being.  However, sometimes those organisms become greedy and decide to take in the relationship, instead of sharing with their symbiotic partner.  Through this action, it takes on parasitic characteristics.  In Toni Morrison's work, Sula, Sula Peace and Nel Wright demonstrate how a symbiotic relationship goes awry.  When one partner betrays the other, by taking instead of giving, the other partner suffers.  Nel and Sula's relationship suffers because Sula unfortunately takes actions that lead to partaking in a parasitic relationship where she begins to wither away.  Nel refuses the parasitic lifestyle and

Authors developed the canon in order to set a standard of literature that most people needed to have read or to have been familiar with. The works included in the canon used words such as beautiful, lovely, fair, and innocent to describe women. The canonical works also used conventional symbols to compare the women to flowers such as the rose and the lily. Thomas Campion depicts the typical description of women in his poem, "There is a Garden in Her Face." He describes the women by stating, "There is a garden in her face/ Where roses and white lilies grow,/ A heavenly paradise is that place,/ Wherein all pleasant fruits do flow" (1044-5). The roses and lilies are used to portray beautiful, frail

    In her acceptance speech, Morrison tries to communicate the idea that we must be careful with how we use our words.  She analogizes the use of language to the life of a metaphoric bird in a tale of a wise, old, blind

In that timelessness of afterlife, Toni Morrison allows Othello’s wife Desdemona to tell the stories that William Shakespeare did not allow her to tell (Sciolino). Desdemona is a collaboration between writer Toni Morrison, musician Rokia Traoré and director Peter Sellars. It retells the story of William Shakespeare’s Othello and, thus, serves a prequel and sequel to the tragedy (Carney 1). Toni Morrison’s play examines Desdemona’s relationship with her husband Othello as well as with other female characters, in particular, Desdemona’s relationship with her nurse Barbary (Erickson 3-4). Furthermore, the drama introduces the social conflicts the women come into contact with which are based on gender and ethnicity. An analysis of Toni Morrison’s Desdemona shows the social construction of the division of the sexes as well as the division of ethnicities. This division is known as Otherness:

Predetermined stereotypes force people to view circumstances in a certain way. When there is an insufficient amount of information, these stereotypes tend to be more prominent in the way a situation is perceived. In the short story “Recitatif,” the author Toni Morrison completely neglects to inform the reader of the racial backgrounds of the two main characters, as well as the groups they associate themselves with. Throughout the short story, there are various events and actions that cause the reader to guess the races of the characters. The racial ambiguity in the story forces the reader to apply their own predetermined stereotypes in order to make assumptions of the racial backgrounds of the characters.

In the novel Beloved by Toni Morrison the character Sethe is faced with the traumatic experience of having to return to slavery at Sweet Home, in order to save her children she attempts to kill them. She succeeds in killing one by cutting the infant’s throat with a hacksaw. This “rough choice” revolves around the novel on whether or not, the choice was right or wrong. Sethe’s tough choice between the right or wrong in the murder of her child is right and was necessary for her to insure the safety of her children, to express her motherly love, and to become a strong figure in her children's lives.