Sula And Nel Essay Research Paper Toni

Sula And Nel Essay, Research Paper

Toni Morrison’s “Sula” is an eloquent discussion of the nature of evil. The story follows the lives of two black female friends, presents differing views on evil. On one hand, we have society’s conventional view of evil represented by the character of Nel and also seen in the Bottom’s disapproval of Sula. The other view of evil is seen through the character of Sula and through her actions which conflict with traditional society. The friendship of Sula and Nel is the means by which the author conveys her message about evil in the relationship. In the relationship the two different conceptions of evil mix and create an essentially neutral mixture. By looking at Nel’s and Sula’s friendship and the two different views of evil that they surface, the author shows us the subjective and relative nature of evil and how friendship can overcome any evil.

In the Bottom, the dominant view of evil is society’s conception. Its guidelines for good and bad behavior can be seen through society’s reaction to Sula. Her return to the Bottom after a ten year absence is greeted with the same way one would greet a pest, a plague or an illness. The novel shows society’s negative view of her when it describes how Sula arrived “accompanied by a plague of robins” (Morrison 89). Her time spent in the Bottom is grouped with other evils the “floods, white people, tuberculosis, famine and ignorance” (Morrison 90) and her stay in the town is called the “evil days”(89), because the town views Sula as an overwhelmingly evil force. The town’s main complaints about Sula center around her sexual habits and the flaunting of every convention that the Bottom holds dear. Sula herself knows that the townspeople “despised her and … framed their hatred as disgust for the easy way she lay with men”(122), because marital fidelity is one of the town’s most important principles. Even worse is the one “unforgivable thing”, the harshest accusation made “that Sula slept with white men”(112), offending the town’s collective racial pride. Not only are the residents horrified by her sexual openness, but they are offended by her direct rebellion. To irk her neighbors, Sula “came to their church suppers without underwear” (114) and as further proof of her evil, “they believed she was laughing at their God” (115). Once again, we see through the town’s disapproval of Sula what it holds dear. Then as if Sula’s defiance of their customs isn’t evil enough, she anger the town even more by openly mocking their beliefs. Sula’s crime is not only her actions outside of the mainstream, but also the fact that she is not in the least ashamed of them; she is evil because she has defied society’s laws and in has openly mocked them by refusing to even recognize their dominion over her.

Immersed in this conception of evil her whole life, it is Nel who becomes the embodiment of the town’s moral code when she gets married and is “one of them” (120), meaning a member of the prevailing/mainstream society. Instantly, her views become aligned with those of the town and she “belonged to the town and all of its ways” (120). She is particularly offended by Sula’s promiscuity, because Sula sleeps with her husband. While Nel has used the town’s moral code, Sula is in open defiance of it, and thus Sula is caught off gaurd by Nel’s “possessiveness” (119), not realizing that “marriage…had changed all that” (119), referring to their earlier tendency to “share the affection of other people” (119). Nel’s outrage at Sula’s actions is reflective of the town’s anger at Sula and we see the personal hurt that Sula’s inconsiderate actions have caused.

While society’s view of evil is directed at disapproving of anything that would break down the institution that makes society work, Sula’s view of evil and her motives are based on a different goal and she evaluates her actions by a different set of standards; in other words, “Sula was distinctly different” (118). Sula “had been looking all along for a friend” (122) and that is the only goal by which she measures her action’s. In sleeping with many men, she is seeking an outlet for the “misery and…deep sorrow” (122) which she feels. By this she is trying to find a friend who she can confide in. In her quest for some relief of the “loneliness” (123) that she feels and her search for a friend, she commits many acts that are harmful to others, such as sleeping with Jude. The only evil action would be one that is not directed towards friendship. She is not so much trying to find the “sadness that she yearned for” (122), as she is trying to share it with someone such as Nel. As long as Sula tries that, she cannot judge herself to be wicked, even though her promiscuity makes her seem evil to society. For Sula herself, “as her experiences multiplied she realized that not only was it not wicked, it was not necessary for her to conjure up the idea of wickedness in order to participate fully” (122), because she knows that the act of sex is just her way of achieving the ultimate goal of friendship.

Toni Morrison makes a powerful statement about evil through the friendship between Nel and Sula. When Sula sleeps with Jude, a direct conlfict between their different conceptions of evil surfaces. Sula feels no shame, because her conception of evil includes only actions not directed towards friendship, while her sleeping with Judes was an attempt at forming a friendship. However, Nel feels quite hurt, because Sula “had no thought at all of causing Nel pain when she bedded down with Jude” (119). Whereas before “they had always shared the affection of other people” (119), things have changed since they parted their separate ways, Nel had just gotten married, while Sula left for the city. During this period their views grew farther apart and constant, as Sula became promiscuous and rebellious, Nel adopted society’s morals. Because of this time apart and a change in values Sula was “ill prepared for the possessiveness of the one person she felt close to” (119). However, the two begin to discuss their differences, and Nel states her fundamental problem with Sula by saying, “You can’t be walking around all independent-like, doing whatever you like” (142), to which Sula responds, “It matters, Nel, but only to you” (144). This is the fundamental conflict between their two views of evil: Nel thinks that Sula’s independence is evil, while Sula doesn’t think that she hurt anybody except for Nel, and only because she was reacting from society’s viewpoint, without understanding Sula’s. To conclude their discussion, Sula asks an important question, “About who was good. How do you know it was you?… I mean maybe it wasn’t you, maybe it was me” (146). The rest states the concept of evil as something relative and subjective, while their eventual reconciliation examines the issue of friendship.

Sula’s question raises the important issue like, whose definition of evil is right? In setting up this debate, the author wants the reader to reach the conclusion that nobody’s definition is correct and that the concept of evil is relative and subjective. For example, while Sula is widely viewed as an evil force by society, her own conception of evil prevents her from being seen as evil. Therefore, evil cannot be a concept agreed upon by everyone, because Nel and Sula each disagree on its meaning. The fact that two people disagree on the same topic shows how subjective and personal a conception of evil is; for both characters, it is based on their own experiences. To further prove how subjective evil is, Sula could even be viewed as a good force, because it is her very presence that makes the people of the Bottom “protect and love one another. They began to…in general band together against the devil in their midst” (117-118). The author is proving that evil is a concept left up to each individual, and that no one person has a right over its definition. There is a stronger force at work in the novel, which transcends different concepts of evil.

For Nel and Sula, and all their trials together, they last because of their deep friendship. The concept of evil is raised in their friendship. Despite their divergent views on what constitutes evil, Sula and Nel reconcile in the end, as Nel realizes that what ultimately matters is the depth of their friendship. At the end of the novel, Nel feels a sense of sorrow. However, she realizes that “all the time, I thought I was missing Jude” (174), when in fact she was missing Sula, her closest friend throughout almost her entire life. Putting aside any opinion about Sula’s actions with Jude, she longs for the Sula, saying “We was girls together. O Lord, Sula, girl, girl, girlgirlgirl”, a cry with “circles and circles of sorrow” (174). Nel realizes that what mattered was not how she and Sula differed but rather it was the strength of their common friendship which overcame any conflicting conceptions of evil that they might have held.