Essays on Sula

Sula was Toni Morrison’s second novel, and was started in 1970, when second-wave feminists insisted on female solidarity; when labor market demanded women both in the workplace and at home, and when the position of women had not been as polarized by domestic ideology since the Victorian Era. It was a time when feminism ceased to be a middle-class privilege and women from all ethnic backgrounds took up their pens to voice their dissatisfaction. This novel may be considered a product of Morrison’s own curiosity towards female relationships, as she wonders in the Foreword to Sula: “What Continue reading...

English: What is the relationship between love and duty in Sula, and which one is ultimately privileged?

Sula is a novel by Nobel Prize winning author Toni Morrison. Morrison wrote the novel in 1973. The novel, set in Ohio, features two girls named Nel and Sula who live contrasting lives. Whereas Nel comes from a stable family that believes in social institutions, Sula comes from a dysfunctional family (Morrison). The social divide between the two girls as well as that of the white farmer and his former slave shows the intricate relationship that exists between love and duty. This novel prompts the question, “do people choose to love each other voluntarily, or does duty compel people Continue reading...

Toni Morrison’s Sula and Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl” are two texts that explore the African-American woman’s quest for sexual and social autonomy, in that both texts contend that the African-American woman’s construction of a sexual identity is primarily shaped by the women who raise her, as well as societal expectations and traditions. The process by which an African-American mother or mother figure teaches a young African-American female about sexuality is often laden with religious indoctrination, accusations of licentiousness, personal anecdotes about male duplicitousness, and fearful warnings about chastity. Both texts illustrate how the enforced standards and Continue reading...

Autism has a long past, but a short history. The story of autism begins with legends and tales of children being left by elves in return for stolen. In real history already in the 18th century medical texts are known, containing descriptions of people who are likely to suffer from autism (although the term was not used yet) – they did not talk, were excessively closed and had unusually good memory.
Scientist of the previous centuries who approached the problem of people with autism the most was French explorer J.M. Itar, who described this state on the example of a Continue reading...

Part I:

Chicken Little was playing with Nel and Sula when he drowned. Sula helped him climb a big spreading beech tree that had great branches to sit on. Nel watched them climb. On the way down, Sula held Chicken Little’s hands and swung him around in the air as he laughed. Then, he slipped from her hands and fell into the water, still laughing. They watched expecting him to come splashing back up. Sula could still feel and remember how hard his little hands felt in hers. But, he did not come back up, to tease and taunt, he Continue reading...

What is the speaker’s situation in Snyder’s ‘The Late Snow and Lumber Strike of the Summer of Fifty-Four’? Where is he at the end of the poem and what does he resolve to do?

The speaker’s situation in Snyder’s poem is that he is out of work and drifting. His situation has been caused by the snow falling unexpectedly in the summer and a strike by lumber workers. The situation is so bad that “Whole towns shut down” (line 1). Out of work, the , there is little road traffic and the speaker relies on Continue reading...

Toni Morrison’s Sula tells the story of a small, black community called ‘The Bottom’ which is under threat by white men who want to use the land for a new gold course. The story, as the title suggests, focuses on the life of a girl who is growing up in the community, whose name is Sula. She and her best friend, Nel, have a difficult friendship which is strong when they are teenagers but grows more complicated and unsatisfying as they become women; this is largely due to the accidental death Continue reading...

The only path that a man can really change is the path that comes from his own soul. In Toni Morrison novel diverse themes have been captured to reflect the ironies of life which are in one way been sustained by symbolism of life to produce seamless situational metaphors in more intricate imagery. The ironies of life can be seen where the author illustrates Bottom as gift from a Master to his slave, though it was a trick despite Continue reading...