People's Freedom to Live their Own Lives
People generally lead the lives they want in the world. Although they are under their parents' control when they are children, when they are adults they have more freedom. The rest is up to them, beyond what the law of the country demands of them. Therefore, everyone will put in a lot of effort to make a living and lead a fulfilling existence. Some people have a tendency to do what their peers do, leading to lives that are not deserving of a human being. Through the character of Sula in his first book, "Sula," Toni Morrison tries to describe how one can live their own lives without compromising. Toni decides to let the reader understand that one can live the life that he or she wishes however good or bad it is. He allows the reader or the audience understand his work and try to view it in reality. Sula has chosen to live her own life without fear of anybody, not even her Bottom society. She chooses not to be influenced by her friend Nel whom they have grown together. Therefore, someone can lead an uncompromising life.
Contrasting Families and Changing Friendship
Sula’s and Nel’s families are contrasted in the way they bring up their children, how their culture advocates for the rights of women and how the children interact when they are young. Nel’s family is stable and deeply believes in social conventions. She is the daughter of Helene and her grandmother Rochelle who deviates from the family culture as she is argued to be a prostitute. She is the protagonist. On the other hand, Sula is the antagonist who is the daughter of Hannah and granddaughter of Eva. The town views Hannah and Eve as loose and eccentric. During the adolescent stage, the two are in a good relationship. Playing and staying together make the reader think that for the rest of their life they will live as friends not knowing that their reasoning is different. Sula and Nel’s friendship changes after the traumatic accident. Death of Chicken Little; a neighborhood boy after falling in the nearby river and drowning is what causes the friendship weaken. Chicken Little was in the hands of Sula before falling in the river. Sula playfully swung the boy around his hands who falls after losing her grip. Sula and Nel decides not to report to anyone as they argue that they never intended to harm the boy. Enmity develops between the two as none is ready to be accused of the death and this makes their friendship start growing apart. Sula knows very well that she is the cause of the little boy’s death. She is not ready to let her people know since she does not compromise with anything even with such cases of death. Choosing to remain silent shows that none is bothered about the death although to the two of them who experienced what happened somehow feel it and that is why they begin separating. Nel later compromises with the death of the boy when Eva; Sula’s grandmother tells her that she is aware of the death of Chicken Little. Nel feels very guilty, and that is one of the reasons why she laments (Morrison, p.38).
Sula's Uncompromising Path
Sula follows a different path in life from that of Nel who chooses to be married and settle as a wife and mother ready to have her own family. She is married to Jude. She chooses to have a family where she will give birth to children and raise them up as per her family traditions. Sula lives an independent life which is regarded by the town as a total disregard. Sula leaves Bottom for ten years after Nel’s wedding. She has sexual affairs with different people some who are rumored to be white men, an indication that she is in the prostitution business. Town people believe that she engages in prostitution to earn her living. She is not bothered what the town refer to her because that is the only way she can survive (Morrison, p.27). Listening to the people ideas will not gain her anything, and that is why she is not shy and cannot change her ways.
Sula's Return and Destruction
After ten years of leaving, Sula returns to Nel at Bottom whereby upon her return, the town is not happy because it regards her as the evil personification for her character which is very irritating, an indication that what she does is not good but very evil. She is hated because of her interracial relationships. Having a sexual relationship with the white men increases hatred from the town. The town people have this notion in that they fear she can influence some people who are easily convinced hence contaminating the whole society. The town is worried to the extent of comparing her to evil, but she does not relent. She interested in her life only and not of the town people. However much they are bothered by her, it is not her concern and whatever they say about her does not benefit her life.
The Consequences of an Uncompromising Life
Sula’s uncompromising life leads her to destroy Nel’s marriage after she returns to Bottom because she starts flirting with Jude, who later goes for her hence owning him as her current sexual partner. She does not view this as a bad thing knowing that Nel was once her best friend when they were in adolescence stage. Jude abandoning his wife Nel to stay with her seems to be a normal thing to her. Due to this abandonment, Nel breaks off her friendship with Sula. She is unable to withstand Sula’s behavior thus choosing to end the friendship because she seems to be human. The two lived as no more friends, but just before Sula died, they reconciled. Due the death of Sula, the harmony in the town that had reigned dissolved. She died a lonely death as her people; the black community did not care about her body. It let the white people take care of her, an indication that her lifestyle was not similar to that of the other black people. Nel meets Eva, 25 years later in old people’s home where Eva tells her that she was aware of her and Sula drowning Chicken Little. More afterwards, she cries out for Sula after visiting the Peaceses grave, admitting that she had blamed her misery on Sula instead of blaming her husband Jude.
Sula as a Symbol of Determination and Confidence
Therefore, the character of Sula is a show of female determination, confidence, and trust in themselves. Sula is courageous enough to try what her fellow women have not tried. Toni Morrison uses her as the antagonist to avoid mockery from the people who do not support feminism. Sula is free to interact with anybody despite the skin color unlike the other black women. Although in some instances she goes against the truth and what is right, she stands to be emulated by other men and women.
Work Cited
Morrison, Toni. Sula - Toni Morrison - Google Books. Vintage, 1998 ISBN 0099760010, 9780099760016, 1998. Web.
