Sula (Masterplots II: African American Literature Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Toni Morrison
- First Published: 1973
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Social realism
- Time of Work: 1919–1965
- Setting: A neighborhood in Medallion, Ohio, called “the Bottom”
- Principal Characters: Sula Peace, Nel Wright, Eva Peace, Hannah Peace, Helene Wright, Shadrack, Plum Peace, The Deweys, Ajax
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction, Social realism, Bildungsroman
- Subjects: African Americans, Maturation or coming of age, Family or family life, North America or North Americans, Self-discovery, United States or Americans, Tradition, Racism, Love or romance, Race, Sex or sexuality, Twentieth century, Gender roles, Betrayal, Friendship, Midwest, Ohio, Adultery, Women, Accidents, Duty, Death or dying, Good and evil, Lifestyles, Fire
- Locales: Medallion, OH
The Novel
Sula traces people’s lives in “the Bottom,” a neighborhood of Medallion, Ohio, begun as “a nigger joke.” When a white farmer had promised a slave rich bottom land in exchange for his labor, the slave was given “hilly land, where planting was backbreaking, where the soil slid down and washed away the seeds,” and where the white people in the next century longed to live, far from the farms and factories of the valley. Readers follow the lives of the community’s central figures for half a century. The prologue states that the people of the Bottom...
[The entire page is 3355 words long]
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