The evolution of African American literature is marked by a gradual but powerful unveiling of voices that both celebrate black identity and critique systemic oppression. This tradition extends back to the Colonial Era, highlighting the achievements of early authors like Phillis Wheatley, whose works, though problematic by today’s standards, paved the way for an explosion of African American narratives. Modern authors such as Toni Morrison have expanded these themes with a nuanced exploration of cultural identity and personal experience.

Early Voices in African American Literature

Phillis Wheatley stands out as a pioneering figure in the early recognition of African American literary contributions. Her collection, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, published in 1773, offered a complex view of her own identity as an African brought to America. Even as she grappled with the contradictions of her life as a Christian in slavery, her work opened dialogue on black identity that continued to evolve.

In the 19th century, the slave narrative emerged as a potent genre that drove both literary and social change. Harriet Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861) was groundbreaking for its focus on female experiences within slavery. Jacobs’ narrative delved into the trials of motherhood under oppression, a theme that finds resonance in Morrison’s novel, Sula. However, while Jacobs desexualized her character to meet the period's expectations, Morrison paints a broader picture of womanhood, celebrating characters like Hannah Peace for both their maternal instincts and their sexuality.

The Regional Focus: Morrison and Hurston

The works of Zora Neale Hurston and Toni Morrison share a keen attention to the specificities of place and time, adding depth to their storytelling. Hurston's novels, such as Their Eyes Were Watching God, capture the essence of small-town life with an anthropologist’s precision. Similarly, Morrison’s creation of Medallion in Sula acts as an intricate historical document, reflecting the community's unique cultural landscape.

Omniscient Narration and Vivid Dialogue

Morrison employs an omniscient narrator in Sula, granting readers a comprehensive insight into the dynamics of her characters' lives. This choice allows for a distribution of focus across multiple characters, facilitating a nuanced exploration of each individual's moral journey without overt narrator bias. The narrative style supports a rich tapestry of voices, making Morrison’s world both vivid and accessible to readers.

The dialogue in Sula, authentic and teeming with dialect, highlights the characters' backgrounds and personal histories. Through the vibrant exchanges between characters like Eva and Hannah, Morrison captures the raw and unembellished essence of their lives:

"I'm talkin' 'bout 18 and 95 when I set in that house five days with you and Pearl and Plum and three beets, you snake-eyed ungrateful hussy. What would I look like leapin' 'round that little old room playin' with youngins with three beets to my name?"

"I know 'bout them beets, Mamma. You told us that a million times."

"Yeah? Well? Don't that count? Ain't that love? You want me to tinkle you under the jaw and forget 'bout them sores in your mouth?"

Such dialogue not only reinforces the characters' identities but also emphasizes the socio-economic contexts that shape their existence. White characters, on the rare occasions they appear, are drawn with similar dialects, subtly critiquing the contrived racial hierarchies.

The Role of the Prologue

Unlike her subsequent works, Sula begins with a prologue, an element Morrison later reconsidered in terms of its necessity. This opening functions as a 'safe, welcoming lobby,' intended to ease readers into the African American experience depicted in the novel. Originally, Morrison’s stark opening with "National Suicide Day" was deemed too abrupt for...

In the vivid tapestry of Toni Morrison's novel, various settings create a compelling backdrop that mirrors the socio-economic dynamics and interpersonal relationships of the characters. The fictional town of Medallion, Ohio, serves as the primary stage, unravelling themes of racial segregation, community, and transformation. The contrasting neighborhoods within Medallion, alongside the personal spaces of its inhabitants, further accentuate the novel's exploration of identity and belonging.

Medallion

The imaginary town of Medallion, Ohio, is where the central events of the novel unfold. Morrison, drawing from her own experiences growing up in Lorain, Ohio, captures the complexities of a state marked by both Northern freedom and Southern prejudice. This duality is vividly portrayed in Medallion's geography, where the divides between black and white characters are starkly illustrated. The white residents enjoy the fertile valley, shielded from harsh winters, while the black community struggles on a rocky, unproductive hillside.

This segregation is not just physical but also socio-economic. The poorly constructed homes on the hillside fail to protect their inhabitants from the elements, and the icy winters exacerbate their hardships. During one particularly harsh winter, the black residents find themselves unable to descend the icy hill to reach their jobs in the valley, further highlighting their socio-economic vulnerability. As the narrative progresses, the physical landscape of Medallion transforms, echoing the shifting power dynamics. The Bottom, the hilltop neighborhood, is gradually eroded by the encroachment of wealthy whites who desire the land for a golf course and luxury homes.

The Bottom

Known as the Bottom, this African American neighborhood within Medallion carries a rich legacy of history and irony. According to local legend, the neighborhood's first settler was deceived into accepting this tough terrain instead of the fertile valley below. Its name, "the bottom of heaven," speaks to the irony faced by its residents, who can "literally look down on the white folks," yet remain socially and economically oppressed. The neighborhood's eventual disappearance, replaced by affluent white homes and a golf course, underscores the persistent encroachment of privilege.

The Bottom's residents serve as a collective voice, interpreting and passing judgment on the novel's events. Morrison's technique of infusing a communal voice into a setting is reminiscent of the works of William Faulkner, a writer she studied extensively. Much like Faulkner, Morrison populates Medallion with characters deeply entwined with their environment, characters who seemingly could not exist elsewhere.

Train Journey

A significant journey on a train provides another layer to the novel's exploration of race and identity. After the death of Helene's grandmother in 1920, Helene and her daughter Nel embark on a trip to New Orleans. This train ride vividly depicts the harsh realities of the Jim Crow South, where African Americans faced rigid segregation and discrimination. The train conductor's hostility when Helene mistakenly boards a whites-only coach, and the absence of basic facilities for black passengers at the stations, starkly illustrate racial inequalities.

Despite the unwelcoming treatment Helene receives, her ten-year-old daughter Nel finds the journey exhilarating. It becomes a catalyst for Nel's burgeoning sense of self, emboldening her to forge a friendship with Sula Peace, a pivotal relationship in the novel.

Helene Wright’s Home

The domestic spaces within Medallion are as telling as the broader community settings. Helene Wright's home, where Nel grows up, reflects its owner's character—orderly and appealing. Yet, for Nel, this very order becomes oppressive. In contrast, Sula, who hails from a more chaotic household, finds comfort and fascination in the Wright home.

Eva Peace’s Home

Eva Peace's home, a place of contrasts and complexities, is where Sula spends her formative years. This house, shared with her grandmother Eva, mother Hannah, uncle Plum, and a variety of other residents, is a patchwork of rooms and stairways, assembled without a discernible pattern. Its disorder stands in stark contrast to the structured Wright home, and for Nel, it represents freedom and spontaneity.

Through these varied settings, Morrison crafts a narrative rich with symbolism and cultural commentary, where each location not only houses its characters but also shapes their experiences and destinies.

Sula is a fascinating study of black life in rural America during some of the nation's most trying moments. While appealing as a document focused on a particular time and racial group, Morrison's novel also expounds on universal themes concerning familial ties, love, jealousy, and ambition. Its characters are complex individuals, each capable of committing acts of unmatched devotion and extreme cruelty. There is not a sense of absolute morality in Morrison's created world. Instead, characters have relative merits and faults understandable only in the context of their entire lives.

Operating behind the individual dramas Morrison crafts is a national movement toward greater acceptance of African-Americans. Sadly, however, this acceptance moves far too slowly and never raises itself beyond the level of tokenism. Sula's denouement demonstrates the extent of African-American frustration at the white community's failure to adequately address the calls for equality of opportunity emanating from the nation's black neighborhoods. Spanning years from the 1920s to the early days of the Civil Rights movement, Sula tracks profound changes which struck the United States during the middle years of the twentieth century. Unlike a conventional history, however, Morrison's novel is intensely personal, highly dramatic, and profoundly moving.

1. Shadrack appears only momentarily in the main body of the novel. Only at the very beginning and in the final pages does he contribute significantly to the plot. Why, then, is he a part of Morrison's story? What thematic function does he fulfill in his brief appearances?

2. Does Morrison's novel contain any truly sympathetic male characters, or are they all potentially callous, abusive womanizers against which Morrison contrasts her strong female characters?

3. Put the events related in Sula on a timeline. Though it follows conventional chronology for the most part, Morrison's novel clearly makes free use of the medium's capacity for distorting time. Why might Morrison take such freedom with her story's narrative sequencing?

4. Explain the significance of the River Road to the residents of the Bottom.

5. Consider the relationship of Eva and her daughter Sula. Is Sula justified in the anger she feels towards her mother in the novel's concluding sections? Is Eva a good mother?

6. Why do the Bottom's residents react with such fury at the end of the novel? Who is ultimately responsible for the deaths that occur in the final pages?

7. Was Eva justified in burning her son, Plum?

8. At one point in the novel, Hannah asks her mother if she loves her children. Eva responds by saying that she does. What do you think? Given the information you have on their relationship, do you think Hannah was justified in asking her mother this question?

The complex historical backdrop of the novel Sula offers rich insights into the social transformations that defined the African American experience throughout the twentieth century. Set against significant historical events from World War I to the Civil Rights Movement, the narrative explores issues of race, gender, and economic inequality. Through the lived experiences of its characters, Sula highlights both the overt challenges and the quiet resilience of the African American community in the face of systemic discrimination.

African Americans in World War I

Sula opens in 1919 with the return of Shadrack and Plum, characters who mirror the real-life struggles of African American veterans after World War I. These men return home, bearing the scars of war, only to face a nation that marginalizes them. Shadrack's plight, notably with his unjust incarceration and dismissal from medical care, echoes the widespread neglect of black veterans compared to their white counterparts. Despite serving their country valiantly alongside over 350,000 African American soldiers, many veterans found themselves denied the full rights they had fought for overseas.

The post-war period saw a critical juncture in civil rights activism, characterized by the formation of organizations like the NAACP. These organizations united African Americans and sympathetic whites in challenging the entrenched systems of segregation and discrimination. Although progress was made, such as the overturning of the "grandfather clause" in 1915, which had disenfranchised many African American voters, the struggle for equality was only beginning. The veterans' return highlighted the paradox of fighting for democracy abroad while being denied basic rights at home.

Voting Rights and Disenfranchisement

The suppression of African American voters by discriminatory laws illustrates another layer of racial injustice. The "grandfather clause," poll taxes, and literacy tests were strategically implemented to hinder African Americans from voting. The NAACP's victory in overturning the "grandfather clause" was a significant milestone, although many barriers remained. This systematic disenfranchisement persisted despite these communities' sustained efforts and sacrifices, laying the groundwork for future civil rights battles.

The Great Depression and the New Deal

The economic upheaval of the Great Depression further complicated the African American struggle for equality. Both skilled and unskilled laborers of all races were affected, but racial biases meant that African Americans bore a disproportionate burden. Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal offered some respite through programs aimed at economic recovery, but African Americans often reaped fewer benefits than their white counterparts. This disparity underscored the deeply entrenched racial inequities in American society.

Jim Crow and Segregation

The imposition of "Jim Crow" laws in the Southern states reinforced a rigid racial hierarchy, mandating segregation in public amenities and services. African Americans faced substandard facilities and harsh penalties for defying these laws. Such systemic discrimination institutionalized the oppression faced by African American communities, making the fight for civil rights even more arduous.

World War II and the Rise of the Civil Rights Movement

World War II reignited the drive for civil rights as African Americans again returned from war, demanding the freedoms they had defended abroad. The civil rights movement gained momentum through protests and legal victories, with media coverage raising national consciousness about racial injustices. President Harry Truman's 1948 decision to desegregate the military marked a significant step, although racial equality remained elusive.

The 1960s witnessed the zenith of the civil rights movement with landmark events such as the 1963 March on Washington. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech became a rallying cry for racial harmony. Subsequent legislative triumphs, including the Voting Rights Act of 1965, dismantled many legal barriers, resulting in a surge in African American voter registration and participation.

Continuation of the Civil Rights Struggle

Despite these achievements, the quest for equality continued as systemic racism persisted in various societal facets. The Civil Rights Act of 1968, or the Fair Housing Act, further entrenched African American rights, but societal barriers lingered. In Sula, these historical narratives of resilience and resistance are intricately woven into the lives of its characters, reflecting the enduring struggle for justice.

The Role of Women in Sula

Morrison's exploration of female friendship in Sula offers a compelling narrative that aligns with the broader women's liberation movement of the 1960s. The relationship between Sula and Nel defies traditional gender norms by focusing on their bond rather than male relationships. Their friendship evolves from mutual admiration but faces challenges that lead to its eventual dissolution. Morrison's portrayal of these women, alongside characters like Eva and Hannah, challenges stereotypes by showcasing their complexity and diversity.

Drawing from the legacy of Zora Neale Hurston and leading to the works of Alice Walker, Morrison's narrative gives voice to women's experiences often overlooked or silenced. The novel underscores the transformative period of the late 1960s, when feminist movements sought to eradicate gender-based discrimination and secure equal rights across various domains.

Economic and Social Challenges in Medallion

Sula also delves into the economic struggles of the African American community in Medallion's "Bottom" neighborhood. This area, ironically situated on hills above the white district, symbolizes the figurative and literal separation of black residents from prosperity. Promises of work on infrastructure projects like the River Road remained unfulfilled, with jobs reserved for whites, revealing the facade of American meritocracy.

The precariousness faced by female characters in the novel, particularly Eva, highlights the social concerns of dependency and domestic abuse. Morrison illustrates how these women, despite societal constraints, endure and support one another in times of need. The community's generosity, as seen through their collective support for Eva, underscores the resilience and solidarity prevalent among African American neighborhoods.

Mental Health and Marginalization

Morrison addresses the theme of mental health through Shadrack's character, whose post-war trauma reflects the broader marginalization of the mentally ill. Inadequate medical treatment and societal neglect left Shadrack to fend for himself, paralleling the overlooked struggles of African Americans. His journey towards self-sufficiency and eventual acceptance by the community exemplifies the resilience required to overcome systemic neglect.

1920s: More than 350,000 African-American soldiers, who serve in segregated units, return home from World War I.

Today: The United States armed forces include large numbers of African Americans, who serve in every capacity and are no longer segregated; some African Americans, such as General Colin Powell, U.S. Secretary of State during the administration of George W. Bush, achieve the highest rank.

1920s: Overall, the unemployment rate is about 5.2%, but this figure is much higher for African Americans because of prejudice against them.

Today: Unemployment ranges between 5 and 6 percent and African Americans are integrated into all sectors of society, though they still experience a higher level of unemployment than whites.

1920s: "Jim Crow" laws, which were implemented in the late nineteenth century, segregate the South, mandating separate spheres of existence for African Americans and whites. Restaurants, stores, buses, hotels, transportation, housing, and other areas of life are rigidly separated, and African Americans who cross the barriers can be arrested and imprisoned.

Today: The widespread and growing civil rights movement brings increasing attention to the problems caused by discrimination and segregation. Although old laws restricting African Americans from voting and full participation in society were finally overturned in the 1960s, racism, bigotry, and other prejudices still exist and act to restrict full participation for many people.

Though Morrison does not continue her examination of the lives of the Bottom's residents in subsequent volumes, she does present similar characters in other novels with similar thematic and social concerns. From her first novel, The Bluest Eye (1970) to Paradise (1998), Morrison has consistently focused on the lives of African-American women and their families.

The Bluest Eye, like Sula, takes place in Ohio. Morrison set her first novel in the middle of the twentieth century and placed at its center the eleven-year-old Pecola. This young girl struggles with her maturation, much like Sula and Nel. Furthermore, The Bluest Eye contains considerations of family conflict similar to those in Sula. Pecola's father, however, is not a benign, caring presence as Eva usually appears to be. Eventually, Pecola's father rapes her, demonstrating the upper limit of violence perpetrated against children by their overbearing parents.

This violence against children appears often in Morrison's fiction. In Beloved (1987), however, violence is not a sign of familial strife but of the potential for the maternal bond to assert itself in surprising ways. Set in the years which bookend the Civil War, the novel tells the story of a woman who escapes slavery but is tracked down by a band of slave hunters. When cornered by these men, she kills her baby and attempts to end her other children's lives. She commits the murder not out of malice but as a result of her desperation. Death, she believed, was preferable to a lifetime of bondage.

Stylistically, too, Beloved, Sula, and some of Morrison's other novels have a great deal in common. Her prose is always poetic and fluid. Her depiction of time also moves fluidly, sometimes almost randomly. Sula does move variously backward and forward through time. Her experiments with time in this novel, though, are not so daring as those conducted with Beloved, Jazz (1992), and Paradise (1997).

Jazz is also similar to Sula in that both are period pieces. Set in the 1920s, Jazz gives a portrait of Harlem at the time of what scholars would later call the Harlem Renaissance. It is a city populated with African-Americans fleeing the economic depression of the South, and trying to establish their own culture.

• Sula (1997), an unabridged audiobook narrated by Toni Morrison, published and available through Random House Audio.

Sources

Bakerman, Jane S., Review of Sula, in American Literature, March 1980, pp. 87-100.

Blackburn, Sara, Review of Sula, in New York Times. December 20, 1972, p. 3.

Blackburn, Sara, "You Still Can't Go Home Again," in New York Times Book Review, December 30, 1973.

Carmean, Karen, Toni Morrison’s World of Fiction. Troy, New York: The Whitston Publishing Company, 1993.

Century, Douglas, Toni Morrison: Author. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1994.

Davis, Faith, Review of Sula, in Harvard Advocate, Vol. 107, No. 4, 1974.

Gray, Paul, "Paradise Found," in Time, January 19, 1998.

Kramer, Barbara, Toni Morrison: Nobel Prize-Winning Author. Springfield, New Jersey: Enslow Publishers, 1996.

Lambert, Walter J. and Charles E. Lamb, Reading Instruction in the Content Areas. Chicago: Rand McNally Publishing Company, 1980.

Marvin, P. H., Review of Sula. Library Journal, August 1973, 98:2336.

Morrison, Toni, Sula. New York: Penguin Books, 1973.

Morrison, Toni, "The Salon Interview: Toni Morrison," in Salon, http://www.salon.com/(July 23, 2001).

-----------, "Unspeakable Things Spoken: The Afro-American Presence in American Literature," in Michigan Quarterly Review, Vol. 28, Winter 1989, pp. 1-34.

-----------, Voices from the Gaps: Women Writers of Color, http://voices.cla.umn.edu/authors/ToniMorrison.html (July 23, 2001).

Nigro, Marie, "In Search of Self: Frustration and Denial in Toni Morrison's Sula," in Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 28, No. 6, July 1998, p. 724.

O'Brien, Maureen, "Novelist Toni Morrison Wins Nobel Prize for Literature," in Publishers Weekly, October 11, 1993, p. 7.

Otten, Terry. The Crime of Innocence in the Fiction of Toni Morrison, Columbia, Missouri: The Curators of the University of Missouri, University of Missouri Press, 1989.

Prescott, P. S., Review of Sula, Newsweek, January 7, 1974, 83:63.

Samuels, Wilfred D. and Cleonora Hudson-Weems, Toni Morrison, Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1990.

Turner, Darwin T., Black Women Writers (1950-1980): A Critical Evaluation, edited by Mari Evans, Doubleday, 1984.

Yardley, Jonathan, Review of Sula, in Washington Post Book World, February 3, 1974.

For Further Reading

Angelo, Bonnie, "The Pain of Being Black," in Time, May 22, 1989. In this interview, Morrison discusses racism in society and in her novels.

Basu, Biman, "The Black Voice and the Language of the Text: Toni Morrison's Sula," in College Literature, October 1996, p. 88. This article discusses Morrison's use of African-American vernacular in the novel.

Bloom, Harold, ed., Toni Morrison's "Sula," Modern Critical Interpretations series, Chelsea House, 1999. This is a compendium of critical essays on Sula.

Carabi, Angels, "Toni Morrison," in Belles Lettres: A Review of Books by Women, Spring 1995, p. 40. In this interview, Morrison discusses her novel, Jazz, and race in American society during the middle of the twentieth century.

Grewal, Gurleen, Circles of Sorrow, Lives of Struggle: The Novels of Toni Morrison, Louisiana State University Press, 1998. This critical text examines Morrison's novels and the African-American experience.

Rice, Herbert William, ed., Toni Morrison: A Rhetorical Reading, Peter Lang Publishers, 1996. This collection of critical works on Morrison examines her work and its place in American literature.

Ryan, Katy, "Revolutionary Suicide in Toni Morrison's Fiction," in African American Review, Fall 2000. This scholarly article discusses the theme of suicide in Morrison's works.