Sula

 Literature offers universal insight. Through it, one can analyze an author and his or her characters from a perspective unique to that individual. A person's opinions about a novel are based on their experiences, not the author's. A reader's determination regarding a writer's literature is completely objective. With this impartiality, a common idea holds true: true character is best determined through identification. It is easiest to label something by comparing it to something else. Literature represents this concept fully. While reading, a person identifies with a character by attaching them to somebody they actually know. If this is to be taken a step further, a reader is able to use some characters in a novel to better understand others. For the purposes of this exercise, Sula will be used to highlight this practice. Within its pages, Toni Morrison molds her characters so that the theme, helplessness, can be attributed to the emotion that comes with it. Together, Sula and her grandmother, Eva, are used by Morrison to highlight the convey the same thoughts and feelings. Throughout this novel, Sula and Eva are presented so that the author may impart the passion true hopelessness is due. In order for this to happen, the personality traits and literary actions of the two must be compared and contrasted. A sharp distinction between the two can be made relating to family. To call Sula free-spirited would be overly subtle. She succumbed to much and cared about little. For her, life was a perpetual exercise in selfish indulgence. She did not understand the consequences of her actions nor did she care to ponder the impact her vicious spontaneity may have on the people closest to her. Relationships were destroyed in Sula's wake and she maintained to lineal or emotional ties to her kin. Of the family she abandoned was Eva Peace, her grandmother. Eva was fervent when it came to family. Nothing was more important to her than the welfare of her household. A summary of her views about family are contained within the following: “Can’t help lovin’ your own child. No matter what he do.” (57)  Admirable it may sound, her tremendous dedication to her family actually proved to be a detriment to the entity she tried to protect with such desperation. Limbs and lives were lost because of her need to do what she thought would benefit her family. So who was worse' A young woman who doesn't care enough about her family to give them a second's thought or a fanatical mother-figure who literally kills her child believing she is helping him' Despite the differences these two characters have relating to family, both their paths lead to the same end: emotional suffering. Sula ostracizes herself from the people who love her the most and Eva is so determined to prevent anything bad from happening that she actually becomes the demon she worked so hard to eradicate. Both harm the family immensely despite the differentiations in how they do so. This epitomizes hopelessness to a tee. No matter how they acted, Morrision made it so her characters were forever conflicted, unable to better themselves. Their relationships with each other made them as helpless as the puppets dangling from a set of strings. Whatever they did was to the detriment of everybody involved regardless of their intentions. They were powerless. Morrison's most pervasive technique between these two characters was her ability to highlight the parallels between the two. Examples of self sacrifice come from both of these characters and it was in this capacity that Morrison came closest to truly conveying the desperation of her characters. For both Sula and her grandmother, self sacrifice extended further than the confines of morality. It was manifested in pain and bloodshed instead of regret. Being harassed by her oppressors, Sula cut the end of her finger off in order to protect herself. Unable to support her beloved children, Eva detached her leg from her body and collected the insurance money in order to provide for her family. Eva expresses her frustrations with the following: "I know what every colored woman in this country is doing. . . . Dying. Just like me. But the difference is they dying like a stump. Me, I'm going down like one of those redwoods. I sure did live in this world" (87). Here her powerlessness overcomes her as she confesses to her progressive death. There is no bright side to these occurrences. Actually to call these events occurrences would be cheating their value. They were choices, calculated and executed because of desperation. Sula was nothing compared to racism. Eva lacked the ability to combat poverty. Agony paled in comparison to their desire to maintain their decrepit lives. And so, they each did what they had to do. They fought helplessness with sacrifice and waited until they would be required to repeat. This is not an uplifting novel. It was not meant to be. Literature offers insight. Somberly Morrision fulfilled her duty as an author and has created a novel that allows interpretations to be made so that true understanding may be cultivated. By using Sula and her grandmother Eva, a foil, to prove the same points, Morrison's tone and personal perspective can be distinguished. Yes, the tone is dark. Yes, the theme is one of desperation. But powerful writing is not defined by a syrupy style of its ability to enliven a person's emotion. Powerful writing lies within a reader's comprehension of the words they read and the meaning behind them. Using Sula and Eva as a literary tag team, Toni Morrison did just that.