Definition of Good and Bad in Toni Morrison's Sula

Categories: Sula Toni Morrison

In the novel Sula by Toni Morrison, she chooses to set the story in a predominantly black small town called Medallion where she writes about the story of two friends named Nel and Sula, from their youth through their adulthood. The book addresses issues of family, murder, betrayal, and racism. But in this paper, I will be addressing the issues placed in this novel surrounding the betrayal of a friend, a father, family and a mother towards its child through Morrison's use of the duality of good and bad to remark on whether or not betrayal is acceptable or entirely intolerable.

In this novel, the duality of good and bad is captured in the betrayal of friends. For example, Sula swings Chicken Little around near a river and he drowns, and she and Nel leave him to drown without trying to go save him. But towards the end of the novel, Eva is the only character that confronts Nel about why she let Chicken Little die and after many years had passed Nel seems to want to reflect on what happened that day.

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She says, “Why didn’t I feel bad when it happened? How come it felt so good to see him fall” (170) Here, Nel is questioning why she didn’t do anything to save Chicken Little, but she admits that it felt “good” to see him fall as if his death amused her.

Typically, if someone sees there friend drowning in a river they would immediately go running towards them to try and save them.

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Thus, the fact that Nel did not try to save Chicken Little, it captures the idea of betrayal of a friend that Morrison was trying to convey by showing how thoughtless Nel was as she saw her friend drown and left him there without warning others to help if she couldn’t or even letting his mother know what would happen, instead she left him there until someone found him. This reveals the duality of good and bad because instead of caring for her friend she choose to betray him by staying quiet and not doing the right thing which would have been to at least do whatever she could to save his life. Similarly, the duality of good and bad is tested again through the betrayal of two friends Nel and Sula. For example, Nel recounts the moment where Sula slept with her husband and her anger for Sula causes her to question her love for her as a friend. When she says, “And you didn't love me enough to leave him alone. To let him love me.” (106)

Here, Nel, speaks about the fact that sees angry with Sula because she caused her marriage to be over because she choose to have sex with her husband. Normally in today's society friends would not sleep with the others husband because they would respect the fact that the other is married. However, Sula did not show any sort of shame despite the fact that she knew that Jude was Nels husband and they had a family. Thus, the duality of good and bad because Sula knew what she was getting herself into and she did not think about the fact that she would hurt her friend as well as splitting up a family. Not only that, the ideas of betrayal are shown through the fact that Sula ended a friendship over her own desires for sex and wanting to feel loved.

In this novel, the duality of good and bad is captured in the betrayal of men who leave their wives and family. For example, Eva falls in love with a man named Boy Boy that ends up walking out on her so he could live a life of womanizing other women and sleeping around. Morrison writes, “During the time they were together he was very much preoccupied with other women and not home much.” (32) Here, Morrison is describing the fact that Boy Boy left Eva to tend to there three kids and during their marriage, he abused her and left her alone to care for his children while he went out cheating on his wife and not taking care about his children. Commonly, fathers are known for being the man f the household by making sure that there is enough money on the table to feed his household as well as upholding to his vows of marriage.

However, the duality of good and bad is depicted through the fact that Boy Boy did not live up to expectations of a father. This is an example of betrayal because Boy Boy left his wife and children to fend for themselves and Eva ended up poor and people in Medallion felt bad for her and started to give her what they could to help her take her other children as a single mother. Another example of this is when Nel caught Jude sleeping with her friend Sula and when Nel walks in the room and Jude sees her and gets up and says 'I'll be back for my things.” (148) Here, Nel recounts when she discovered both her husband and Sula having sex. The duality of good and bad are being portrayed through betrayal because Jude cheats n his wife and feels no remorse and tells her that he will get his “things”. This means that he will leave her despite the fact that they have children though, so similarly to BoyBoy and Eva, Jude leaves Nel alone to care for their children.

In this novel, the duality of good and bad is captured through the betrayal of a family. For example, Eva argues with Sula about how she watched her mother die without trying to save her and Sula ends up threatening her by telling her that she would set her on fire. However, instead of setting her grandmother on fire, Sula decides to send her. When Morrison types, “...Eva being carried out and Sula holding some papers against the wall, at the bottom of which, just above the word “guardian” she carefully wrote Miss Sula Peace.” (94) Here, Sula is getting rid of her grandmother which can be seen as an example of the duality of good and bad through betrayal because typically, people care for their elderly if they are fully capable of doing so and only send them away because they can’t.

However, in this case, Sula sends Eva away because she knew what she did when Hannah dies and she was tired of her blaming her for her mother's death even though her herself knows that she just stood there watching her mother die as if it amazed her as the fire burned her up. However, this also could be seen as a duality of good and bad through betrayal because Sula let her mother die. Morrison writes, “ I never meant anything. I stood there watching her urn and was thrilled.” (147) Here, Sula watches her grandmother's daughter die without trying to save her. Typically if a mother was in danger, the children would love their mother enough to make sure that she is safe and not nearing their death. However, Sula did the opposite because instead of showing the love she had for her mother she watched her die “thrilled “ by the fact that she was burning and did nothing. This portrays the lack of love Sula had for her mother which covers the idea of a daughter to mother betrayal.

In this novel, the duality of good and bad is captured through the betrayal of a mother towards their child. For example, Eva betrays her son by burning him to death in order to keep him from needing her so much because she believes that since he’s grown she should have to be taking care of him. However, ever since he came back from the war he has been relying on her to take care of him as if he was a baby all over again she wanted him to man up. Morrison writes, “I had to keep him out so I just thought of a way he could die like a man not all scrunched up inside my womb.” (72)

Here, Eva is telling Hannah about why she choose to kill her son. Normally, a mother would not kill her child and instead would care for them whether they are old or young. But for Eva did not want that. She felt as though him coming home and having to take care of him made it seem as though he was a baby again needing her help taking care of itself. To her, she feels as though she already went through that stage and she did not want to have to go through all that again. This is an example of the duality of good and bad through the betrayal of a mother towards their child because Eva betrayed her son by killing him instead of doing her job as a mother to take care of him.

To conclude, in this novel the issues placed surrounding the betrayal of a friend, a father, family and a mother towards its child through Morrison's use of the duality of good and bad to remark on whether or not betrayal is acceptable or entirely intolerable. Ultimately, based on the overall messages portrayed in this novel, the conveys that Morrisons uses the duality of good and bad to remark on how betrayal is acceptable in the town of Medallion because people seem to have their own beliefs instead of following social norms of not betraying one's friend, family, and being a proper mother that provides for the children as well as a father that provides the financial support without cheating.

Updated: Feb 09, 2022
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Definition of Good and Bad in Toni Morrison's Sula. (2022, Feb 09). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/definition-of-good-and-bad-in-toni-morrison-s-sula-essay

Definition of Good and Bad in Toni Morrison's Sula essay
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